What Is A Feminist - Explained
Are you a feminist? What does being a feminist even mean?
The definition of feminism is technically, “the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men” and a feminist is simply someone who believes in feminism.
Sounds simple, right? But when you dig deeper, Feminism is complex notion!
You may already identify as a feminist, but you might want to know what you could do better. If you don’t identify as feminist, give the list below a look nevertheless and see whether deep down your own ideology actually might resonate with what we call feminism.
It may be impossible to find an all-inclusive definition for what feminism is because a woman’s struggle to understand feminism is bias upon her own experiences. So how should you really define feminism?
Here are three open answers to the much debated question, “What is a feminist?”
Someone Who Rejects Gender Stereotypes
Feminism says that if you’re a woman who loves pink and works at home, that’s fine. You can still be a feminist! You can still dedicate yourself to your family instead of focusing on a professional career. You can keep watching cheesy boy-meets-girl romantic comedies. This does not mean you’re less feminist than others!
If you’re a man who likes pink, a woman who likes monster trucks, or any other mix of untraditional and traditional gender norms, that’s awesome too! What being a feminist means is that that you can’t say a woman can’t fix a car because of her gender or that she should become a nurse instead of a doctor. Then again, you don’t have to burn a bra and stop shaving your armpits even if you’re a feminist.
Someone Who Fights Discrimination
Feminism is often only associated with women’s rights. However, modern feminism is also often intersectional! This means that feminism is also concerned with how other parts of a women’s identity – like race, socioeconomic status or sexual orientation – shapes experiences of discrimination or oppression!
Sadly though, the term ‘feminism’ seems to isolate too many men. Some people seem to think that the word carries the sentiment of ‘anti-men’ or ‘man hating’. While this is simply not the case!
The fight for the rights of one gender should not diminish the needs of another.
Someone Who Fights For Equality. Period.
People often try to make feminists out as women trying to dominate men or women who think they are superior to all men. But in fact feminists are simply those who believe in the equality of men and women in every aspect of daily life.
Modern American feminism has mainly come to mean supporting women’s independence and fighting the idea of male being more important and more powerful than a female. Feminism supports all femininity; women are just as capable as everybody else!
Equality is not about being the same; it is about having the same status, rights and opportunities as one another. It is about understanding that all people are capable of being intelligent persons, worthy of the same pay, social standing, and opportunities!