Round - VIII - Alok

Read previous round here. Table of Contents here.

Ishita Roy Near about every point. Let me briefly articulate: -

1. By your understanding of the definition of feminism, either one can be a feminist or against it. Such a stand is closer to fascism rather than to democratic ideals.

2. Feminism is an epistemology because it tries to reduce every human phenomenon to the issue of gender equality. Alternative epistemologies need not make any reference to sex/gender at all while making sense of the world. Since you seem more comfortable with the western ideas, I cite positivism, logical positivism, and constructivism as epistemologies to exemplify my point. These are alternatives but they make no necessary claim that men are superior to women.

3. None of the visionaries can be accused of being a feminist for the simple reason that feminism is a western ideology, whereas, they leveraged scriptures and religious traditions to achieve women empowerment. They employed typical Indian epistemologies for the purpose.

4. If assumption of uniformity implies idiocy, then feminism can be accused of it in the large part. You may read Peking Conference proceedings to see the point.

5. Sex-selection is not the self-evident fact of dehumanization. If it were self-evident dehumanization, then all crimes in the law book would qualify for dehumanization. If every crime were dehumanization of victims, then feminism becomes a redundant ideology that adds no further insight into the act of dehumanization of women.

6. Dowry, rape, and marital violence do not automatically establish that women are considered property. Dowry is well acknowledged as a measure of social valuation of the man's worth in several societies. Rape can be about lust, hate, power and so many other factors that, to be effective, need not assume women as property. The same people, who do rape and marital violence, are unlikely to destroy their tv sets, houses, or vehicles that "are" properties.

7. Organizations are not legal persons because they are collections of natural persons. By that logic, every mob would be a legal person. Kindly read more about organizations in any good text on Organization Theory such as Scot and Davis.

8. Your logic defies basic tenets of logic . "All men are mortal" doesn't simply translate into "all mortals are men". Plants, animals, and women are also mortal!

Read next round here.