We all knew it was only a matter of time before I took on this topic—the use and abuse of the f-word. Feminism, that is.
Blogger Jessica Valenti, a friend with whom I share both an agent and a love of late 90s dance moves, has a new book out called Full Frontal Feminism in which she tries to convince unaware newbies that they are, indeed, feminists. She swears like a sailor and thinks like a supremely-educated activist, making her book a fast and furious read.
I was eager to read it, in part, because I have often felt conflicted about the importance of the actual label “feminist.” I know that for myself, having the label and seeing myself as part of a larger movement has been integral to how I see myself and the world. It has become the lens through which I understand current events and personal struggles, the compass, if you will, for how I compose a life. I can vividly remember the moment when I reclaimed feminism from my mom’s book groups and turned it into my own—Jennifer Baumgardner’s fishnet stockings and the radical class analysis helped.
But I have also seen the ways in which a hard-and-fast focus on the label can be counterproductive when teaching young women and men about feminism’s values. As an adjunct professor at Hunter College, I usually spend the majority of the semester talking about feminist issues—sex, class, race, globalization, masculinity—before I ever actually use the f-word. This is intentional. I have seen their eyes glaze over when I slip the word in too soon.
Instead I tend to provoke them with lots of controversy and interesting readings, get the class discussion really lively and fun, and then drop the f-bomb on them: “So everything we have been talking about has to do with feminism.” After their eyes grow wide I ask them to tell me every stereotype or association they’ve ever had with feminists and write the whole damn, LONG list on the board: man hating, rich, ugly, fat, bra-burning (never happened, by the way), white, snobby etc. Then we trace where these stereotypes come from (media and misogynist uncles tend to be common sources) and redefine the word for ourselves. At the end I ask them how many, based on our new definition, consider themselves feminist and I usually snag at least half the class.
But all this work! All this covert recruitment! Sometimes I wonder if it is worth fighting so hard to wrangle the meaning of the word out of the hands of sexist media, evangelical fear-mongers, or bitter old men. Jessica’s book, my own journey, keep me swayed to YES, but it remains a struggle for me. I know claiming the label influences my life choices, but couldn’t one make the same decisions without the label?
Thoughts? (I would be especially interested to hear from men in terms of how they decide to interact with the “feminist” label. It would sure help out the cause if more strapping young fellas would claim it as their own.)
This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007 at 7:28 am and is filed under Career/Life, Gender, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
There are currently 7 responses
ive been trying to type out something for the last hour and im trying to make it sound coherent but its probably not going to. so we’ll go with bullet points.
1.
have i poked fun at Feminism? yes
will i continue to make sexist remarks for the laugh? definitely
are there stereotypes that stand out that make it an easy target? you betcha.
do i truly in my heart think negatively towards Feminism and the Feminist Movement? No. im just the kind of ass that can laugh at everything.
2.
will i one day push my daughter to be a strong woman or strong person first? i think being a strong person is more important. can she be both? absolutely. whats the difference? i would want her to stand out and be a leader regardless of gender, not because of it.
3.
in my mind, im so progressive that i don’t believe we really need Feminism anymore. ive learned it, we’ve all learned, were all equal and lets hold hands and go save some trees.
but i understand, that’s only in My head. And im a guy. until that kid in rural town south dakota thinks the same way i do, the need for more Girl Power is definite.
4.
at one point, Feminism is just another label. hispanic, black, gay, asian, these are all labels. as humans we love labels and they are so easy to use. but it doesn’t help to define us as those labels.
I don’t like to be labeled as a Hispanic guy. sure, i am hispanic and i speak spanish. but im Cesar. just cesar.
im ready to move past those labels and go towards more human rights.
5.
for the record:
i hate short hair on women and wish they would always wear skirts.
Can i be pro-feminist and pro-stripper? yes. it makes sense in my mind.
but that’s me. does that make me sexist? maybe. a bit.
do i believe in the right that they can do whatever the hell they want, regardless of my particular thoughts on the subject?
absolutely.
cesar.
Courtney, I think this is so right on. I do identify as a feminist but, like you, I feel like the constant lamenting of “so-and-so does or doesn’t consider themself a feminist” becomes the be-all and end-all of some mythical debate rather than talking about how people actually live their lives and treat one another and are treated by society. And it also puts almost all the emphasis on women to minutely police ourselves as to our labels, when I almost never see men being grilled about whether they identify as feminists or not. Also, at the end of the day, anyone, even the most anti-choice, 1950’s-loving condescending paternalist can call themselves a “feminist” in some kind of “I love women” way, so I’m not so impressed with the fight over the label.
I think it’s totally useful to some people and empowering and affirming (myself included) but should not be some mandatory signifier of…something we can’t really all agree on what its definition is (feminists and non-feminists alike).
I used to be the one student in the undergrad class that would identify as feminist and spend the rest of the class convincing other people they were too, using similar strategies to Courtney’s. I tired quickly of being the one person willing to define feminism and learned to turn the question back to other people. I realized early that femiinism is not one-size-fits-all.
I think that is both feminism’s strength and its weakness. Using feminism as a framework for viewing the world allows for multiple ways to enter feminism but it also allows for little cohesiveness. It makes it too easy for people to dismiss or ignore it.
I now have lots more tolerance for people who don’t identify as feminist but have similar values or are doing feminist work than I used to. As a younger person I acted like I was on some kind of crazy crusade to convert the unknowing to my way of seeing the world. Now I am more interested in what people think and do than how they label themselves.
And yet, I still feel the pull for the larger unifier– the thing that brings people together, the banner to march under. For this reason, I am very excited about reading Jessica’s book. I hope it will expose people to new ideas about feminism and at the very least make them consider applying these ideas to their life, in addition to claiming the word for themselves.
Cesar, I am totally in love with your response to this post. I appreciate your honesty and humor about the ideas here. And who can argue with a conclusion like “do i believe in the right that they can do whatever the hell they want, regardless of my particular thoughts on the subject? aboslutely.” ?
Well said.
Thank you Cesar, Rachel, Patti, and Jennifer…I love the different perspectives all of you bring (especially you Cesar, thanks for joining the fray!)
It seems like we are all leaning towards a very postmodern kind of idea about labels, movements, values. I’m all for it–the more complex the better, but sometimes I fear we are just too damn loosey goosey with it all. Maybe some of us need to be at adament as Patti. Maybe some of us need to wave a very particular flag if we want to get shit done.
Problem is, I don’t really want to and no one else seems to either…
I love what you all have to say on the subject. Thank you.
I think the problem with labels in general is that people hide behind them. They identify with them as a way to give them power/worth. If a woman says she’s a feminist, but she’s shitty to other women, then she’s really not really a feminist in my eyes. Are you supportive, are you loving, are you empathetic, are you encouraging of other women? Do you fight for them? I really think it all comes down to behavior.
I agree that labels can be problematic but I also think they are useful. History gives us many examples of how people come together and improve their effectiveness under the banner of a label or cause. The “moral majority,” a term I loathe but also appreciate the power of, comes to mind as the perfect example. Before the evangelical movement/label, there were plenty of religious anti-abortion, anti-gay people in this country. The difference was that they did not necessarily see these themselves as political or as having the political power to make their religious beliefs influence the law of the land. Maybe “feminism” is too loaded with baggage for today’s women. Maybe not. But I’m actually in favor of organizing movements around terms or labels because I think many people find this empowering.