What do you think of this movement?

[Dawn]

Not intended to be a debate thread!

I've seen this movement in ads for a while now, must be approaching a year or so. I haven't payed it too much mind, but it has appeared to me at least a dozen times and I've looked through it a couple of times. One day very recently I saw this ad on Pokecommunity, and I thought to create a discussion thread. I'd like to see what other people think of this movement.

My opinion is pretty undeveloped, and will take more time for me to come to one I consider of high enough quality to post.

Here's the website. Warning, made with flash.
https://www.girleffect.org/

Update:
They also have a Youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/girleffect

 

[RTHookers]

Thread needs moar attention.
Pretty important if you ask me. < That's all. I SUCK AT EXPLAINING MYSELF. Really I do lol.

 

[Pokémon Ranger ✩ Moriarty]

I think I'll be passing this around to a few bloggers I know. The cause definitely needs to be more vocal - I've not heard of it before. :|

 

[Timbjerr]

Sounds a bit too idealistic and feminist imo. If the solution really is that simple, why not just have governments enforce laws that make current business owners do these things that this one ubiquitous girl can do? XD

 

[Pokémon Ranger ✩ Moriarty]

Sounds a bit too idealistic and feminist imo. If the solution really is that simple, why not just have governments enforce laws that make current business owners do these things that this one ubiquitous girl can do? XD

First of all, Feminism is not a bad thing in this instance. It is concerning the empowerment of women who have no say in things, not the de-empowerment of men.

Secondly, most of the governments this movement challenges are corrupt, and care only for themselves. They don't want any other person or group to become as powerful as they are.

 

[Dawn]

Sounds a bit too idealistic and feminist imo. If the solution really is that simple, why not just have governments enforce laws that make current business owners do these things that this one ubiquitous girl can do? XD

If you do research this movement it is indeed targeting girls that are being afflicted by certain things like poverty.

Not every girl everywhere. And certainly not one girl in particular.

It's very easy to mistakenly blow this movement off because of it's name, imo.

I think that it's very important everyone else realizes this before they respond, or this thread will...probably degrade into stupidity. I would've clarified this sooner but PC crashed while I was trying to put the finishing touches on the thread. Sorry~

Updates: They have a Youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/girleffect

Oh, and I have yet to think up a thorough answer as to my opinion on the movement.

 

[Timbjerr]

First of all, Feminism is not a bad thing in this instance. It is concerning the empowerment of women who have no say in things, not the de-empowerment of men.

Secondly, most of the governments this movement challenges are corrupt, and care only for themselves. They don't want any other person or group to become as powerful as they are.

There is a difference between female empowerment and providing false hope that borders on condescending. I still fail to see how giving girls in the third world the power of entrepreneurship will solve much of anything other than helping their country's economy and perhaps producing better education. This won't help to stop war or the corruption of third-world governments.

Perhaps I'm just being a bit too cynical about this. It's not a bad thing by any means, the site is just overstating the kind of impact it would make. XD

 

[Dawn]

Perhaps I'm just being a bit too cynical about this.

Meeeeh... no offense but I think you hit it on the nail there.

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

I dunno, it feels to "feminist" to me. I know that sounds weird but I'm more about equality, not making women have a higher status than men.

Honestly, a part of the problem is that society teaches girls to like pink, be mothers and stay at home. We need to really fight that more than anything, imho.

 

[Yamikarasu]

I'm not sure why it has to be a girl. You could buy a cow for anyone, and wouldn't it have the same effect? Honestly, I think these women are more worried about getting their next meal than being seen as equals in their community. It's a good cause though, so it's not like I'm against it.

LOL, I clicked "No" at first when it asked me if the world was a mess. It made me feel guilty.

 

[Dawn]

I dunno, it feels to "feminist" to me. I know that sounds weird but I'm more about equality, not making women have a higher status than men.

How is it in any way related to feminism? Because a girl is at all involved/mentioned? I think that's actually a sexist assumption on the contrary. Perhaps you should research the movement more. =/

It doesn't even apply to all women everywhere. It's obviously a humanitarian goal that just happens to think that women could play a vital role in improving life for everyone.

I'm not sure why it has to be a girl. You could buy a cow for anyone, and wouldn't it have the same effect? Honestly, I think these women are more worried about getting their next meal than being seen as equals in their community. It's a good cause though, so it's not like I'm against it.

LOL, I clicked "No" at first when it asked me if the world was a mess. It made me feel guilty.

I did that the second time around just to see what would happen. Funny stuff. "...No?" Hah. I could just hear the surprise.

Anyway, it suggests that in these social conditions a woman doesn't really get a chance to do any good and winds up not really contributing, and that by helping to prevent this we'd be helping to improve conditions in general. You said it yourself, she's worried about getting her next meal. Why is she worried? Perhaps because she has a baby, disease, and hunger, and a no doubt early marriage keeping her from doing anything?

Point being, she's not really contributing to society. As a human being, she could be doing a lot more in theory, might even want to do a lot more.

