You Should Be a Feminist

I am a feminist. I have been since I first knew of the existence of feminism, and everything I have experienced since then has only confirmed me in my opinion. I even think that anyone who is not a feminist is: 1. uneducated and thoughtless or 2. has deep-seated psychological problems (probably stemming from bad parenting). This applies to both men and women.

Like everyone else, I enjoy reading opinions that agree with mine, and thus have been reading feminist blogs. Unfortunately, I have lately realized that what I define as feminist seems to be completely different from what people like Hugo Schwyzer and Kate Harding think "feminist" means. Moreover, their understanding of "feminist" seems to be the more common one (ie, what comes to people's minds when you say "I am a feminist"). Perhaps not surprisingly, many people react negatively to the word "feminist" even though they are in fact feminists in their own lives.

So what is feminism? According to the dictionary, it is: 1. Belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes (and the movement organized around this belief) or 2. a doctrine or movement that advocates equal rights for women. In other words, it means supporting votes for women; equal property rights for men and women; equal pay for the same work for men and women; equal parental rights; and giving men and women an equal ability to determine the conditions and course of their lives. In general, feminism supports equality for everyone. This is something which is central to both American culture (it is the first statement in the Declaration of Independence) and to democratic beliefs in general, which presuppose that all citizens are equally capable of making decisions. In my view, it is also necessary for a functional society, since otherwise you develop a permanently exploited (and thus permanently restive and potentially violent) underclass.

Notice that equality does not mean identical. Everyone is not equally clever, brave, talented, or hard-working; rather, equality simply means that everyone is entitled to certain basic rights. You can think of it as analogous to a caper movie like Ocean's Eleven: each member of the team has basic rights (a right to some of the loot, the right to be backed up by the other members if in trouble) and unique talents (charisma, knowledge of explosives, physical agility). It is this combination of equality and difference which makes them successful (and makes any other group successful, from a family to a nation).

For some reason, feminism (men and women are equal as human beings) becomes morphed in people's minds into either "women are better than men" or "men and women are the same". Both are errors. Depressingly, people who claim to be feminists are just as likely to make both. For example, many "feminists" seem to think that most men are violent, lecherous beasts while women are forever sinned against, never sinning (and thus they focus endlessly on rape and sexual harassment without noting that 1. many men are also sexually harassed/abused 2. women sometimes sexually harass/abuse and 3. these issues are really part of a broader problem of violence in general, which affects everyone). Well-known conservatives seem to think this too, going on ad nauseam about how "feminists hate and disdain men".

Similarly, "feminist" discourse often annoys me because things that are traditionally feminine are devalued, while traditionally masculine things are encouraged and highly valued. The only difference is now women are encouraged to be masculine. For example, being career-oriented is almost always praised, and many will pride themselves on being aggressive/assertive, confrontational, risk takers, etc. The more feminine qualities of gentleness, kindness, and being nurturing/family-oriented are frequently looked down as weak. It's pretty rare to see a prominent "feminist" describe herself as gentle and agreeable, even though these are both important feminine qualities. And while conservatives may give lip service to femininity, the truth is they look down on it too (the whole general trend of American conservatism is radically opposed to gentleness: the current poster girl Sarah Palin describes herself as a "pit bull" and loves hunting; if she loved caring for orphaned baby animals and described herself as a "gentle soul" no Republican would like her).

All people should support male and female equality. It is morally disgusting to beat, enslave, or oppress any group(and I think the vast majority of people would agree with me). Moreover, every society needs people of different talents and abilities. Gentleness may not be the right response in every situation, but it can often be. A society where a broad range of human endeavors are minimized or looked down on will fail in important ways. Not suprisingly, the world's most functional societies have relatively high levels of male and female equality, while the most dysfunctional (just think of Afghanistan) are where women are most oppressed.

The modern world has actually embraced many of the tenets of feminism. Men and women are more equal today then they have been since probably the Paleolithic. But we haven't gone far enough. It's time to truly accept feminism as a basic value and to embrace both masculinity and femininity, for both genders.