Do you identify as a feminist? (for frequent posters in women's rights and issues)

[La Lioness Priyanka]

and if so, what is your 'brand' of feminism (by brand i mean is there a theory of feminism you subscribe more to or a wave of feminism you identify more with)

and if you don't, why not?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. at an ABA convention, there was a sign up board for

"breaking the glass ceiling."

Being male, but fully in support, I signed up. THAT caused a furor, and eventually, they took the sign up board, and put one up for women only.

Sigh. the lessons (wrong ones, too) one learns.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

2. aba?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

8. American Bar Association

[elleng]

13. ONE of the reasons I'm not a member.

SO SORRY! THEY should know better.

[elleng]

7. Sorry about that.

DEFINITELY wrong lesson.
My husband (we're separated/estranged) served in Ohio House of Reps years ago, was/is Repub. His 'maiden' speech was in support of Equal Rights Amendment. (Didn't know him at the time, but its a hint about why I married him.)

[Scootaloo]

3. I do, though I tend to read rather than post

You know, that whole "listen before speaking" thing. I wasn't aware there were "brands" for instance.

[justiceischeap]

5. More like theories, maybe?

That's what I've learned in my limited time, um, learning about it.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

6. i use the word brand loosely, hence i put it in quotes

there is liberal, radical and marxist feminism. feminism can also be classified in terms of waves: first, second and third etc.

[justiceischeap]

4. I think I'm a feminist

I'm very new to the theory of feminism.

As far as brand, I'm for letting a woman do whatever she wants... I'm pro-choice all the way, even if I disagree about what she may be doing, I think telling a woman what she can do is sexist and narcissistic. Maybe as I learn more, my feelings will evolve on this.

[we can do it]

9. I Do (I know I don't post much)

[elleng]

10. I certainly do, have done since before

MS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ms._(magazine)

Don't believe in 'brands.'

[WingDinger]

11. I think I am a radical egalitarian. I am a man, and am not sure I can be a feminist.

[redqueen]

16. Interesting.

My brand of feminism says you can be.

For me, it means overthrowing the patriarchy (which maintains the lack of equality and negatively affects men as well as women)... but some feminists insist that men cannot be feminists. It's all very confusing (and offputting) IMO... but then again maybe I'm just another version of those "I'm not a feminist but I like that I can vote now" people.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

18. of course you can be a feminist and male

[trixie]

12. Yes I do

A coworker of mine voted in the 2008 election for Obama and said it was the first time she had ever voted Democratic. She is 59 and today said she had no idea she was a feminist until Santorum spelled it out for her.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

14. lol indeed

[Gormy Cuss]

15. Yes, I identify as a feminist and as a no wave one

but with a foundation in what is now termed second wave feminism. I don't think of feminism as having more than two waves. I see newer feminist theory as a natural outgrowth of the goals of second wavers.

IOW, I still think the second wave got it right for some women and managed to make major strides in moving all women closer to equality with men but once that was accomplished it was time to listen to the voices of women who still felt like their struggles and their notions of equality were not addressed. New, fresh approaches were developed and it naturally follows that some were at odds with earlier theory. The world changes and feminist theory needs to change with it.

[polly7]

17. I never really did,

though I've always fought for equal rights for women, against domestic violence and spoken up in support of the many issues women face. I think I just considered myself more of a humanist (and I realize the term isn't really a substitute, but it better fits my position that equality for all is necessary to improve the plight of any gender, orientation, race or class). I hope this doesn't mean I'm in the wrong place.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

19. no, it doesn't mean you are in the wrong place

i can see the way you use the term to be very compatible with feminism

[polly7]

21. Yay! I'm learning, and enjoying it.

[justiceischeap]

20. Nope!

Women's Rights & Issues... not in the wrong place at all.

[polly7]

24. Thanks justice :)

[OKNancy]

22. I call myself one, but I have no idea

what brand. I've never studied feminist theory. I just lived my life knowing that I was a smart as any man, that I was entitled to all the same benefits etc. I've never taken a back seat to my husband. In all financial matters, I am the decision-maker.
I also don't discount traditional feminine pursuits. I love cooking, decorating etc. Since I retired in 2010, I am a domestic whirlwind.
I am loving it. It's freedom of the highest order.

[redqueen]

26. You sound like me a few months ago...

I have always been really opinionated and considered myself a feminist, but I had no inkling about waves or the different brands.

Miss Representation radicalized me, though, and it's been a steep learning curve since then. When I was first called a 'rad fem' I thought it was an insult.

