From the inimitable ginmar

[moonborn]

Because sometimes stupid shit that people toss about in LJ communities pisses me off.

...I'm not a feminist, but....

Fine. Gimme your birth control, your vote, and your independance. Free ride stops now.

Comments

[honeysuckle_raw]

I'm not saying man-hating feminists don't exist. But their existence is hugely exaggerrated, and pointing to them as reasons you don't want to be linked to feminism is cowardly, imo (and it also demeans those hairy butch lesbians, whether or not that's your intention, whose opinions and lifestyles are just as valid as the "pretty" feminists').

I definitely don't think all feminists should have to wear an "I'm a feminist" badge, or even say the word "feminist" in their entire lifetime, but I do think it's a totally, 100% negative, anti-feminist thing to preface an opinion with "I'm not a feminist, but..." The essential sentiment behind a statement like that is "I do not want to be associated with feminism." You can't choose how people will interpret that, even if you don't have bad intentions. All they know is that you don't want to be considered a feminist, which is an active effort against feminism. I'm fine with someone not wanting to throw the word around- I understand how much it repels people who don't understand what it means, and how some people will shut down if you say the f-word. But I'm not fine with someone explicitly saying "I'm not a feminist." If they think feminism is all about man-hating, I think you should educate them instead of confirming their belief that feminism is in some way not good.

I would never want to take away the rights of any woman just for saying she wasn't a feminist. It's just really infuriating that some people are willing to hurt the movement just because they don't want people to think their legs are unshaven.

[honeysuckle_raw]

I guess I just don't understand the big fear here, or what exactly you're afraid of being "labeled" as. Feminists can be fat, skinny, tall, short, gay, straight, male, female, black, white, brown. The ONLY ideology feminism prescribes is support of women's equality. I don't even understand why you think it's a "label" to begin with, because the only people who ever tried to characterize feminism were people trying to hurt it.

Popular culture has obviously succeeded in pitting women against feminists, which is great for patriarchy. If we can't even agree on terminology, what could we possibly accomplish? I don't know what should be done about that, but I don't think the solution is to be afraid of the word "feminist" and all the stereotypes designed to make us afraid of it.