Really, are we still having this discussion on women clothing?

Once again I was stumbling around the web and happened upon Ta-nehisi's blog where one of the stories on the front page was a response to an article written about how stupid women are... Turns out this was an article in the Washington Post by Charlotte Allen from 2008. Why it was still up as a top story I don't know. Anyway, this led me to google her and see what she has done more recently and led me to an article on Jezzabell about Halloween costumes.  Turns out this Charlotte Allen thinks that women who are raped, or at least some of them, are asking for it by dressing "Sluty". I agree that there are steps one can take to reduce your chances of being mugged, but I also think that we should not give into the terrorist or rapist and change the way we dress and live in fear that someone might find what I'm wearing provocative. When I first posted on women's rights I really didn't think that there were too many out there who were against women's rights. Then I guess I started looking, not even looking, just paying attention.

Of course there are the crazies like Pat Buchanan who think that women aren't as capable as men and if you google anti feminist you come up with a bunch of site agreeing with Pat. I think it's the number of these sites, and the comments on these sites that frustrate me. I would hate to bring any more traffic to them, and I'm sure you are capable of googling them yourselves if you so desire, so instead I am going to post links that have a more positive view on feminist. 

Democracy Now has a great interview with Nobel Laureate Tawakkul Karman

Slate.com has a great post on the evolution (or intelligent design) of the anti-feminist

There is always the wonderful skepchick

An interesting piece in the Gaurdian about the state oaf feminism in the UK

And I'll end with this piece from Snow White Doesn't Live Here Any More on Psychology Today. Dr. Barreca has a great bit about what she first thought of the word feminist.

But even understanding that the world identified me first as a woman and only secondly as anything else didn't stop me from being horrified the first time somebody called me a "feminist." I thought being a feminist meant I couldn't wear lipstick or crave men with small behinds. I thought that "feminist" meant I couldn't send "Peanuts" cards to guys who I was afraid wouldn't call back, or buy stockings with seams. I thought "feminist" meant no more steamy flirtations or prolonged shopping trips. I thought it meant braided hair and short nails, maybe mandatory tofu. I certainly associated feminism with humorless, dour, and--worst of all--unblinkingly earnest women. That was because I was accepting the male version of things, which was sort of like believing the mouse's version of the cat, since it entailed being given access to a vision that could see nothing besides teeth and claws.

I use to not call myself a feminist, in fact now that I think about it, I know more men whom are willing and proud to call themselves feminist than women. It seems that, and I may be wrong, for a man to call himself a feminist he is showing that he is supportive, understanding, progressive and fair. For a women to call herself a feminist, well normally she is thought of as angry, a b*@$t, and asking for too much or for double standards. Granted, I've been told I'm all those things for pointing out that I was better qualified for a job and completely passed over, that I didn't appreciate being told that I probably spent my pay check on shoes and bags, angry at being told that since they were going to take photos the next day I might want to put on make up and do my hair... I guess I might as well embrace calling myself a feminist since I already live with the stigma it brings.