I Am Not a Feminist
Why is it that when women say anything that indicates that they have a brain and wish to be treated accordingly they have to add “I’m not a feminist but…
I realize some may find my question a bit hypocritical because I’ve been known to say that I don’t call myself a feminist, however that’s because I rarely label myself as anything.
I don’t want to be placed in a box, but if you want to call me a feminist I won’t be offended. I don’t feel the need to preclude my statements with “I’m not a feminist” as if it’s some ugly, dirty, sinful word.
If not wanting to be considered a second class citizen makes me a feminist fine!
If being disgusted by the sexualizing and objectification of girls and women makes me a feminist great!
If being able to speak my mind when others are being treated unfairly makes me a feminist excellent!
I think there’s a big misconception that in order to call yourself a feminist you have to believe in every single thing that others who call themselves feminists believe in. This myth is perpetuated by leadership in certain organizations who appear to believe that they own claim to the word feminist
“if you aren’t down with all of our causes then get out our club!”.
Perhaps there is a patent or trademark that I am not aware of, but if I want to support certain movements and not others I don’t really see a problem with that. Things get accomplished when we work together, not when we try to divide ourselves based on some invisible scale of superiority.
In short, I’m all about women’s empowerment. Whether that means women feel empowered to be mothers, wives, CEO’s, sports stars, or bread bakers; I don’t care, as long as women know that they have a choice, and their choices are valid. I don’t care what your life choices are, as long as you respect that since you have choices, others should too.
(Ladies, we’ve got to work on that!)
If that makes me a feminist then I don’t mind. If I don’t meet the feminist criteria, that’s fine too. But I’m too busy working towards a cause then to get caught up in semantics.
http://www.alldivamedia.com/blog/2009/02/18/i-am-not-a-feminist/#F
I realize some may find my question a bit hypocritical because I’ve been known to say that I don’t call myself a feminist, however that’s because I rarely label myself as anything.
I don’t want to be placed in a box, but if you want to call me a feminist I won’t be offended. I don’t feel the need to preclude my statements with “I’m not a feminist” as if it’s some ugly, dirty, sinful word.
If not wanting to be considered a second class citizen makes me a feminist fine!
If being disgusted by the sexualizing and objectification of girls and women makes me a feminist great!
If being able to speak my mind when others are being treated unfairly makes me a feminist excellent!
I think there’s a big misconception that in order to call yourself a feminist you have to believe in every single thing that others who call themselves feminists believe in. This myth is perpetuated by leadership in certain organizations who appear to believe that they own claim to the word feminist
“if you aren’t down with all of our causes then get out our club!”.
Perhaps there is a patent or trademark that I am not aware of, but if I want to support certain movements and not others I don’t really see a problem with that. Things get accomplished when we work together, not when we try to divide ourselves based on some invisible scale of superiority.
In short, I’m all about women’s empowerment. Whether that means women feel empowered to be mothers, wives, CEO’s, sports stars, or bread bakers; I don’t care, as long as women know that they have a choice, and their choices are valid. I don’t care what your life choices are, as long as you respect that since you have choices, others should too.
(Ladies, we’ve got to work on that!)
If that makes me a feminist then I don’t mind. If I don’t meet the feminist criteria, that’s fine too. But I’m too busy working towards a cause then to get caught up in semantics.
http://www.alldivamedia.com/blog/2009/02/18/i-am-not-a-feminist/#F
