The popularity of Twitter hashtags like #womenagainstfeminism and #whyidontneedfeminism would make it seem as though feminism is an old, tired issue that is no longer relevant or hip for young women. Celebrities say in interviews that they aren’t feminists because ?I hail men, I love men? (Lady Gaga), or ?I don’t really think about things as guys versus girls? (Taylor Swift). This is really more an indication that these women have a skewed view of what feminism is than a true representation of their views (Lady Gaga, in fact, retracted her statement later – about feminism, that is. I’m assuming she still loves men). It’s okay, a lot of people really don’t get it.
You may be met with some resistance from people in your life because of those skewed representations of feminism. In fact, some people (most of them rabid misogynists, whether secretly so or proudly out in public) may actually become apoplectic and try to argue with you about what a dirty, awful thing feminism is. Again, it’s okay. Smart people will know what you mean when you say you’re a feminist. As for making the truly misogynistic angry? Well, that’s kind of its own reward, isn’t it?
In case you need any more reasons to claim feminism, here are five of them.
1. You only have to agree to one thing: that women and men should be equal.
Everything else is debated?heavily. We disagree on all sorts of things, and no one pulls our feminist card because we diverge on single issues or even on whole tenets of thought. If you believe that men and women are equal, you’re already a feminist. Yes, you.
In fact, there are many different types of feminism. There’s second and third wave feminism, Marxist feminism, liberal feminism, cultural feminism, radical feminism, eco-feminism?the list is endless. You get to find what fits your values and run with it. No one dictates the exact points upon which you should agree in order to claim feminism. We’re all about empowering you to make your own choices.
2. You’re in good company.
Emma Watson. Amy Poehler. Beyonce. Kerry Washington. Claire Danes. Tina Fey. Ellen Paige. Ashley Judd. Keira Knightley. Susan Sarandon. Zooey Deschanel. Hillary Clinton. Ruth Bader Ginsburg. All have publicly declared themselves feminist.
Even if your favorite female singer/actress/political leader/celebrity/public figure isn’t on this list, she is where she is because of the gains made by feminism.
3. We don’t hate men.
In fact, feminism discusses theories of the social construction of masculinity these days nearly as often as the social construction of feminism. When we discuss gender binaries (those age-old dictates that tell us women should act like this, men should act like this, those behaviors are opposite and rigidly fixed), we recognize that those binaries are just as harmful to men as women. We get that there is a certain privilege in being able to show our emotions, as women. We get that men have a more difficult time reporting rape and domestic violence.
What we do work to end is patriarchy, which is a system that privileges men over women, a system that says masculinity is more valuable than femininity, a system that would relegate women to a certain role as mothers and wives but never leaders or warriors. Patriarchy is defined and supported by those gender binaries, which means that it’s just as harmful to men as women.
Which leads me to…
4. You don’t have to be a lesbian to be a feminist.
We’ve all seen Pat Robertson’s famous letter, printed in the New York Times, that insisted that ?feminism encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.? In truth, many of us are married?to men, and we love them. Your sexuality is yours alone, and we don’t seek to confine or define it as anything other than what you choose for it to be.
The awesome thing about feminism is, though, if you are a lesbian (or transgender, or bisexual, or gay, or otherwise queer-identified), we’re cool with that, too.
5. You’ll be part of a legacy that has done incredible things for decades.
Domestic violence shelters. Rape crisis centers. Voting rights for women. Marital property rights. There is very little disagreement that these are all great things?and you’ll be joining a movement that can proudly claim responsibility for every one of them.
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