I want my own island.
If I hear one more person - especially one more female - say that they are "not a feminist," I am going to skip my usual Socrates method of disproof and go straight for using my brain power to blast their head into tiny microscopic portions
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Agreed on most counts, with some clarification/explanation on my part; in all of these conversations, it was clear that we were not discussing Feminists (capital F) or the man-hating variety. I DO generally ask the person to clarify before I smack them upside the head... but the majority of people this conversation comes up with - and usually in history or anthropology classes, at that - are the people to whom this conversation would apply.
The sadly interesting thing to me is the negative association the word HAS in society, as it almost acts as FURTHER proof for the need of such a venture in the first place. Why do feminists create such a bad connotation? I mean, arguably all groups with extremes hold similar negative connotations, but I don't think I've ever witnessed such vehement denial for association as I have with the feminists. It's one of those things that probably shadows exactly how ingrained gender-roles are in our society, and that makes me sad.
At the same time, it can be argued that Feminists (capital F intended) are those who are actively engaged in achieving further rights for women. Therefore, any woman who is not engaged in speaking out and/or demonstrating is not a Feminist
I find this to be more the fault of the english language (cobbled together by three blind dudes with a German dictionary!) and academics inability to be specific. What you're discussing, I term more along the lines of "feminist activists" in the same way we have political activists, animal activists, envagelical activists, etc. The fact that I associate with a certain cause/belief, or practice it, does not mean that I take public steps to further that cause through demonstrations or lobbying. "All [___] activists are [____], but not all [____] are activists" sort of thing.
Largely, my anger is not how my peers decide to identify themselves, but that they don't have the brain power to THINK about these things before they open their mouths (again, conclusion based on after I ask them to clarify). If most of our population makes decisions based upon sound bites and headlines, it's a safe bet that the results of meaningful discussion are the culmination of opinions of the ignorant.
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