[OKNancy]

35. LOL - believe me, I've always

spoken up. I guess I was a first wave person if it is what I think it is.
I was active at my university in the late 1960's for women's rights. I even went to a bra-burning, but I was too chickenshit to do anything more than clap and cheer. The anti-war movement ( a bunch of chauvinist pigs) was also something I did, but more the lighting candles and singing and crap at my liberal church. I couldn't stand the SDS people...as I put in parenthesis above. They were completely dismissive of any female input and pretty much wanted the "girls" to get coffee and be available.

[obamanut2012]

23. Socialist Feminism and Intersectionality

This was hard for me to answer, in that so many beliefs and values overlap for me, and I don't agree with any one theory 100%, and they are political, sociological, cultural, etc. theories.

But, this political "brand" of Feminism is one I stand most firmly with, and Intersectionality the sociological "brand" I most ID with.

[TriMera]

39. I can relate to that. n/t

[obamanut2012]

41. Excellent

[Texasgal]

25. I don't identify with "brand"

because

A. I did not realize you were supposed to.

B. I am not educated enough about "waves, faabs" etc.

[justiceischeap]

27. What's your address?

We'll pop FAD--the Feminism Acronym Dictionary--in the mail to you immediately.

[Texasgal]

28. I guess I need that!!

I am clueless! LOL!

[obamanut2012]

33. Nothing saying you do

I just think some of us are more "academic" about it, which doesn't make anyone inferior or superior or anything, it's just how it's approached.

Like, some people like watching Dr. Who, and some people like watching it, discussing it, and reading Dr. Who message boards.

[Texasgal]

37. I hope I wasn't insinuating

that anyone was "superior" Or that I was "inferior". I will be the first to admit that I have no academic expertise in this area. That's why I am here!

I hope my post didn't come off wrong. If It did I apologize... it was no my true intent.

[obamanut2012]

40. No no no!

I was afraid I had sounded snotty.

[Texasgal]

44. It's all good.

[Loudmxr]

29. Yes I do but with a caveat.

I don't really like men.

I had my first girlfriend in Tiny Tots... pre kindergarten.

My mother my hero my source of argument died in her 26th year of service to our community.

I know how to say "you're pretty" in a lot of languages. It is a sign of respect and ...OMG I love women!!! I would rather be with that gender than my own.

I will always try to achieve the perfection they demand of me. They are so kissable and huggable ... what else could I do. It has worked out rather well for me because I make so few mistakes. To make a mistake in front of my women would be disrespectful of their affection for me.

OK here is one thing..always fight for their civil rights. Which I am sort of internationally famous for.

Now here is the exception.. Abigail just pooped on the floor tore up the Valentines Day package!!!! What a bitch!!

Wait a minute she is a Maltese/Bison. Then she will come up and cuddle with me, lick my face and I will forgive her. I was napping I should have let her and her brother out.

I love my women. I love my doggies. I just have to be better to them than sometimes I am.

[kestrel91316]

30. I am an unapologetic old-school feminist. IOW,

why on earth do you think somebody needs a penis in order to become a veterinarian????????? (There's a story from 1973 behind this)

[Gormy Cuss]

34. And now there are SO many women vets.

Nice to see it change, no? I bring my cat to a cat clinic and all the vets are women with two who probably had a similar experience in the '70s.

[kestrel91316]

45. We got mad. And then we got MORE than even. Literally.

[maddezmom]

31. not a frequent poster due to the fact I was a moderator

for so long at DU but lurked both here and the feminist group. I'm probably best described without a label but if I had one it would be somewhere between liberal and 3rd wave.

[TriMera]

32. I am a feminist. I identify more closely with Intersectionality theory than with the "waves". n/t

[La Lioness Priyanka]

36. so do i.

[TriMera]

38. .

[obamanut2012]

42. Yup

Which is why, as I said, I'm politically drawn to Socialist Feminism. It was ahead of it's time in many ways!

[TriMera]

46. I don't know much about Socialist Feminism.

Last edited Tue Feb 14, 2012, 01:18 AM - Edit history (1)

Could you point me toward some good resources. I would like to learn more.

[laconicsax]

43. I'm a frequent lurker, so I'll answer anyway.

I most certainly identify as a feminist, but not really as a member of any set 'brand' or wave. I've never identified with a wave and I think too much has been made over the manufactured conflict between 2nd and 3rd-waves and that conflict only serves to brand 2nd-wavers as sex-hating racists and 3rd-wavers as ditzy, hypocritical capitulators and marginalize feminism in the process.

