WOW...
what a thread...

while I admit that I have not read everything you guys wrote above... I just want to stress that paradoxically there is actually no dualist distinctions between being Christian and being a Feminist
although having not read 100% of the above post I apologise if someone has already said that

while I do not intend this post as any form of "Propaganda" and I am not going to put a lot of detail into my post... I want you to know that I do not come from an "ignorant" and "sheltered" background, my university studies include a lot to do with medical ethics etc. and as such I am well aware of any counter-arguments that you may throw at me...

I speak personally as a Roman Catholic who (at least tries to) follow all the teachings of the Church,
I emphasise that although my religious faith may "bias" me in some of your opinions, however in my opinion it does not bias me anymore than your beliefs do you, be it religious or athiestic... as westerner's we should all hold at least some semblance of similar values, in this I presume my reference back to the 1945 UN convention on Human Rights


What I do want to stress, however, is that to be a FEMINIST, all one really has to do is fight for "women's rights"


the definition of FEMINISM is what seems to be at stake....
where the boundaries for each feminist lie, as to positive and negative aspects of their causes, can be quite different (as different as myself and Ann for instance... hehe, not that I want to criticise her in any way)


there are many definitions of "Women's Rights" around...
including:
The RIGHT for women NOT to have their bodies violated through the trauma of abortion....-see UN on Medical treatments...

the RIGHT to BE BORN- when considering so many 1000s (millions???) of female babies aborted in China and other countries due to primarily their gender (Which incidentally enough is totally ignored by the family planning associations)


Now consider the Catholic Church's stance on contraception and consider this next RIGHT:

The RIGHT to have total control over their sexual lives
according to most popular formulations of feminism, one fundamental aspect to this is that of the right to have contraception and/or abortion on demand

however.....
In the eyes of many FEMINISTS (who may or may not be Catholic, it is besides the point now as long as they are arguing for the woman's rights) contraception (via the pill, mainly) on demand has lead to an attitude amongst men that it is almost the woman's responsibility to be taking contraception, that any failure of the method is the woman's fault, and hence abstaining themselves from any responsibility post intercourse...

this has lead to attitudes where it is EXPECTED of women to be already taking the pill, and hence if there is a pregnancy "Plausible deniability" could potentially be used (although not a legal excuse when it comes to child-care, one of our politician's favourite reasons...)

This means that women who want a relationship face considerable pressure to be on the pill, which has enormous volumes of evidence suggesting negative and harmful effects on the woman's health (not to be a scare mongerer, this is a whole other post to do with the politics of science and feminism see mainly the coalition on abortion and breast cancer who also have links to the pill and BC)

there are also relationship issues, where the pill has been linked to the rise in the divorce rates; as both the partners are often more willing to engage in intercourse pre-marriage due to lower fertility, hence they are supposedly more likely to be willing to engage in "active extramarital affairs" while still married...

there is also the "Pseudo rape" claim from a lot of feminists who argue that Viagra et al. create an environment where the women feel forced into encounters with their spouses, which they otherwise would not have, due to "lowered" risks and increased expectations.....


although it may not look like it from this post, which grew considerably larger than intended, I wanted this to be enlightening for you guys in that the definition of FEMINISM is what is really at stake....

so if the definition of FEMINISM is what seems to be at stake....
where the boundaries for each feminist lie, as to positive and negative aspects of their causes, can be quite different (as different as myself and Ann for instance... hehe, not that I want to criticise her in any way)

then I want to conclude that It is not an oxymoron to be a Christian/Catholic and to be a Feminist

You can't have MANSLAUGHTER without LAUGHTER

The Neuroscientist: Eating glass makes you smart...do you want to see what you can learn?