This is an invitation to anyone who labels herself a feminist to tell me specifically what that means to you. As readers know, I often discuss how I don’t like, believe in, or approve of feminism.
But there are a number of women in the Disaffected audience, and who I “know” on social media, who identify themselves as feminists. And many of them are interesting people with engaging things to say (I don’t mean that to sound condescending, honest).
This tells me that “feminism” is one of those words with 1,000 bespoke-personal-to-me definitions. Thus, I ask you to tell me what it means to you specifically.
I’ll start out by disclosing what it means to me, and what conclusions I’ve come to.
To me, when I use the word “feminism,” I am not talking about:
1. Equal legal rights for women
2. Equal access to education, sports, and the job market
I endorse those things above, it’s just that I don’t believe “feminism” is the right word for them, or even necessary to use when supporting those political positions.
To me, feminism seems to boil down to these deep, but usually non-articulated, beliefs:
1. That the natural state of the world is permanent female subjugation to men
2. That men have an essential, in-born, desire to exploit, rape, or suppress women
3. That it’s sane and sensible to describe any Western country as a “patriarchy”
I realize that you may disagree with my definition. I offer it in honesty because I want you to understand why I think as I do.
How much of this “feminist” versus “antifeminist” fight is a distracted battle over terminology? Put another way: Are you and I using “feminism” to mean such different things that we mistakenly believe that we disagree, when we actually don’t disagree?
So, please tell me in the comments what feminism is to you. Please be as specific as you can. Don’t just use high-level catch-all words. Specify. Use concrete, real-world words and scenarios, please. I promise to give the same to you as I always try to.
Thanks to everyone who answered the question.
Comments are closed now. They had a good run, I suppose.
Feminism to me is simply allowing women to self determine.
I don’t believe men have a natural desire to subjugate women. I think there are shitty people who like being shitty, and they tend to be shitty to whoever they can get away with, depending on context. Everybody kicks downward, and women are everywhere. I think it’s just a sad state of affairs, not a plot.