Sunset Sees

Dear reader, I invite you, as always, to take an interest and look a little deeper.

Years back, when I first began noticing or knowing about the feminist movement, I had my restraints in buying into what it was.

Mainly because, in my childhood, I was positively influenced by boys and men. I had my dad and three cool brothers to look up to. My best friend was a boy when I was about six years old. Our friendship revolved around innocent, constructive competition: who could run the fastest, who could climb a tree, who could color better.

So naturally, when I went about the world as a young adult, I continued having mostly male friends and admiring the good things about them.

Because early on I had very many negative experiences with girls and women—an emotionally absent mother, bullying, unfounded punishments, and harassment—I came to understand that either sex can have both positive and negative traits.

And this is why, although I did have very negative experiences with some men in my adult life, I have not wanted to commit to the saying that most women voice: “all men are the same.”

I did have some episodes where I was idealistic, but even that, I monitored. Now I more typically am in the “Who Knows?” mindset, which is the core of the scientific method and modern investigative ethics. It rejects the lazy shortcut of assuming “it’s always X” and instead insists on a case-by-case investigation.

Now to the core of this subject: the Lindsay Clancy case.

When a tragedy this immense occurs, it is understandable that the human brain craves a neat, absolute narrative to make sense of the horror.

“Twelve human beings sat in a room for seven days, looked at the exact same medical records, the same search histories, and the same testimonies, and could not agree on an absolute truth. If the legal system cannot find an absolute binary, why do casual internet commentators think they can?”

— The New York Times

Source: The New York Times, “Lindsay Clancy Trial…”

I want to mostly direct this piece of writing to men who have cataloged the reaction of women to this case as absolute and mindless. And for that, I’d like to explain that, just as “not all men are the same,” not all women are reacting for the same reasons to this case.

Today I am studying feminism for the first time. And although I hadn’t considered myself a feminist before, I now find that I’m most likely a Cultural Feminist.

But be aware, just as I was years ago when Radical Feminism began, that with every power, there is someone or a group of people who will reinforce it negatively.

Specifically, in this case, right now we have this massive gap going on between many men and women that I’ve been observing. Other civilians are commenting as if there are two sides to this. There is not. Pay attention.

We have both men and women with their own rational and/or constructive and compassionate perspectives. There are extremist feminists and Male Supremacists taking advantage to further feed this gender hate towards each other. And let’s never forget the maneuvering of the media and higher powers that manipulate the uprising of a media circus to their advantage or for the concealment of oligarchs involved.

I just thought I’d state this, firstly so it quits occupying my mind because it’s frustrating nonsense, but also, to bring you to broaden your perspective with me.

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A brief reference on the different forms of feminism.

Liberal Feminism

• Main goal: Equal rights and opportunities within current laws and systems.
• Key focus: Fair pay, education, and stopping workplace discrimination.
• Belief: Society can achieve equality by fixing laws and removing legal barriers for women.

Radical Feminism

• Main goal: Ending male supremacy across all social and private life.
• Key focus: Challenging patriarchy (male-led power structures) and traditional family roles.
• Belief: Sexism is deeply rooted in society, requiring a complete overhaul of gender roles.

Marxist and Socialist Feminism

• Main goal: Ending capitalism to achieve gender equality.
• Key focus: Economic oppression and unpaid domestic work.
• Belief: Capitalism benefits from exploiting women through cheap labor and unpaid home care.

Cultural Feminism

• Main goal: Valuing and celebrating traditional feminine traits.
• Key focus: Promoting traits like empathy, nurturing, and cooperation.
• Belief: Society should value feminine qualities just as much as competitive masculine traits.

Reference: The following descriptions are included to give context to the terminology used above; they are not my own formulations, but were generated by Google AI.

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