I'm a feminist, but...

http://www.tuftsdaily.com/1.1355586-1.1355586
2/5/09

Feminism. It has been blamed for everything from destroying the family to killing chivalry to women drinking more alcohol to hook-up culture. Feminists have been antagonized as fat, ugly, hairy, bra-burning, man-hating lesbians; these enduring stereotypes have been manufactured by the mass media to discredit feminists. These stereotypes keep some women at bay from identifying themselves as feminists.  Time magazine in 1998 even questioned whether or not feminism was dead.

    On the contrary, feminism is far from dead or irrelevant. These days, feminist statements are often disguised behind "I'm not a feminist, but..." (I'm not a feminist, but I believe men and women should have equal rights. I'm not a feminist, but I think that women deserve to get the same pay as men do for the same jobs.) People who say that may not know that they are feminists or may be intentionally shying away from the label of "feminist."

Mainstream media did the same thing to feminism that it's doing now to Islam, They report only what the extremists do and then label everyone who claims to be moderate as being in league with with the nutjobs.

Feminsm has a place but i think that striving for absolute equality for everyone instead of dividing equality into 'gay rights' 'womens rights' etc. is a better goal after all to be truly equal EVERYONE must realise we're all human.

The problem with feminism is the same problem with most civil rights movements. People become too obsessed with attaching an arbitrary label to certain thoughts (be it their own or someone else's) and lose sight of the actual logic of the ideals associated with them. What does it matter if an idea is considered "feminist" or not? If it's a good idea, then it's a good idea. If not then it doesn't matter anyway.

The problem is that people feel the need to label and categorize thoughts for context. If they come from this group, it's automatically good/bad (general considered bad in these circumstances). They lose sight of what's being said in favor of who's saying it. Hence, the most universal problem with politics.