Although this community is, by its very nature, pro-woman, it should not be considered "feminist" in the most political of senses.Why not
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I used to be in the Ani Difranco "all decent men & women should call themselves feminists" camp, but then I grew up a little & went to a women's college & began to be wary of any labels whatsoever. They can be useful (labels, I mean) & strengthening too. But at a certain point they become limiting. Personally, I prefer to go without--in this case, at least. (Doris Lessing did the same, by the way.)
it really bothers me when people shy away from labels, because what else do we have to define ourselves by? it's the whole self-limiting concept of language; we'll never perfectly communicate an idea no matter how hard we try. so i do embrace some labels and i'd call myself a feminist in a heart-beat, knowing that what i mean by it isn't always what other people mean (and that labels are generally political).
i am really concerned at the amount of women's colleges, especially small ones, that shy away from the word feminist.
i found the richard shelton poem a long time ago--i've had this journal since 2005, so it was before that. it's been my favorite poem of all time for...well, a long time. tell me about him. how did you know him? can i be a fangirl? ;-)
Well, I really think it's a "to each their own" situation. And sometimes it's one of those things that changes multiple times over the course of your lifetime. So I might come over to your POV at some point!
I went to Mills, which is super-feminist. There was plenty of uncompromising passion for feminism there, so I didn't feel the need to add to that. I felt it more important to play devil's advocate. But in another situation, I might well have behaved differently.
Richard & his wife are longtime friends of my grandmother, & I'm living with her right now, in a state of post-collegiate brokeness... So I see them fairly often, though I know his wife better than I do him. They're both pretty awesome people, though--his wife is one of my favorite old people. I don't think I have any jurisdiction over his fangirls, though! :)
There's no shying away from the word "feminist" - in fact, I think it's pretty damn inherent in the whole idea. ;)
There IS a shying away from what this community became in its early life, which was a dumping post for every cross-posted-across-all-the-Internets plea for donations to specific PACs, ads for release parties for albums by female artists, and random Mooncup tangents that had absolutely not a thing to do with women's colleges in particular but were more just about "Oh, hey, other feminists are here, let me post things they might be vaguely interested in even if they don't all live in Tacoma and want to attend my swap meet." Which is fine and all, but there are other communities just for that. You can talk about what you put up your vag and what laws give you the right to all you want, but if it's not done within the context of women's colleges/education, this ain't the place.
Also, speaking of context, it's a pretty hot thing:
Although this community is, by its very nature, pro-woman, it should not be considered "
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i am really concerned at the amount of women's colleges, especially small ones, that shy away from the word feminist.
i found the richard shelton poem a long time ago--i've had this journal since 2005, so it was before that. it's been my favorite poem of all time for...well, a long time. tell me about him. how did you know him? can i be a fangirl? ;-)
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I went to Mills, which is super-feminist. There was plenty of uncompromising passion for feminism there, so I didn't feel the need to add to that. I felt it more important to play devil's advocate. But in another situation, I might well have behaved differently.
Richard & his wife are longtime friends of my grandmother, & I'm living with her right now, in a state of post-collegiate brokeness... So I see them fairly often, though I know his wife better than I do him. They're both pretty awesome people, though--his wife is one of my favorite old people. I don't think I have any jurisdiction over his fangirls, though! :)
Reply
There IS a shying away from what this community became in its early life, which was a dumping post for every cross-posted-across-all-the-Internets plea for donations to specific PACs, ads for release parties for albums by female artists, and random Mooncup tangents that had absolutely not a thing to do with women's colleges in particular but were more just about "Oh, hey, other feminists are here, let me post things they might be vaguely interested in even if they don't all live in Tacoma and want to attend my swap meet." Which is fine and all, but there are other communities just for that. You can talk about what you put up your vag and what laws give you the right to all you want, but if it's not done within the context of women's colleges/education, this ain't the place.
Also, speaking of context, it's a pretty hot thing:
Although this community is, by its very nature, pro-woman, it should not be considered " ( ... )
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