The One With...

I am a Feminist...
See, it wasn't all that hard.

A few weeks back I read a blog from a student declaring that although she wasn't embarrassed to be a feminist, oh heavens no, she didn't want to be identified as one unless it was on her terms. I think that is all kinds of ridiculous. Personally I want to be a feminist no matter how anyone views me from that one little word.

The writer continues to say that she only dislikes the label because she doesn't want to be known as one of those "frumpy lesbians" or a "sexist with only womens interests at heart" This causes two problems; one, feminism is about equal rights, I don't want my rights to come at the expense of your rights. I just want to be seen as a person rather than a walking uterus. two, instead of backing down and accepting these stereotypes you do have the choice to argue against and defend your values. Surely it's better to inform and educate rather than denying who you are.

As women we have so much to be thankful for and we owe a huge debt to women who died to earn us rights that they will have never seen nor believed possible. I can now do things unchaperoned (unless I'm a woman at BUCU) I can vote, I have better maternity rights at work and basically I can just do what I like, which is awesome. Refusing to label yourself as a feminist for such ridiculous reasons throws that effort back in their faces.

We still have a very long way to go to establish equality for everyone but I find it insulting for any woman to deny being a feminist. To paraphrase Caitlin Moran, "Do you identify as a woman? Yes? Then you're a feminist."