By Maria DiPasquale, Staff Writer, Emerson College
I’m a feminist.
You never know what reaction you’re going to get when you say this simple phrase. You hope for enthusiastic support or an accepting “duh” that makes the fact that you even needed to say it seem trivial. You dread the eye rolls and looks of disgust.
When I came to Emerson, I had already been identifying myself as a feminist for a few years. I introduced myself to my new suitemates as a feminist. I wasn’t really sure if their eyes would roll like some of my high school classmates had when my friends and I started an online feminist movement in our senior year. Coming to a liberal arts college, I had assumed they wouldn’t. To be honest, I hadn’t really cared. I was proud of being a feminist, and I felt it said a lot about me and my values with just one word.
But once I got here, I started to realize that even in a supposedly liberal and open environment, “feminist” was still a dirty word. People argued with me. They said they didn’t support girls not shaving their armpits or their legs. They said feminists hated men. They said that of course they were pro-choice, of course they supported legislation like the Violence Against Women Act and easy access to affordable birth control. But that didn’t mean they were feminists. My favorite argument was someone telling me he didn’t want to identify as a feminist because he believed in gender equality.
A lot of this stems from terrible misconceptions about what exactly feminism is, and this is not just happening on our campus. According to an article by feministing.com, in a survey of American women voters, the percentage of women voters under 30 who identified themselves as total feminists rose from 59 percent to 73 percent once the surveyors were provided with the definition of feminism. (The definition provided described political, economic, and social equality for both genders.) It’s clear that people aren’t calling themselves feminists because they don’t know what the word means. They are still wrapped up in the idea that to be a feminist is to be a man-hating, aggressive woman. Maybe they think they have to be women to be feminists. Maybe they think they have to be a certain kind of woman to be feminists. None of this is true.
So let me clear that up for you. Feminism is for everyone.
Feminism is a movement that is striving toward equality. It manifests itself legally, with pushes to pass legislation that promotes equal rights and to strive toward more equal representation in authoritative bodies. It also manifests itself within our culture by attempting to dismantle rape culture, slut shaming, gender stereotypes, objectification, and various other cultural constructs that hold women back. Gender equality does not mean women better than men. It means women equal to men. It means women of color equal to men of color equal to white women equal to white men equal to any other gender identity of any race, sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic status, or body type.
Feminism is an amazing movement because, often times, once you get involved with women’s rights, you become involved in promoting the rights of any other oppressed group. And it all comes naturally. You could be from the richest, whitest town in the U.S., with little to no experience with class or racial struggle. But the second you start really caring about women gaining access to affordable health care, you suddenly start looking to impoverished neighborhoods. You realize that most impoverished neighborhoods are filled with racial minorities. You see the institutional racism that keeps many of these minorities in these neighborhoods. Or maybe you read an article about women continually being labeled “crazy” by the media, and begin to combat stigmas on mental health issues. This gets you reading about the stigma on eating disorders, and soon you’re combating fatphobia too. Before you know it, you are a full-fledged supporter of every injustice that comes your way.
This is the beauty of feminism. Feminism is intersectionality. I’m not saying that every person who supports gay rights was a feminist first. But feminism is an easy entry into the world of activism and social injustices because nearly everybody has a woman in their life who is important to them and whose rights they wish to protect. If people would start to see feminism in this way, maybe the conversation around the word “feminism” would change.
A great article by Laurie Penny on Newstatesman.com points out that feminism itself doesn’t need to be renamed. Asking to rename feminism, Penny says, is in reality asking “to find a better, more soothing way of asking that women and girls should be treated like human beings rather than drudges or brainless sex toys.” As she states, to rename the movement is to compromise to our opponents, to give into negative stereotypes of aggression, man-hating, and closed-mindedness. Every other social movement I can think of has evolved with the times; so feminism does as well.
If everyone who truly is a feminist based on beliefs would identify themselves as such, the word would not have the stigma it does today. It would hold power that it cannot hold now when its basic name is stigmatized. The word “feminism” has evolved. It is no longer attached to stigmas of violence, aggression, and man-hating. So stop being afraid of the dreaded F-word. Take a breath, and say it out loud:
I am a feminist.
Maria DiPasquale is a freshman Writing, Literature, & Publishing major and Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Minor at Emerson College. She hails from a lovely, diverse, and liberal little town called Maplewood, New Jersey, a quick 30 minute train ride from New York City. As a result, a dialogue about race was ongoing throughout her childhood, shaping her current interest in equality. She is a feminist who aspires to write stories and novels that draw on equality issues. Her other interests include exploring cities, wandering around museums, buying more used boots than she could ever need, and making long lists of books she wants to read.
