Either a day late, or a day early
Didn't get to this yesterday, and I suppose I could save it for tomorrow (International Women's Day) but why not get my ire out anyway.
She goes out of her way not to sound "strident", a word she uses several times to explain why feminism got a bad name in the 1990s..
Yes, because asking in sweet reasonable tones just took us so far towards total liberation...
Not to mention, I suspect that whatever you ask for in the context of feminism, even if you ask in dulcet tones and flutter your eyelashes, people will put you down as a strident harpy for daring a) to want those things b) to ask for them. (See my darling Dame R's trenchant comment in the icon, citing her line about 'I only know that men call me a feminist when I express opinions that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute).
I don't think there's a way to be a cute and adorable feminist. Because even if you are calm and reasonable and do not get in a strop, the content of being a feminist is sufficiently threatening to certain groups that you will be perceived as a monstrous angry figure.
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