But I feel like Reddit's broader community (not everyone, mind you) ultimately suffers from the age-old idea of just having a full on egalitarian movement without necessarily identifying that it is actually pretty necessary to focus on specific elements of society in a way that directly helps the oppressed. So what I mean is that, for example, I suspect that most people on Reddit or perhaps even those respondents to the poll you cited probably wouldn't agree that feminism is about full on gender equality (with a focus on specifically eliminating the biases and oppression that women face), but would probably think that it's more a case of incendiary rhetoric directed at men, which I don't really think it is in most cases. For example, I love Bernie Sanders, but some of the more libertarian factions on the subreddit supporting his campaign would probably be the exact sort of people he would not even remotely want to associate himself, or his progressive agenda, with. My point is that it's all very well and good to say that you're all for reproductive rights and equality for gender but then to be so vehemently opposed to movements that are dedicated to that very thing on the basis that they are 'PC' or infringe upon free speech and individual liberty is a bit strange to me. Especially when you consider that something like feminism isn't even some 100% unified movement but rather a pretty diverse thing in and of itself. It's like saying "fuck Islam because it is a cult that is composed of a bunch of terrorist misogynists that follow a warlord"; you're reducing a huge ideology into a few buzz-words in the name of some faux-liberalism. And yes, I've actually seen some comments that are very close to that above statement, from users that had otherwise leftist views. That is the sort of area ultimately where you see the right-wing tendencies of certain Redditors crop up, I think: honestly, if you compare what they say to what pundits on Fox News say (i.e, sure gender equality would be great but fuck those loud women trying to fight for it, those guys suck and are way too hostile and PC) I think you'd find a lot of similarities. Yes, it's a mistake to define people based on how an individual sees their beliefs, sure, but my point was that it's very hard to develop a very objective view of the political spectrum. I wouldn't necessarily say Redditors are rightists, not at all, but they have rightist tendencies when it comes to certain topics, in my opinion.
A fun browser extension for conversations like this: PC2Respect."Those same people who might not go along with considerations of treating people with respect may also be in support of issues that are most definitely leftist."
Well, feminism is about gender equality from a very specific perspective on society, namely one that assumes the existence of patriarchy. You don't need to demonize feminism as inherently anti-male to disagree with that concept and thus disagree with feminism's focus or some of the contemporary rhetoric that seems to accompany it. Likewise you don't need to worry about things like 'cultural appropriation' to be anti-racist. It's all well and good if you disagree with people's opinions on whatever, but it's disingenuous to decide that because someone thinks something you don't feel is very liberal they're suddenly a secret conservative even though they're life-long democrats who've always supported liberal causes. You may remember that back in the 90s it was liberals who were defending art and media that was under fire from religious conservatives. That the same sort of hypercritical attitude is coming from left-wing authoritarians rather than right-wing authoritarians doesn't suddenly push those who oppose it to the right. Again, the question here is how much evidence exists that reddit is leaning to the right. Pointing out redditors who oppose authoritarian positions isn't the same as pointing out conservatives.
The concept of patriarchy arose within a certain branch of feminism, and tho it's permeated it's not a fundamental concept to feminism per se. Well, to characterize anyone as liberal, conservative, or whatever is necessarily going to be a generalization. Capitalist libertarians are hard for so many people to grasp because they tend to be "liberal" on social issues and "conservative" on economic issues. Hence, it's useful to have a seperate term to describe them, because there are so many people that can be characterized that way. Maybe what we need is a new term to for people who tend towards what's usually considered to be liberal positions, except on identity issues.feminism is about gender equality from a very specific perspective on society, namely one that assumes the existence of patriarchy.
it's disingenuous to decide that because someone thinks something you don't feel is very liberal they're suddenly a secret conservative even though they're life-long democrats who've always supported liberal causes.