so yeah – huge point. we should be screaming about it from the rooftops.

This really sums it up so nicely. Thanks for another insightful post! I’m a dedicated reader of your blog and you always break issues down so clearly.

I’m not sure where to start. I don’t think that anyone who is a feminist has to be liberal, though I don’t really understand how you could reconcile any political philosophy with feminism. That’s not my mind to make up.

There are some libertarian ideas I agree with — for instance, that the government should stay out of our bedrooms and that drugs should be legalized. But for every smart idea that gets categorized under libertarianism, I find 3 that I disagree with.

You say that you don’t tow the party line. Good for you. But the fact is, libertarians believe in a “hands off” government. That means no welfare, it means no socialized health care (and though I am sincerely sorry about your family members, I imagine that you could find many, many, many more Americans who have died as victims our health care system because they were just flat our refused to be treated). I do not think that you can be opposed to public assistance for the poor and be compassionate. If that’s not you, you really don’t fit comfortably under the libertarian umbrella. If it is you, then I’m sorry, but that’s how I feel and I’m not really sure how you can argue otherwise.

Libertarianism if flawed. Autonomy and control over your own life are GREAT. The problem is that without an equal society, autonomy and control over your own life cannot exist for anyone but the upper-middle class and wealthy. Libertarianism generally assumes that if you take the government out of the equation, things will work themselves out. And it’s not true. The free marker has only made people poorer and sicker. And it will never stop doing that.

As for religion, I am personally an atheist. And it is my personal view that religion is incompatible with many feminist views. There are some wingnut Christians who try to change the policies of our government — they’re the ones I criticize. As for the rest, I disagree with them, but they are not trying to negatively impact the lives of others. To be a libertarian and/or conservative, you must consider yourself political and make an effort to impact our government. I lash out at conservative and libertarians because they are working directly against me and my causes. I do not lash out at religious people because, for the most part, their actions are private. How they want to reconcile their views is their business.

As for towing the liberal party line, I don’t know what that is. I certainly don’t tow the Democratic party line (ha!), and I do think the at the feminist focus with regard to liberal politics is vastly different from the mainstream focus.

I understand attacking conservatives, because many of their beliefs do work directly in opposition to feminism, and for the most part everyone understands that you’re attacking /those/ conservatives. But it just seems kind of like you’re (plural) aggressively cutting yourselves off from, at the least, potential allies. I mean, I am a feminist – no qualifiers – but from the way it’s phrased here and in many blogs, apparently I’m not – I’m part of the “other.” Presumably it’s possible to be both a feminist and a Christian, and I don’t see very many feminists attacking religion on a daily basis (though they’d be completely justified). But Christianity is at /least/ as “uncompatible” as parts of the libertarian philosophy (depending on the beliefs of the individual in question), and I would say it’s far /more/ incompatible as soon as you toss in any belief in the bible. Yet posts about the religious right never seem written in a way offensive to someone who themselves has religion, but isn’t part of that movement.

I don’t know. I honestly don’t mean to cause waves, I just felt the need to comment and say posts like this make me feel like I’m excluded from the movement simply because I don’t agree 100% with the “party line, or that is I have some opposing viewpoints. (Like that I think the healthcare system here sucks, but I also know firsthand that the system in the UK also sucks and I would be horrified to copy them, having had several relatives DIE due to their policies. Does that mean I don’t care about women’s health? I don’t think so, but comments like saying all libertarians are totally selfish and don’t care about everyone just seems a slap in the face to people who could be helping the movement. It also kind of demonstrates ignorance on what the ideals behind that are all about.. I mean, I’m sure you all get plenty of totally idiotic libertarian trolls who have given you a very negative impression of the philosophy, but at the end of the day it’s about freedom and autonomy over your own life, which is an ideal that I do not view as incompatible with feminism in the slightest. And obviously you can be libertarian and also an extremely philanthropic, politically active and compassionate person.)

So.. yes. I normally just lurk on all the feminist blogs I read, but this is about the third insult to libertarians I’ve read in the past couple days and I felt the need to speak up. I care, I think anyone who labels themselves as a feminist is working for the same goals, even if we sometimes disagree in the methods, and it hurts to feel like a movement which is so important to me thinks so little of anyone who has any beliefs outside the predefined box.