Women telling men to step out of roles so they can step into them isn’t going to endear people to feminism. Neither is telling women they are betraying feminism by enjoying the pleasures of being a traditional housewife.
Historically, men have a hard time getting onboard with feminism, but I think that’s changing.
When feminism does not explicitly oppose racism, and when anti-racism does not incorporate opposition to patriarchy, race and gender politics often end up being antagonistic to each other, and both interests lose.
Environmental concerns and feminism are locked together. Generally, women have closer connections to the organic nature of our lives.
The Myth of Male Power dealt much more with the political issues, the legal issues, sexual harassment, date rape, women who kill, and those issues were very much more interfaced with the agendas of feminism.
The young women waking up to feminism now already wake up to more consciousness than my generation had. Even just simple things like equal pay – before you went, in my generation, and asked for a raise, you went through nausea and your palms sweating.
I get so many questions in interviews about feminism, and I think the second you start separating femininity and masculinity and giving one more power than the other, that’s like – everyone is a person.
As I started to think about how I can claim feminism while also acknowledging my humanity and my imperfections, ‘bad feminism’ simply seemed like the best answer.
We’re never going to come to a moment where all of us who claim to be feminists can agree about what the first priority of feminism is.
When I was growing up, the current of feminism was strong. You just had to step off the bank, and you’d be swept up. There was an active women’s movement. My mother was a part of it.
I really don’t care what people say. It’s amazing that feminism continues to exist at all, considering how much counter-feminism is out there.
I believe that feminism needs to teach more girls about how to make institutional changes and how to further engage men and boys into being our allies.
The word feminism needs to be taken back. It needs to be reclaimed in a way that is inclusive of men.
I consider myself a feminist because I believe women should have equal rights. Of course. It’s just that the term ‘feminism’ conjures up other things for people.
Anyone who hates something feels threatened by it. A guy who says he hates feminism (a) doesn’t understand or know feminism, and (b) is scared of powerful women. Most attacks come from fear.
It’s tragic when people think feminism is a dirty word.
I’m so interested in the feminism of women in American music. These ladies, going out on the road, way before the opportunities and advantages that I have – it was absolutely rough out there. The fact that they were still able to get their art out there and do what they’re doing is really impressive to me.
America may be the home of feminism, but I don’t think the electorate will allow a woman to be president.
I understand this fear of the word ‘feminism,’ and I understand the fear of saying it because it becomes as divisive as ‘sexism’ has become. But I know a lot of male feminists.
But feminism isn’t served by simply promoting women over men. The winner needs to be the best candidate for the job, not the best candidate of a certain gender.
If you look at the 1960s, Hemingway was viewed on the basis of the myth of his lifestyles rather than viewing his work. Machismo was badly viewed; feminism was becoming a more noble cause. I think the feminists took him apart and assumed he mistreated women.
There’s nothing more mainstream than equal pay for equal work. I mean, it’s completely obvious that’s what feminism should be for, and for women’s right to choose what happens to their own bodies.
Women’s behavior in handling beauty, even before feminism, was to deny they had any. Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful.
Feminism is very much a part of a lot of my student’s lives, but they’re not going to march about it or take a public political stance. And I think more and more young women are claiming that they’re not feminists – even though they are.
I don’t think feminism, as I understand the definition, implies the rejection of maternal values, nurturing children, caring about the men in your life. That is just nonsense to me.
Though it’s safe to say there are a whole lotta American gals who agree with the core ideals of feminism, they are somehow nevertheless watching ‘Say Yes to the Dress’ by the millions.
I didn’t really understand the concept of feminism until the media started to talk about it surrounding my name.
I see feminism as a massive party. It’s cool, the idea that 50% of the population can now start doing things and having fun and experimenting with their hair and makeup.
To me, feminism is such a simple description: it’s equal rights, economic rights, political rights, and social rights.
Feminism is teaching. I’ve gotten a lot of pleasure pushing younger writers that I’ve met and worked with.
Feminism was about making women’s lives less constrained and giving them more choices.
Feminism, unlike almost every other social movement, is not a struggle against a distinct oppressor – it’s not the ruling class or the occupiers or the colonizers – it’s against a deeply held set of beliefs and assumptions that we women, far too often, hold ourselves.
I’m speaking for a bunch of girls when I say that the idea that feminism is completely natural and shouldn’t even be something that people find mildly surprising, it’s just a part of being a girl in 2013.
For decades, universities have nurtured the most lunatic forms of feminism, denying the biological differences between males and females, promoting the idea that Western civilization is endemically sexist, and encouraging in their students ever-more-delusional forms of victimhood.
I personally feel like the conversation around feminism has advanced a lot. People are starting to realize privileged white feminism isn’t cutting it. We have to look at the holistic experience of all women, or assigned women, on the planet.
When you talk about feminism, you’re talking about the rights of all women and their families to live in dignity, peace, and security. It’s about giving women access to health care and other basic rights.
Feminism is a word that I identify with. The term has become synonymous with vitriolic man-hating but it needs to come back to a place where both men and women can embrace it. It is particularly important for women in developing countries.
There’s many women now who think, ‘Surely we don’t need feminism anymore, we’re all liberated and society’s accepting us as we are’. Which is just hogwash. It’s not true at all.
Feminism should be about liberating women, all women, even Republican women, to be their true selves.
I blame feminism and Facebook for the death of the American automobile. I’m a Republican, so I blame everything on feminism – or commies.
I believe that it is our human right to be parents and women. And there’s no contradiction between feminism, which means women should have all that they are entitled to, all that they can do, all the opportunities that they can take advantage of they should have.
One’s enemies are always talking about ‘post-feminism.’ It is a word invented by people who would like to do away with feminism.
For me, feminism is about equality. So, when someone works for a Wall Street firm and says they’re a feminist, my eyes are going to roll.
I’m a pretty avid reader, but I missed feminism in college. I did take an intro course where I read Mary Wollstonecraft, but I didn’t read a lot of the seminal writers. Then I had two teenage daughters and was reading books on development and different issues.
A lot of women these days, a lot of young women don’t want to call themselves feminists. You have this cheap, hideous ‘girl power’ sort of fad, which I think is pretty benign at best, but at worst, I think it’s a way of taking the politics out of feminism and making it some kind of fashion.
I love how feminism is often blamed for giving women too many choices. Like this is a bad thing.
I think it was really entering my 30s that I began to embrace feminism and call myself a feminist.
I think feminism means what it has always meant – women want to use all their gifts, all their talents and be judged impartially for them. I don’t think feminism has ever meant anything else.
I think of feminism as more of a political ideology.
This idea of feminism as a party to which only a select few people get to come – this is why so many women, particularly women of colour, feel alienated from mainstream western academic feminism. Because don’t we want it to be mainstream?
My idea of feminism is self-determination, and it’s very open-ended: every woman has the right to become herself, and do whatever she needs to do.
Feminism – the word – can give us a handle, a rallying point, a common ground, and help us build a bridge. Why not claim the gift of the word as a place to begin?
Feminism… I think the simplest explanation, and one that captures the idea, is a song that Marlo Thomas sang, ‘Free to be You and Me.’
Feminism’s agenda is basic: It asks that women not be forced to choose between public justice and private happiness.