I’m a feminist.
You never know what reaction you’re going to get when you say this simple phrase. You hope for enthusiastic support or an accepting “duh” that makes the fact that you even needed to say it seem trivial. You dread the eye rolls and looks of disgust.
When I came to Emerson, I had already been identifying myself as a feminist for a few years. I introduced myself to my new suitemates as a feminist. I wasn’t really sure if their eyes would roll like some of my high school classmates had when my friends and I started an online feminist movement in our senior year. Coming to a liberal arts college, I had assumed they wouldn’t. To be honest, I hadn’t really cared. I was proud of being a feminist, and I felt it said a lot about me and my values with just one word.
But once I got here, I started to realize that even in a supposedly liberal and open environment, “feminist” was still a dirty word. People argued with me. They said they didn’t support girls not shaving their armpits or their legs. They said feminists hated men. They said that of course they were pro-choice, of course they supported legislation like the Violence Against Women Act and easy access to affordable birth control. But that didn’t mean they were feminists. My favorite argument was someone telling me he didn’t want to identify as a feminist because he believed in gender equality.
A lot of this stems from terrible misconceptions about what exactly feminism is, and this is not just happening on our campus. According to an article by feministing.com, in a survey of American women voters, the percentage of women voters under 30 who identified themselves as total feminists rose from 59 percent to 73 percent once the surveyors were provided with the definition of feminism. (The definition provided described political, economic, and social equality for both genders.) It’s clear that people aren’t calling themselves feminists because they don’t know what the word means. They are still wrapped up in the idea that to be a feminist is to be a man-hating, aggressive woman. Maybe they think they have to be women to be feminists. Maybe they think they have to be a certain kind of woman to be feminists. None of this is true.
So let me clear that up for you. Feminism is for everyone.
Feminism is a movement that is striving toward equality. It manifests itself legally, with pushes to pass legislation that promotes equal rights and to strive toward more equal representation in authoritative bodies. It also manifests itself within our culture by attempting to dismantle rape culture, slut shaming, gender stereotypes, objectification, and various other cultural constructs that hold women back. Gender equality does not mean women better than men. It means women equal to men. It means women of color equal to men of color equal to white women equal to white men equal to any other gender identity of any race, sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic status, or body type.
Feminism is an amazing movement because, often times, once you get involved with women’s rights, you become involved in promoting the rights of any other oppressed group. And it all comes naturally. You could be from the richest, whitest town in the U.S., with little to no experience with class or racial struggle. But the second you start really caring about women gaining access to affordable health care, you suddenly start looking to impoverished neighborhoods. You realize that most impoverished neighborhoods are filled with racial minorities. You see the institutional racism that keeps many of these minorities in these neighborhoods. Or maybe you read an article about women continually being labeled “crazy” by the media, and begin to combat stigmas on mental health issues. This gets you reading about the stigma on eating disorders, and soon you’re combating fatphobia too. Before you know it, you are a full-fledged supporter of every injustice that comes your way.
This is the beauty of feminism. Feminism is intersectionality. I’m not saying that every person who supports gay rights was a feminist first. But feminism is an easy entry into the world of activism and social injustices because nearly everybody has a woman in their life who is important to them and whose rights they wish to protect. If people would start to see feminism in this way, maybe the conversation around the word “feminism” would change.
A great article by Laurie Penny on Newstatesman.com points out that feminism itself doesn’t need to be renamed. Asking to rename feminism, Penny says, is in reality asking “to find a better, more soothing way of asking that women and girls should be treated like human beings rather than drudges or brainless sex toys.” As she states, to rename the movement is to compromise to our opponents, to give into negative stereotypes of aggression, man-hating, and closed-mindedness. Every other social movement I can think of has evolved with the times; so feminism does as well.
If everyone who truly is a feminist based on beliefs would identify themselves as such, the word would not have the stigma it does today. It would hold power that it cannot hold now when its basic name is stigmatized. The word “feminism” has evolved. It is no longer attached to stigmas of violence, aggression, and man-hating. So stop being afraid of the dreaded F-word. Take a breath, and say it out loud:
I am a feminist.
Maria DiPasquale is a freshman Writing, Literature, & Publishing major and Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Minor at Emerson College. She hails from a lovely, diverse, and liberal little town called Maplewood, New Jersey, a quick 30 minute train ride from New York City. As a result, a dialogue about race was ongoing throughout her childhood, shaping her current interest in equality. She is a feminist who aspires to write stories and novels that draw on equality issues. Her other interests include exploring cities, wandering around museums, buying more used boots than she could ever need, and making long lists of books she wants to read.