 

[NarutoActor]

It's all hypothetical, everything has to go perfectly like the video says for it to work. :/

 

[Eldrei]

Who's idea is this anyway???

 

[NOOBLMAO]

How is it in any way related to feminism? Because a girl is at all involved/mentioned? I think that's actually a sexist assumption on the contrary. Perhaps you should research the movement more. =/

It's apparently related to feminism* because _only_ girls are mentioned.

It doesn't even apply to all women everywhere. It's obviously a humanitarian goal that just happens to think that women could play a vital role in improving life for everyone.

Anyway, it suggests that in these social conditions a woman doesn't really get a chance to do any good and winds up not really contributing, and that by helping to prevent this we'd be helping to improve conditions in general. You said it yourself, she's worried about getting her next meal. Why is she worried? Perhaps because she has a baby, disease, and hunger, and a no doubt early marriage keeping her from doing anything?

Can a male be worried about the same things?

Point being, she's not really contributing to society. As a human being, she could be doing a lot more in theory, might even want to do a lot more.

So could the boys.

*the sexist kind of feminism, not the equality kind

 

[Pokémon Ranger ✩ Moriarty]

Wow. A lot of the THIS MOVEMENT IS TOO FEMINIST WHAT ABOUT MEN people replying to this post really don't seem to realise that this movement is targeting countries where women have no rights whatsoever. And that these women have just as much of a right to help their country as their male counterparts, but are held back from doing so. That is what the movement is trying to amend. Not saying 'men can't do this sort of thing, stand back, the women are here!'

Sometimes the degree of anti-feminist/chauvinistic tendencies displayed on PokéCommunity really worries me. Especially from younger people. :|

 

[NOOBLMAO]

Mori, I get all that. It's just that it's fighting discrimination with discrimination, which to me is not the ideal solution.

 

[lx_theo]

Invest in a girl in a developing country and the rest will take care of itself. Uh.... Sounds more lazy and not considering that most of those situations probably won't go as smoothly as the video tries to make it out to be.


It seems quite... naive, to say it simply.

 

[Pokémon Ranger ✩ Moriarty]

Mori, I get all that. It's just that it's fighting discrimination with discrimination, which to me is not the ideal solution.

I'm just confused about your argument. How is this discriminatory against men?

 

[NOOBLMAO]

I'm just confused about your argument. How is this discriminatory against men?

I didn't say that (I could but I don't think I need to go down that road).

I said it's discrimination. They are making a distinction between male and female in society.

Maintaining that distinction, no matter how much you try to force balance between each side, only leads to continued injustice and hostility. If you really want equality, you have to work to blur the distinctions, not affirm them.

I'm trying to think of where to go further with this but I have to sleep. I hope this thread isn't locked by tomorrow.

 

[Pokémon Ranger ✩ Moriarty]

I didn't say that (I could but I don't think I need to go down that road).

I said it's discrimination. They are making a distinction between male and female in society.

Maintaining that distinction, no matter how much you try to force balance between each side, only leads to continued injustice and hostility. If you really want equality, you have to work to blur the distinctions, not affirm them.

I'm trying to think of where to go further with this but I have to sleep. I hope this thread isn't locked by tomorrow.

Okay, I think I can see where you're coming from. There shouldn't be men's movements and women's movements, there should just be one movement for equality and rights? I can totally get behind that as a dual supporter of women's and men's rights in England, and a self-described equalist, but I think that in cases like this you have to have a separate movement.

This movement in particular is dealing with countries where women have limited or no rights - where they are treated as bits of furniture, things that can be sold off or gotten rid of at will. People who are treated as objects. Without wishing to sound Feminazi, these are countries where men hold all of the cards, whether they be in positions of power, in the local community, or just in the home. Whilst these countries are also areas where men are largely disenfranchised, they do still have ownership of themselves, and ergo a chance to do something. Their women, on the other hand, do not even have this basic right. That is what the movement is attempting to target - giving women some sort of empowerment so that they can help, possibly help fight alongside their fellow man.

Having a movement which only looks at one sector of society is not always discriminatory. It's like saying that there shouldn't have been any movements exclusively assisting black people during the race for equality, because there are white people who are poor and maltreated. The logic doesn't always work, unfortunately. As I said above, I'm a supporter of male and female rights, particularly in the area of domestic and abuse and rape - I admit that male rape and domestic violence is taken far less seriously than female rape and domestic abuse (which is taken not that seriously at all still, even in the big ol' C21). However, I believe that there ought to be separate movements for both, because both tackle different views in society: namely that women cry rape at every opportunity, and that men can't be raped full-stop. In the future, when social views have progressed, then there could be an institution that deals with both - but right now, the matters require separate dealings. Ditto in countries the OP movement is trying to help, where men are poor and disenfranchised, and women are poor and have no ownership of themselves.

I hope that made some sort of sense and wasn't tl;dr ranty.