This feminist doesn't want to be better than men. I just want to be me. I just want a fair deal in life. I want the same opportunities, the same pay for the same work and to be able to dress as I please without being stared at like a lump of meat, or go to a football match without being shouted at to "Get ya tits out for the lads then, b****".

Your original post, Claire, makes a number of assumptions about modern feminism and you come across as stereotyping us all as a bunch of bra-burning, androgynous harridans who compete to see who can stick the knee in the most men's groins.

Feminism is far less militant now, than in the 1970's and hey, in any case, nobody ever actually burned their bra..!! That one was a total invention of the male dominated press of the day. Come on Claire, you know how much a decent bra costs... Would you burn yours..? I sure as heck wouldn't burn mine.

We have come a long way from those days, but inequality still exists. The glass ceiling still exists. Sexism still exists.

Rape still exists.

Nowadays we don't fight our battles in the streets though. We don't spray paint on walls nor do we harrass men at every opportunity. Rather nowadays we fight our battles through the legal processes.

We have plenty of legislation to use against those who abuse us and the feminist movement encourages women who have been unfairly or unjustly treated to use it. We offer encouragement to women to get out of abusive and / or violent relationships. No woman should be beaten to a bloody pulp by a man and then be so terrified that she tells the doctors who put her back together that she "Walked into a door".

Yes, it is true that some women are abusers too, but that is a male issue for them to deal with. That is not our business. Feminism discourages and condemns acts of abuse by women against men but it is up to men's organisations to seek redress.

Too many times women are discriminated against in the workplace. There are still too many cases of women being paid at lower rates than males for doing the same job. This is illegal and we have to encourage disadvantaged women to sue for their rights. That isn't disadvantaging men, or being anti-man, it is simply a case of addressing an injustice.

Rape is the worst, most evil crime a man can perpetrate on a woman short of killing her (and some are so traumatised by their experiences that they wish they had died) and only 5% of reported cases lead to a conviction. This is not acceptable. The reasons for this are many and varied, but at the very core of this appalling statistic is the fact that the criminal justice system, in rape, is heavily biased in favour of the man.

Would you report a rape if it happened to you, Claire..? Knowing what you were going to have to go through, with only a 1 in 20 chance of getting justice..? Would you want to have to go through having your worst nightmare relived....brought into the public gaze..? Would you want to be cross examined by hostile council, who can drag up your sexual history, portray you as being promiscuous.... that you asked for it.. that you wanted it really and are only bringing a prosecution now out of malice, while the man who raped you smiles at you from the dock, knowing he's very likely going to get away with it because at the end of the day it comes down to your word against his.

Women Against Rape have been fighting for women for more years than I have been alive but they have had very little success in getting the legal process changed. But they don't give up. Why do they keep going on...? Do you think it is because they want to help women who have suffered an appalling crime or do you think they are just man-hating lesbos..?

Where exactly are you coming from with your assertions, Claire..?

I was a feminist activist when I was at University. It opened my eyes to a lot of injustice that is still going on. I'm no longer active any more but I still believe in and support those who are trying to make this world a fairer, more just and humane place for women. They don't have any axe to grind against men simply for being men, they just want to put things right.

I work in a male dominated profession. I competed for my job with 50 other applicants and I was selected, not because they wanted a "token" female. I got the job because I was the best candidate. I've worked damned hard to establish myself and I've done pretty well if I say so myself. I respect my male colleagues who are all intelligent, skilled men with many years of experience which I do my best to learn from. They now respect me, not because I put posters up or fly a flag over my head, but because I buckle down and graft as hard as they do. I've earned their respect and that's how it should be.

That's what feminism stands for.


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