Argumentative Penguin
2 min readApr 14, 2023

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Okay, I will give you the benefit of the doubt on Chris Browning someone in the comments section. Sarcasm and irony don't travel well in the written medium of Medium and the contextualisation of your words was removed with the update I made - so fair enough. My bad.

Secondly, over the four years SC and I have debated the back and forth of feminism, we have rarely agreed to anything other than mutual respect. If this is what getting into bed with each other looks like then a) it's a huge bed and b) neither of us is having a restful time. On Medium, the tone with which you engage is more important than the content of the engagement, certainly in the early stages. That's why I can fundamentally disagree with SC and indeed Elle Beau or Jeannette C Espinoza on entire tracts of philosophy but retain them as readers and still enjoy their work. I don't agree with them, that doesn't matter.

I did agree with you; I still do. I think if there are feminists who hate men then there are serious questions to be asked about how that parenting might look. I'm not sure what you think 'holding her to account' looks like. I did hold her to account, I wrote this entire article to hold her to account. She then wrote her rebuttal. I could've written this article, concluded she was an idiot, called her a bitch and blocked her.... but how would that make my corner of Medium any different from the echo chamber nonsense I frequently deride? In that list of people SC tagged are numerous authors who have blocked me for politely asking questions and not agreeing with their particular brand of very popular tub-thumping feminism. It's not a strategy I think will help the cause of gender equality, something to which I am committed.

I actually love the analogy of Guardians of the Galaxy of Feminism - and yes, perhaps she has linked all the people she can think to back her up, and yes perhaps some of them will show up and simply announce they hate men and they aren't interested in men and that men are a menace - but some of them won't. Some of them will articulate what they think and if I disagree with them then I'll argue the toss. If I sniff misandry, I'll get in there and I'll debate it - because my position is very simple; there is no place for a Penguin and Misandry in Feminism. If you want me to be a feminist, then you must be able to tell the difference between what is a push towards gender egalitarianism and what is simply putting lipstick on the pig of prejudice.

But that cuts both ways. More than a hint of misogyny and we're batting for the other team. So here's the reverse question. Do men hate their daughters? Or a more interesting question. Do men see their daughters as an extension of their property? Do love and ownership collide when we're talking about Dads and daughters?

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Argumentative Penguin
Argumentative Penguin

Written by Argumentative Penguin

Playwright. Screenwriter. Penguin. Fan of rationalism and polite discourse. Find me causing chaos in the comments. Contact: argumentativepenguin@outlook.com

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