Any feminists who would like to criticize my view of feminism and to defend feminism against my criticisms are welcome to contact me. I'll publish pro-feminist arguments, if any are sent to me, on this new page (since my main page on feminism, Feminist ideology, is very long and adding new text has become a very slow process), after this introduction, provided the arguments are developed at some length. A few lines or a short paragraph can't possibly do justice to the issues. I'll give my response to these arguments, although this may have to be far less detailed and thorough than I would like. Obviously, there are many other issues which have a claim on my time (the Site Map gives many of them.) Any one of these issues could easily take up all my time. I'll only publish the name of a contributor if I have permission, but I'd very much prefer non-anonymous contributions.
I don't demand that the tone of these contributions defending feminism and criticizing my views should be 'civil,' a common enough demand. Contributions can be abrasive in tone, if wished, but they should employ arguments and cite evidence.
This page has two main functions, then: as an 'overflow page' for the main page on feminism, which has well over 90 000 words and is slowing up, and to invite and publish criticism of the main page as well as this page.
The reference to 'babies and bathwater' has to be explained. I'm not alluding to the well known phrase, 'throwing the baby out with the bathwater.' (Oxford English Dictionary: 'to reject what is essential or beneficial along with what is inessential or harmful; to discard something valuable along with other things that are undesirable.) For the information of feminists who have strong feelings about maternal matters, of whatever kind (defending or rejecting the existence of a 'maternal instinct,' for example) I'm not alluding to maternal matters either.'Baby' here means specifically 'well-established topic discussed (or mentioned without any attempt at argument) very often, and very often to the exclusion of other topics. In the case of feminism, 'babies' include references to domestic violence against women, in the case of men's movement Websites references to the feminist views on domestic violence. The topic of domestic violence is very important, obviously, but is very fully covered in other Websites, the Websites of feminists and the 'men's movement.' (feminist answers to the arguments of the 'men's movement) aren't in the least plentiful, I think.)
On this page, I discuss many issues which belong to 'the bathwater,' which in my special use here is the wider context, including the wider context which is so often neglected, in books and Websites of the 'men's movement' as well as feminist books and Websites.
These are just a few examples of topics which belong to 'the bathwater,' in this sense:
'Care ethics' is an influential theory of morality. Care ethics 'treats care as central for understanding the nature of morality. The development of care ethics was largely sparked by the psychologist Carol Gilligan's 1982 book, In a different voice.' (Mark Timmons, Moral Theory: An Introduction.') On this page, I argue in various places that compassion is often ineffective - or completely ineffective - without material provision, and I stress 'the material conditions of life.' I understand completely, of course, that not all compassion needs material support, that kindliness, sympathy, empathy, patience can very often be shown without any material conditions. But compassion, and care, often do need to take account of material conditions. To give an example to do with babies, human babies rather than anything figurative, and bathwater, bathwetar which is literally water, without reference to my extended use, as context, if babies obviously need baths, and washing in general, whoever is doing the washing, man or woman, needs a supply of water, and preferably water which has been warmed. To obtain the water, advanced technological civilization provides reservoirs and other water sources and methods of heating the water, which usually involves very complex generating facilities and transmission facilities. The role of men in creating the scientific theory and the technological expertise and the labour for building the facilities should be obvious, even if it isn't obvious to many feminists. Care ethicists, and others, surely have to take account of this context ('the bathwater.')
If care ethicists do happen to be discussing the care of babies - there are many, many other topics which will interest them, of course - then it may well be relevant to discuss the wider context, the bathwater. This involves consideration of factors which may well be uncongenial, factors which care ethics generally neglects.
Feminists make many different claims, with or without an attempt at supporting argument, in the print, digital and other media - these claims are 'the baby.' The relevant 'bathwater,' the wider context includes the invention of printing, the development of printing techniques and printing technology, the invention of computer communications and the development of computer communications. Any feminist claim that 'men are useless' should take account of the fact that the men involved in these work can't possibly have been as useless as claimed. Their work has been, to me, astonishing, very impressive.
On this page, I discuss the fact that in this country, the main - or only - feminist print publication of any prominence at all, 'Spare Rib,' collapsed amidst recriminations. Why have feminists failed to launch and sustain a variety of print publications?
I also note that feminists, in stark contrast with the energy and achievement of 'patriarchy,' have failed to launch and sustain a nationwide network of women's garages, managed by women, with women mechanics. Feminists often make scathing reference to the 'patronising' language they claim is inflected on them by men at garages run by men. A much more convincing response would be sustained work on setting up feminist garages, run on feminist lines: workshops not the feminist 'talking shops' which are so common, I think.
If the subject is domestic violence, or rape, then of course feminists (and anti-feminists) are entitled to discuss the subject in relative isolation, but if the impression is given that these subjects, and a restricted range of other subjects, are the only ones which have an influence on the well-being of women (or men), then this is a mistake. It's essential, I think, to stress the importance of external security. If North Korea proves to be engaged only in a war of words and its nuclear capability is never used against other states, another rogue state with nuclear capability or great conventional capability is likely to threaten the well-being of men and women in the future. Domestic violence is far from being the only form of violence, of course. Again, I'd refer to this wider context, often overlooked, as 'the bath water.'
To summarize, 'the baby and the bathwater,' not an established use but a phrase with this new and useful interpretaion, refers to the importance of taking into account context (the 'bathwater') in discussing the subject (the 'baby.) The subject here is very often a widely discussed one and the relevant context often neglected. I hope that any feminists who do contribute arguments against my views take up the challenge of considering this kind of context.
Conjugates can be regarded as an instance of the 'bathwater.' I explain my concept of conjugates on the page Ethics: theory and practice, without giving any feminist examples. A non-feminist illustration of a conjugate which is harmful, I claim: a plausible and reasonable-seeming advocate for the Green Party (there are green parties in other European countries as well as this, but I think particularly of the Green Party in this country, could stress that concern for the environment is very important, that reducing waste is very important, that energy conservation is very important, that action to combat pollution is very important, and the rest. If human adaptability were greater - the kind of well-formed adaptability I refer to as {adjustment} - then there would be no reason why the speaker should not have a whole range of well-formed attitudes going well beyond thinking on the environment. There is no evidence that if the government elected a Green Party as the governing party, that the party's defence policy would be adequate in the least. (My page on veganism gives greater detail, in connection with the similar failings of vegans.) It does seem that lack of attention to defence issues is a conjugate of some views.
I think that feminism has its own harmful conjugates too, and very often in this same field, although the exceptions are many more than in the case of the green party and vegans - not including radical feminists.
A realistic defence policy is essential for a liberal democracy, unless the state has far more powerful and willing protectors. A realistic defence policy is an aspect of physical security, mentioned by John Kekes in his 'The Morality of Pluralism.' He writes, the protection of life, physical security, and some freedom to do as we please are normally good in all historical and cultural contexts.' (Quoted by Geoffrey Scarre in his review, in 'Mind: A Quarterly Review of Philosophy,' Volume 103 Number 411.) To return to the matter of material conditions and material agency, how are protection of life and physical security to be attained without material provision, material infrastructure, equipment and the rest? The concept of the conjugate is value-neutral in itself, and conjugates can be harmful or valuable, essential. Material conditions can be regarded as the enabling context of those values, the protection of life and physical security. As for 'some freedom to do as we please,' this freedom too has a material conjugate. In certain material conditions, this freedom is subject to extreme {restriction}. The freedom to travel requires the material means to travel, the freedom to think and reflect may require the material means to avoid the constant search for food or shelter or warmth,
