More: You Got Your Feminism in my Feminism
We are having this English problem.
I’m pretty well attuned to English problems, I think, from being an EFL teacher. Anyway, there is one. It is hanging out on the ceiling like a spider and I want to put a glass over it before it drops.
Unfortunately, “feminism” refers to a group and also to a belief.
I think everyone I’m willing to talk to holds the belief in women’s equality. I’m not even gonna question it. It just strikes me as obvious. I frankly think that if someone didn’t believe in women’s equality, they wouldn’t be reading my blog.
In politics, it’s easy to separate word from group because you usually have a proprietary term for the group. So, if you’re a liberal, you say “I’m a liberal,” and if you’re a liberal in America, you might say “I’m a Democrat,” or you might say, “I’m a liberal, voting Democrat,” “I’m a liberal but I’m sick of the Democratic Party and their bullshit.” Easy-peasy. “Liberal” is the belief word, so you don’t have to toss the baby out with the bathwater.
I imagine that if we had a Liberal Party which passed something over-the-top insane, there’d be a mass exodus from the word, and people wouldn’t know what the hell to call themselves but not that.
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“Feminism” unfortunately has come to mean several things which are mutually imcompatible. For example: That sex workers should have more rights vs. that sex workers should not be allowed to speak up for themselves.
This goes way, way further than the “People’s Front of Judea!” “Judean People’s Front!” problem, I’ve come to realize.
It’s a lexical battle. The word has reached a point in its history where it means two very seriously opposed things, things which can’t be reconciled to each other. (This happens with words sometimes! An afternoon with the OED will uncover some interesting examples. The one everyone always drags out is “nice.”)
Some of us who are deciding whether to keep or abandon the word are essentially laying wagers on what the word will mean in the future. I choose to believe it’ll mean “the idea that women are people”, and identify myself accordingly. If I thought the other way, though, I sure wouldn’t. Just some food for thought.