I oppose patriarchy. Patriarchy is largely responsible for all sex and gender-based inequality and discrimination in our society, whether it be wage-gap between men and women or the oppression of the LGBTQ community. It forces men, women, and everyone in between into little, explicitly defined boxes and punishes any and all variation.

This isn't to say that race and class issues that affect women should be relegated to the sidelines. On the contrary, these issues combined with patriarchy form a kyriarchy that rules society. I tend to see the elimination of patriarchy as one prong, no more or less vital to the destruction of the kyriarchy.

[applegrove]

47. All the people in my life are feminists. Men and women. And they always have been.

There was never any struggle about it in my life. As a woman, my life was always about what I wanted to do with it. That meant I was interested in good works and changing the world for the better. I guess because it was the default position in my family I never did any reading on it. It just is what it is.

[Starry Messenger]

48. I'm a intersectionalist feminist and also Marxist feminist.

There are some oppressions the early Marxists weren't very good at identifying, and I feel intersectionality really adds to the discussion there.

[kdmorris]

49. I do identify as a feminist

I don't think I have a particular "brand", just that I grew up female and realized that we didn't have the same sports as boys and when I said I wanted to be an astronaut, everyone was aghast because girls can't be astronauts (Guess they proved them wrong!)

I tend to stray more toward the philosophy that every person should be treated equally and have the same rights as other persons (with the obvious exception of young children. They certainly have MOST of the same rights as everyone else, but not all).

I haven't posted here in a long time so not sure that I'm really a "frequent poster", but the women's rights forum was accessible in the old DU whereas feminism was not without a star.

[JustAnotherGen]

50. Black American Feminist

There is nuance to that . . . as I do believe it's a subculture where we have to keep the black/brown/african american experience out of general discussions re feminism - but in the black community I can speak of the multitude of stereotypes black women combat every day and how that has shaped my perspective on women's rights/human rights.

In my "brand" - You have to walk two paths in tandem.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

52. agreed. in a lot of intersectional politics you do

but black american feminism was probably the first form of intersectional feminism

[Scout]

51. yes, i am a feminist. n\t

[libodem]

53. Yes

I like the intersected theory.

[Liora24]

54. yes I consider myself a feminist

I don't know what kind of brand I am. I guess I just generally believe that all women should have equal rights, and in some areas need more specific rights (like abortions). Men don't get pregnant so it is something that doesn't apply to them.

[Kath1]

55. I Identify Now As A Feminist

Probably of the "liberal" brand. Pre-divorce - no, post-divorce - yes.

I'm learning more about it all of the time!

[niyad]

56. have always identified as a feminist, and always will

time magazine used to publish, every few years or so, an article entitled (with a great deal of hope, apparently) "is feminism dead?" to which my response has always been, "not so long as I draw breath"

I subscribe to rebecca west's view "feminism is the radical notion that women are people", or, as I have occasionally put it "feminism is the idea that women are entitled to all the sames rights, privileges and responsibilities as men."

I remember very clearly the day I became a feminist. I was about 5 or 6, and in the toy section of a department store at christmas time. there were rows and rows of things for boys, and only about two for girls--and most of the stuff was pink (a colour I despise to this day unless it is a flower) that pissed me off big time.

later, in school, as an "egghead", "brain" ,etc., I was basically shunned by classmates for not only having, but not hiding, my brain. the standard brainwashing that women of my generation got somehow never sank in with me. I didn't know, or care, that I was supposed to hide being smart, caring about things other than boys, etc. and, the older I got, the less inclined I was to play any sort of games.

I have worked for the ERA, for women's issues, been assaulted by the woman-hating anti-choicers, gotten death threats for working for choice, and used to believe that we would, in my lifetime, see a more equal world. Now I watch the reichwing fundies in their frenzy to destroy women, and wonder why we are still having to fight these battles in the 21st century. But I do not give up.

so, yes, I am, proudly, loudly, unabashedly, and unapologetically, a FEMINIST.

[The empressof all]

57. I have always been a feminist

Frankly, I'm always a little taken a back when women claim with pride that they aren't.

I remember the days when girls couldn't wear pants to school, where the only jobs open to us were teaching and nursing and when the best many of us could expect was to find "a good husband".

I don't subscribe to any particular philosophy, wave or dogma. I allow myself to be free of all those labels. I'm more of an a la carte kind of person who recognizes that there are no easy answers in life and when you do find one it's usually between the lines