It is kind of personal

I like to argue. I enjoy it. I will defend any position for the sake of argument, even when I know I'm wrong, even when I know I'm losing the argument. It doesn't matter. I don't know what it is about arguing that attracts me, it's a mixture between the thrill of perhaps convincing someone, the satisfaction of proving someone wrong, and the pure and simple delight I personally get out of having someone try to convince me. All this said, I (more often than not) lose arguments. I like to think that this is due to the fact that I've found people more intelligent than me to argue with, but between you and me? It's probably due to me not being great at coming up with (nearly) flawless logical arguments.

This is why it really bothers me when someone refuses to hear an argument out. And I admit it's often one of my problems with many feminists I come across. I (kind of) understand the idea "we're not here to educate anyone, people, if they're interested, should educate themselves". But this shouldn't be an excuse not to get into an argument, it shouldn't be an excuse to say "I don't want to hear it, I'm not going to get into this". This is a mistake. Because a lot of the time, people don't know they are wrong.

I understand that feminism is a political and social movement (and I expect I am missing a lot here, I won't pretend to be educated in it), and that there is a lot to do, but I still can't help but think that one of the most important and possibly effective ways of spreading feminism, and making it the default way of thinking (that men and women are equal), is education. Yes, it might be exhausting, it might be boring. And of course, if someone asks, the best thing to do is probably to point them in the direction of Google (or if you're feeling charitable, some of the good resources in either books or the maze that is the internet). But when someone is saying something that is quite simply morally wrong, or if someone who claims to be a feminist falls into victim blaming (even if it's unconsciously, and I'm afraid I may or may not have done this before), they need to be corrected. It's not good enough to say "I don't want to argue". It's not good enough to say "I don't want to get into it", or "I've had this argument a million times before", or "I know I'm right". These people need to be corrected, because they are the possible feminists, who may be wrong, who may not know they are, who may not have realised.

So next time you feel that engaging in an argument isn't worth your time, think about it. Is it OK to leave the misconception there? Because, sure, I like arguing. I often do it without any regard for what I actually believe in. But once in a while I get the chance to correct a misconception, or to quite simply put my point across about something that I actually do think is important. Believe me it's worth it. Refusing to engage just makes one sound like a bigot, like they don't have the argument.

H