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Are you a feminist? (If so why, if not why not?) (lemmy.blahaj.zone)

submitted 4 days ago by dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

263 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Might help also to describe what you think feminism is, since it's one of those terms that is overloaded.

I once had a physical therapist tell me she wasn't a feminist because she thought women couldn't be as physically capable as men when serving as soldiers, and seemed to believe feminism requires treating women exactly like men.

I told her I was a feminist because I believe in equal rights for men and women, an idea she did not seem so opposed to.

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[–] Sunsofold 15 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I call myself egalitarian. It distinctly means what you mean by feminist without being so readily confused with what she means by feminist.

[–] dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 3 days ago (2 children)

ironically I think it's more confusing, if I tell someone I'm an egalitarian they honestly might not know what that word means at all, whereas at least if I say I'm a feminist they are closer to understanding that I'm in favor of women's rights ...

What my physical therapist considers "feminism" is not something I generally take seriously as a real meaning of feminism, it's a strawman, and it feels wrong to me to cede the meaning of the word to something so contrary to the actual context of what feminism is (both historically and in its present forms).

There are a variety of feminisms, but none of them advocate for the kinds of things my PT believed, so ... I don't know, it doesn't seem reasonable to only call myself an "egalitarian" and not use the term "feminist".

[–] DrQuickbeam@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Don't get too caught up in nuance and small strains of academic philosophy here. The difference is clear:

Egalitarianism is a philosophy that asserts equality among all people. An egalitarian holds the belief or principle that all people are equal and should be treated equally.

Feminism is a social movement born out of the pervasive and systematic disenfranchisement, oppression and abuse of women, which holds to an egalitarian philosophy of equal rights between men and women. A feminist is an advocate for the equal rights of women.

One is an abstract idea that influences modern humanism, liberalism and democracy. The other is a struggle to make that ideal a reality, that has a different face in every different time and place that it's happening. Both are virtuous.

[–] Sunsofold 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I place the result of 'What's an egalitarian?' as better than the die roll as to whether they will take it as one or the other, or even a third interpretation. If I say egalitarian, and they can't define it, they'll probably go into a questioning mode, which helps make them more open to discussion. The number of people who could define it AND be against it would be minimal. On the other hand, feminist has become almost an epithet to a significant chunk of the English-speaking world. It's a word that shuts down empathy and critical thinking for those people, even if they couldn't define it, which your anecdote helps show it can be hard for people to do at any rate.