bolson

From the altfriday5:

1. What is your personal idea of what "a feminist" or "feminism" is?

In my mind to be a ____-ist is to be an activist with that focus. An environmentalist works on environmental causes, a feminist works on women's causes. Feminism is the focus on women's issues because they aren't focused on enough otherwise. There's the root cause inequality itself to deal with, the inequality in people's minds and in societal assumptions, and there are also a lot of manifestations of that worth working on directly as well.

2. Do you consider yourself a feminist? Why or why not?

No, it's not my focus. I have other causes I'd rather work on. I'm usually in agreement and supportive and have lots of friends who identify as feminists. This is where the argument comes up. Going back to the definition, I define it as a focus, but I'm focused on other things. Is my definition wrong? I feel like lesser definitions make the concept of 'feminist' not worth having. If everyone's a feminist, no one is.

3. Do you believe that men can be feminists? Why or why not?

Absolutely yes. It's not a matter of having walked a mile in her shoes, it's a matter of what is personally important to you and having the shared values of feminism.

4. What, in your personal view, are the good things that feminism has inspired in the world, if any?

Equality is good! We're not there yet, keep going. If my white maleness is feeling repressed I'll let you know. Specific good things: voting rights, pissing off conservatives.

5. What, in your personal view, are the bad things that feminism has inspired in the world, if any?

Rush Limbaugh and others of that ilk tap into a reactionary sentiment that has been allowed to fester too long. They now have a myth of a man-hating fem-supremacist. It was probably based on a couple incendiary things said 30+ years ago and if they can find one good quote to hate every year they'll keep the myth going. So, the bad thing the feminism movement did was to not all be saints and sometimes say stupid things. And perhaps to not sufficiently directly counter the hate being levied against them but to let it slide. On the other hand, Don Imus discovered it doesn't always slide.