Not quite guys. Women are far from equality in the US. It is just that people have become so accustomed to how they are treated it seems normal.
Stats:
a) 2008: Out of 2million sexual assaults against women in the work place, only 900,000 were actually reported. That number drops significantly when you take into consideration how many cases were actually ruled in favor of the woman.
In Canada, there are over 500 women's only shelters for sanctuary from domestic abuse, rape, and other violent acts. For men, there are exactly 0. There used to be one, but the founder ran out of money to support it, and was repeatedly denied grant funding from the Government of Canada - and was repeatedly denied hearings on whether such a position from the gov't was sexist. (protip: it is.) When a woman in our society speaks out against having been mistreated, we all muster arms to protect her - well and good. However, when a man is mistreated (roughly 50% of domestic violence cases!), there is no such structure in place. Instead, he's to 'suck it up,' or 'be a man about it.' So, if we're using unsupported assumptions about non-reported cases of violence, which gender do you honestly think is reporting less?
b) Women right now are paid 77c for every dollar a man makes in similar work.
Factually untrue. As an annual average (once again, I'm Canadian, so I'll use Statistics Canada's dataset), women do make about 75% of what men do. Women are, on average, also away from the workplace about 30% more often then men. Net result: hourly, on average, a Canadian woman can expect to make about 5-8% MORE than a Canadian man.
Other remarks: women on TV really don't get famous unless they are used as pleasure. Example: Beyonce at the SuperBowl stripping down. That one girl who was on 'The Voice' a season or two ago dressed slutty. Also, notice that black women must look as white as possible to get accepted. This is why it is extremely rare to have a famous dark black woman on TV. Most likely, like Beyonce, they will take creams and cosmetics to look as white as they can.
Once again, factually untrue (not to mention trivial). How many Hustler spreads do you think Hilary Clinton was considered for? Maya Angelou? Condeleeza Rice? Whoopi freakin' Goldberg? What you're doing is providing a list that points more toward your own confirmation bias than to reality.
So, you've asked for opinions of Feminism? Here's mine: it's an odious ideology, based on 19th-century Socialism as blended with French postmodernism, which prefers an individual's personal feelings of fear, inadequacy, or petulance -assuming she's of the right gender- as evidence of a vast, cynical scheme (the 'patriarchy'). I wouldn't care (much as I don't about most foolish ideologies), except that Feminism holds and abuses political power.
Striking points: name one single invention, designed and created by a feminist woman, for the betterment of women specifically. Now, name 20 designed and created by non-feminist men, for the betterment of women specifically. Patriarchy?
In your own hometown, name 2 battered women's shelters. Now, expanding to your state/province/administrative district, name 2 battered men's shelters.
If the lack of women in Engineering, Politics (where there isn't one, but whatever), the military, and other traditionally masculine endeavours is due to gendered oppression, then please explain Norway - verifiably the most (officially) gender-neutral country on Earth - where 90% of nurses are women, and 95% of engineers are men. By choice.
My major problem with the political power wielded by modern feminism isn't so much the power, as the unequal way in which its used. Namely, enforcing upon society the conflation of equal opportunities with equal results. One thing that I find telling is, for every feminist commanding attention be brought to the 'glass ceiling' of boardroom politics, you hear exactly ZERO bringing attention to the 'glass basement' of homelessness/disenfranchisement (homeless is nearly synonymous with 'male'), or the 'glass coffins' of front-line soldiers, oil-riggers, deep-sea fishermen, etc. Yup, men make less hourly, for the priviledge (a favourite Feminist screeching point) of dying for that money (92% of fatal work injuries are to men). Patriarchy?
The other major problem I have with Feminism is that it does a disservice to all of the intelligent, capable women I've known throughout my life. The sorts of women who REFUSE to be cast in a victim's role; the sorts of people who are mistresses of their own fates, and most important, accept responsibility for it. The sorts of women who hate the idea of Big Sister making decisions 'for their own good' as much as they hate the idea of Big Brother doing the same. I think women are capable of speaking their minds, and having minds worth speaking - as long as they're not taught from birth that their oppressors are listening in for any possible chance to smite them down.
The real kicker is the cynicism required of the commited Feminist: there is no room for romance, nobility, honour, or sacrifice, in a world where writing notes is equated with 'rape;' charitible sacrifice is equated with 'priviledge;' taking contractual responsibility is equated with 'patriarchy;' and earning a future for one's children is 'abandonment.' I guess I just like people too much to be a feminist.
Finally, a little bit of reasoning: if women really do work for 77% of what men make, then why hasn't every single corporation on Earth made it policy to hire only women, and see an immediate 23% savings on payroll?
(sources:
Statistics Canada; Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, US Dep't of Labor.TL;DR: first, provide evidence of 'patriarchy.' Then, maybe, this discussion can go somewhere.
