You’re not a feminist, but … what?
Photo by J. Howard Miller for Westinghouse
The Guardian’s Chloe Angyal writes about women who embrace feminist ideals but stop short of calling themselves “feminists.” From the article:
“In a country where only 17% of Congress is female, where women – with or without children – make 77% what men make a decade after finishing their education and where only 6% of rapists will serve jail time, we can’t afford ‘not a feminist, but …’ – a disclaimer that signals to the world that we’re willing to settle for an incomplete overhaul.
‘I’m not a feminist, but …’ is a way of telling the world that we don’t pose too much of a threat. It’s a way of saying that we don’t plan to rock the boat too much, that we will play nice. And yet, feminists are people who dare to imagine a world in which women are 50% of Congress, where women are paid 100% of what their male colleagues earn and where every person who violates another human being is reported, prosecuted and convicted.”
If the feminist movement had a quarter for every time a woman said, “I’m not a feminist, but …” Just today a woman who is clearly a feminist explained to me that she distances herself from this word because of its negative connotations.
