“It’s time to stop fighting over [the word "feminist'] and retire it as the historical artifact it seems to have become, because whichever side of the definition-debate you’re on, it’s unlikely you mind will be changed . . . How about we call someone who’s a believer in equal rights and respect for personal choice something like a . . .feminine-ista.
(ELLE‘s Editor-In-Chief, Roberta Myers, September 2011)
Defining a feminist as a woman who wants to advance only the rights of women misses the point because there’s nothing feminine or inherently “feminine-ista” about that. When I was 13-years-old, I asked my older sister what a feminist was. She told me, “A feminist is someone who believes in equal rights for men and women.” Being a feminist is not being pro-woman or woman-above-man, but rather and equality of rights for all humans.
Despite the ever evolving definition of feminist, only 30% of women self identify as such while 80% favor efforts to strengthen and change women’s status in society (Aronson 2003). Are we a nation of closeted feminists? And if we are, why are people so afraid to admit they are feminists?
The bigger question is: Does it matter if someone who believes in equal rights labels themselves as a “feminist”? As we get further away from the feminism of our mother’s era and even our older sisters’ era, is feminism becoming less relevant? Do we need another term for it?
I’d love to hear what you think! Share your thoughts by commenting.
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““What is feminism? Simply the belief that women should be as free as men, however nuts, dim, deluded, badly dressed, fat, receding, lazy and smug they might be. Are you a feminist? Hahaha. Of course you are.”
? Caitlin Moran, How to Be a Woman
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I remember thinking a few years back that a re-brand would be great if it would mean that more people would embrace the philosophies. But you know what? A re-brand for me would be a denial of what feminism has achieved. No, as a movement it ain’t and hasn’t been perfect, but it’s achieved a hell of a lot and I’m not prepared to deny it. In my more feisty moments I think that people who aren’t willing to say it, despite the tired connotations, aren’t really behind it, but that may be unfair. I do know that if all these women in the past have gone through all sorts only for us to shy away from saying we’re feminists…then I find that damn disrespectful.
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I agree with you on a lot of these points! I think that just because some people don’t like it, and even more that just because conservatives have rebranded it for us, doesn’t meant that we should just say, “Let’s start something new!” And even if we did, it shouldn’t be “feminine-ista”. I think we stand on the shoulders of many women and to deny the term would be to deny the history of how we got here and where we still have to go.
Ever since the word “feminist” was coined, people have been trying to get rid of it. Roberta Myers is being boringly repetitive. I’ll never forget reading Virginia Woolf’s diaries and stumbling across an entry (written before WW1 !) in which she said that it made her uncomfortable.
My view? Sure, it’s uncomfortable to claim it. To do so, you have to go through that rude awakening where you realize how much crappy sexism and patriarchy surround us. And that sucks. (There’s a great blog entry on Fugitivus called “Great, Now I Hate Everybody” that describes it well.)
Since it’s uncomfortable, I can see how many folks would rather not use the label — in fact, would rather pretend they don’t have to think about it. That attitdue is neither revolutionary, new or even very interesting. Roberta Myers can stick her head in the sand along with all the other people who want to pretend everything’s fine. I’d rather see what I’m facing.
Hahah. I can’t say I disagree! I feel that way every time I heard someone ask if feminism is dead. Can we get any more redundant sometimes?
I’ll have to check out that blog entry you mentioned. I think you’re right–most people don’t think about these hard questions because it makes life significantly harder.
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I will always be proud to call myself a feminist. Always.
Sheesh. Why not call ourselves “teehee-girl-ettes” or something while we’re at it?
Literally laughing out loud!
Eesh, after reading the post and comments it’s difficult to know where to start. I agree, there is a negative connotation to the word feminist. However, I don’t think it’s fair to blame the Right. Like Cynthia said, ‘feminist’ and liberal are only labels. So is ‘right’ and conservative. I think there have been very strong ‘conservative’ females demonized in ways their male counterparts aren’t. Condoleezza Rice, regardless of how I feel about her politics, has an amazing story and is a strong female figure. I also feel the same about Hilary Clinton. Remove the political labels and you are left with two extraordinary ladies.
, a social life, etc, but we aren’t equals. Why? Well where do I start…Because we are expected to do all the above and more AND look smokin’ hot while doing it. Because in spite of more women receiving degrees than men we still don’t have equal pay in the workplace. Because the boards of almost all major corporations are male-dominated. I could go on, but I think everyone reading this blog knows the score.
In my personal opinion, most of us are a mixture of all these things and it’s unfortunate that the loudest and ugliest (in character) in any given group are the ones that receive the most publicity.
Are we closet feminists? I don’t know, but it’s a good question to raise. I think the focus needs to change, because in spite of the feminist movement, the state of modern woman is…not good. We can have a career, a family, a blog
Oh, and I agree – adding ‘ista’ doesn’t change anything – it’s just a cutesy catch-phrase.
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Agreed! There’s certainly a lot of discussion going on here!
I have to disagree and say that the branding of feminism has been largely due to the right and male-dominated politics. I once heard a talk with Gloria Steinem, who said about Condelezza Rice, “Just because she’s a woman doesn’t mean she supports women’s rights.” I don’t know much about Rice’s policy, to be honest. During that time, I was too focused on, let’s just say, my hatred of George W. Bush to notice Condi as much.
But you’re right–female politicians, be they feminists or not, do face a burdens and obstacles that their male counterparts often do not.
