Posted February 19, 2016
low rated
Shadowstalker16: This seems almost too outlandishly crazy to be true : http://kukuruyo.com/2016/02/17/spain-gender-laws-a-country-against-men/
Can any Spanish GOGers confirm?
I am from Spain and yes, I can confirm that this law does exist. And, indeed, it is a problematic law because it creates a unequal relationship between both sexes (But only if there is a emotional relationship. If a male friend hits a female one this law does not apply). I think it is necessary to have some laws to protect women from harm when her husband threatens and abuses her, but this law is too extreme in the measures it takes to fix those situations. It makes men in some sort of way "guilty until proven innocent" and it does not protect them when it is the women who abuse their husband (even if there are many less cases, they still exist and have to be taken into consideration). It is a good example of how not to make a law to stop domestic violence. Can any Spanish GOGers confirm?
BUT (and I think this is where most people is misguided) this law was not made because feminists wanted it to be this way. It was made as a result of a combination of mediocre politicians who made a fast law without thinking of all consequences it would bring and socially assumed gender roles and stereotypes. The reason men are not protected by this law when they are abused by their wives is not because women want it than way. It is because traditional gender roles say that a man must be stronger than a woman, and if it is not then it is a pathic worthless man or, as many people would call someone like that, a "faggot" or a "sissy". A lot of men get mocked even by policemen when they try to denounce their situation, only to be told to "man up" or "behave like a real man". They get ridiculed for not "putting their wives where they belong" and for not "showing them who is the boss of the house". The law does not contemplate when men are abused only because it asumes they are stronger and, because of that, can't be harmed by "just a woman". These are roles and stereotypes that most traditional social structures have, and is sexist in different ways both to men and women because it does not respect anyone who is out of these boundaries. This kind of social pressure is called "structural violence", and these kind of roles and stereotypes form a superstructure called "patriarchy". As I already said, it affects both genders, and this is what feminism really tries to fight.
Feminism is a social and political movement that want to bring equality to all gender relationships, not power to the women over men. That is a misconception that even some women who call themselves "feminists" have (which, of couse, makes them sexists, not feminists). There are always rotten apples on human groups, but you should never judge an entire group only because of them (of couse, if the group is structured in some sort of way it would be their responsibility to get rid of them. But feminism, in general terms, is not an structured group but a political movement). Feminism strives for equality, not inverted roles of power. That would only mean the subsistence of the patriarchy and its power structures in an inverted way (even if it was called a matriarchy). Both men and women who want to destroy this kind of gender role subjugation are feminists, where men and women who want to fight a war against each other are just plainly sexists. I know the name "feminism" can be misleading, but it is just named that because the traditional role of women was of subjugation under men and this movement was originally created to fight that. But this doesn't mean it doesn't also try to fight against abuses of women over men. It could very well be called "egalitarianism", but that name is already chosen for a movement with a more general focus than just gender inequality.
That's why i think it would be wise for some people who consider themselves part of this gemergate movement to think twice about how it is generally behaving like a group. I know in theory it is supposed to fight for ethics in journalism. But in practice, most of what you will read in this thread and other forums, 4chan, youtube comments, etc., are just comments against feminism and other social movements (Wich they call SJW). In my opinion, what you should really fight is against bribery and other "gifts" that wealthy videogame companies could give to game reviews webpages. It should be a fight against money and company lobbies, not women and feminism. What feminists are currently criticizing in videogames are true problems that had plagued this cultural industry for many years and that, luckily, is slowly beginning to recede, specially since indie games began to have more recognition. I love videogames, but I would be lying to myself if didn't acknowledge some problems they generally have. There is, indeed, an oversexualization of many female characters (For example, in many fighting games and japanese games) whereas male characters are usually designed to fit male power fantasies (like Kratos or Marcus Fenix). Also, until these last years, there were very few realistic non sexualized female protagonists (good examples are Faith, from Mirror's edge, or Jade, from BG&E). You may think this is not important, but for most people is easier to emphatise with someone who resembles them. Also, even if you don't care who is your avatar, you would probably begin to feel out of place when you realise people who is like you is clearly under-represented. And on top of that, there is social pressure and educational differences that conditions women to not enter inside a domain that was always considered "boy's territory". The virulence that began spreading when these status quo began to change is proof enough of the existence of this gender structural violence. How is it possible that so many people defend the incredibly violent reaction and harassment that sparked just because some youtube videos began analyzing female gender tropes in videogames and because there was one isolated case of supposed journalism corruption with a relationship involved (wich is not even clear if it was really true)? I honestly believe this gamergate vs feminism is just a battle of blind people who do not really understand the true complexity of this issues and do not want to acknowledge how most supporters are really behaving. This also applies, of couse, to radical feminists.
Anti-feminists and radical feminists are just the two faces of a same coin: that of hate about those who are different from us and difficult to empathise. It is much easier to hate the unkown that to understand it. And that is the crux that humanity has carried over the course of all its history. It's time that, as a society with much more information and freedom than our elders, we begin to change that.
P.S. Equal rights given by laws or a constitution does not mean people are really treated equally in society. A lot of countries where women or people of different ethnicity are repressed give them legal equal rights in theory.
Post edited February 19, 2016 by Eumismo