I think there’s a lot of media pressure on the modern Western woman, as you mentioned as well. But, the more I read through these comments the more I think about women living in under-developed worlds and how much they have compared to what we have. I think it’s important for feminism to keep its bones because in many parts of this world, women are not as lucky. To quote Oprah, “Women born in America are the luckiest women in the world.” Maybe not so much when compared to women in Canada or Scandinavia, but certainly when compared to many developing nations.
I really appreciate your comments! Thank you for sparking such a great discussion. I hope you’ll come back soon
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When I was younger I would never dream of retiring the term “feminist” and I would celebrate the fact that it means many different things to different people. Now, I would agree that the term could be retired because it is meaningless. There is no definition and every feminist believes in different things. I would go with the common denominator that all feminists believe in equal rights for all people under the eyes of the law. My feminism, however, does not support equality within male-female relationships and many would say I’m not a feminist for that reason. I agree it could be time to retire the label and just define for ourselves what we are all about and share that with others without a label. With that said, I’m certainly not against the term, just willing to re-imagine it.
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That’s interesting! I think its meaninglessness may come from the fact that’s it’s been largely hijacked by right wing branding.
I think it’s important for every feminist to have his or her definition of the word. Certainly there’s been a lot of criticism of second and third wave feminism that was majority-white. Many complained about the absence of African American and Latino women from the movement. I think it’s important to re-imagine old terms.
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While I think the term feminista is sort of condescending, I do agree with the idea that the term feminism no longer holds the original definition in the public’s eye. And I do think it now possesses a negative connotation.
How about just using the term equality? I know, boring. But why not? There are areas where both sexes experience inequality— let alone other fractured groups— don’t we want equality for all?
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I agree with you–not a good replacement at all!
I would like to go back and do some research on the origins of feminism as a word and then also the public reaction to it, because I wonder if the reaction has ever been a positive one, to be honest.
Equality is a good way to put it and someone mentioned that below, too. I think it’s a bit too broad, but gets to the point quite nicely.
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The right wing in the US has very successfully run a marketing campaign against the WORD “feminist”, basically taking the language away from women so they can’t identify with a position as easily. It’s just like the word “liberal” — the right wing has made it a dirty word when really, being liberal is an excellent concept and high percentages of Americans actually agree with “liberal” positions, as long as the word is left off.
We need to reclaim those words and be proud of them, not bow our heads and try to make silly workarounds.
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I totally agree! In fact, I almost wrote about how the “branding” of feminist has been taken over by a more scandalous phrasing of the right.
I agree with the last thing you said, too. I like having a word that connects me back to the same women who fought for the right to vote. I think there’s power in that.
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Really interesting stuff. I agree that the word “feminist” ends up having perhaps too much focus on the “female” rather than the “female equal to male”…makes it much harder, say, for men to be comfortable saying they’re feminists. But…feminine-ista? NO. That does not help matters. Actually, I’d assume that would refer to women in favor of more classically “feminine” behavior, rather than having anything to do with equal rights.
Did you see the discussion on Jezebel a couple of weeks ago trying to come up with a better word? They ended up with “Equalism,” which is perhaps more accurate about the major goals of feminism, though doesn’t reflect the fact that women still have to progress further in many areas to achieve equality than men do.
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I agree with what you said. I think by placing a bigger emphasis on the potential femininity of feminism could be detrimental to its cause. To me, that’s nto what it’s about.
I didn’t see that discussion! I’ll have it out. I like “equalism” although that is a bit more all encompassing word that’s very similar to equality, which has very different yet similar connotations.
FEMININE-ISTA? Oh my god, that is the worst. I want to like Roberta Myers but I think this pushed her into never-neverland for me (for the reasons Claire spelled out above, which are spot-on).
I don’t particularly care if other people use the term “feminist,” though I used to. When talking with notafeministbuts, I usually just point out what you said here–that feminism is about equal rights and opportunities, and about looking at how we treat both men and women because of their gender. I don’t try to persuade them any longer, though–I think we need the notafeministbuts alongside people using the word, because both help get the essential ideas across. Me, though? Feminist 4-eva.
LOL. Yeah, it’s unfortunate. This quote was actually buried in the middle of her Editor’s Letter this month and had me thinking someone should’ve edited it out.
I don’t really care if someone’s notafeminist but, because, frankly, if they believe in the idea of equality for all humans, then, yes, they are a FEMINIST, no buts.
I feel similarly as a I do to being a vegetarian, which I’ve been almost as long as I’ve been a feminist. I’m past winning people over. All I can do is live my life and make my argument.
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Oh gosh- why do we need to put “ista” at the end of anything female oriented: fashionista, recessionista. It’s just trying to make it cutesy which goes against the feminist movement. I proudly proclaim I’m a feminist to show fight the stereotype. Just like people have a stereotype about atheists, they are shocked that I’m a non-believer. I think it’s good to be cohesive and the more women use the term, the more we’ll bring the outdated stereotypes.
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EXACTLY! That’s what Claire said below, too.
I think the more women define themselves as feminists (if they consider themselves to be one), the more positivity that will be drawn to the word.
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That’s a good point! The need to make things – ALL things – cutesy being incompatible with genuine, across-he-board feminism.
EXACTLY! “ista” may work for fashion, but come on, feminine-ista?
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A feminine-ista..
..
That’s flipping ridiculous.
Because one, the whole world does not need to embrace the mainstream fashion media’s love of “-ista”, and two.. part of the whole ‘equal rights’ thing is that being female sexed does not mean you must have any investment in femininity.
And it’s just such an ungainly word!
FOR GOODNESS SAKE
..I will come back later with comments about the word “feminist”.
I’m with you! Not a good replacement at all.
I think the “ista” trend will wear off and I agree that being a woman doesn’t necessarily mean being feminine.
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