How 'feminist' are you on a sliding scale?

Sorry the link didn't help much. I've found it quite useful. But hey ho.

Good post, Trillian.

I've been a feminist since I learnt the word. I'm married, but didn't take DH's name. I would have liked to give DS my name, and DH would have been happy with that, but reluctantly decided that it wasn't practical (DH is SAHD, so it's always him at the doctor's surgery etc, and people are thrown enough by a man looking after a baby without them having different surnames). I work FT: my mother was a very unhappy SAHM because she felt she had no choice and I've been very consciously avoiding her fate.

I want women to be able to participate fully in the economy we've got, on the same terms as men, because money is power and that's not changing any time soon, but I also want the true value of "women's work" acknowledged.

I don't wear make-up or skirts and I have short hair, beginning to go grey: I'm resistant to "performing femininity" for myself, because it feels like such a waste of time and money, but I acknowledge that for a lot of women it's a pleasure and I wouldn't suggest that feminists shouldn't do it.

Undefeated, Kat Banyard's book "The Equality Illusion" is a good "feminism 101" type work, and it's pretty recent.

Sorry because I know the thread has moved on, but for cultural/religious reasons, my husband removes his armpit and pubic hair. He thought all men did this and was absolutely stunned to find out the British men don't. It just goes to show how constructed our concepts of masulinity are.

I have always been feminist and I'd like to always be feminist and for me it's linked to my socialist politics and religion too. I would love to be more active though.

Can I just delurk to quickly say, that in my opinion that being a SAHM should not considered un-feminist, the problem is that that nurturing role is not recognised and valued in society in the same way as paid work.

O, and I shave my legs and wear lipstick and sometimes even a hat. I don't believe hats are a feminist issue?

Hi, sorry Cat but I found that Feminism 101 Cat linked quite frustrating..

finallyfeminism101.wordpress.com/

The info is all over the place, literally its hard to navigate, and if I click 'What is feminism? It's more links, with nothing about what feminism is! And the page on Male Privilege is just about the example of a woman taking the mans name when marrying..

I found this one too www.feminism101.com/ and there seems little about what feminism is, or these different types of feminist there are (what I want to find out really...) Wiki's page on feminism wasn't much help either.

Is there anything a bit more like 'feminism for dummies? I think there is actually that book, but I want a shorter, freer version... Some definitions are too pat - 'feminism means equality and fighting the oppression of women' and what I want, basically is 'today's feminist issues are these... some feminists think this about that, others think this.'

I'll keep looking but if anyone has a neat summary/101 let me know x

Anyway, to be more specific about myself as a feminist

I support women having all the same opportunities as men.
Those in high power are overwhelmingly men, which must be changed (though I'm not sure how)
Mothers/Families need more assistance
Domestic violence needs to be treated more seriously (I suppose this includes woman on male too)
Wage Gap
Various issues all the the time where it screams sexism!

But on some other issues, I disagree with some rad fem views.

Well put Trillian.

I find myself nodding along to rod's post!

That's just my take on it, of course.

IMO core values of feminism are:

thinking that people should be respected, valued, and treated equally regardless of their gender
realising that this is not currently the case
wanting it to change

I would say that these beliefs are what you need to be a feminist. Anything else is debateable.

Some say they would add in that you should actually do something about it, but to my mind the core values of something are beliefs, not actions.

You can say that someone is acting inconsistently with their beliefs if they do something anti-feminist, but you can't say that they are not a feminist. Feminists can be scared or pressured or misguided or stupid or unaware of the consequences of their actions and so do unfeminist things while still believing feminist beliefs.

Me too Sybil, chewing and parenting!

Thanks Sybil. Wish I could debate your questions but am still chewing on them.

Catita - a sticky is where they make a thread stick to the top of the list of threads, like the way they often 'sticky' a webchat thread to make it stay at the top of Active Convos.

I really wonder about this thing about 'proper feminists' saying people aren't feminists because they do x, y and z despite them being very active in feminism otherwise. I know a lot of RL feminists and I have never yet encountered a situation where a woman is saying she is a feminist and the 'proper' feminists have said 'No you're not, you don't shave your legs' (for example). (Though they will often, online and in RL, say something like 'what you're saying is rape apology and that is not a feminist thing to say'.) In about 1990 I was told I couldn't be a feminist if I shaved my legs and read Viz but that was by a man who frankly didn't know what the f* he was talking about.
Is this something that used to happen a lot, do you think? Were there very exclusive strains of feminism that were prevalent in the 1970s and 80s, and if so, what has happened to them? Have the women who thought like that mellowed, or are they still there thinking it but just not being as vocal? Because the mainstream feminism of the noughties, including the more radical end, is definitely not prescriptive in that way. Is it that even radicals have been heavily influenced by the neoliberal emphasis on choice?

Jenny60 I know what you mean about the rage, I don't really feel it anymore but I know I will have to sooner or later. There was a thread recently about why women get depressed, someone said that depression is anger turned inward. I have had PND and I know it's because I just haven't had the energy to rage, and have felt guilty about not having the energy. OP I am so with you on the over-analysing it all, I do the same!

I have an awkward relationship with feminism, although I am a feminist through and through.

My mum is a radical feminist and a lesbian. In my teens I was bombarded with anti-male propaganda, including gems such as "everyone with a penis is a potential rapist" and "shaving one's legs is pandering to all men's latent paedophilia". Bless her, Mum has since admitted that some of her eccentric beliefs may have been "a bit silly" but she was going through a rough patch and easily influenced.

So sometimes when I read some radical feminist stuff I feel a bit about the whole thing and just switch off.

It's ironic that becoming a SAHM and having sons has really reawakened the feminist in me- realising just how little society values the important work that women have been doing outside of the paid sphere for centuries, and how difficult societal structures make it for men and women to move easily between the public and private spheres, and trying to protect my boys from the gender stereotyping that seems to pervade everything... and meanwhile Mother and my feminist, pre-kids friends seem to think I've somehow sold out the sisterhood to become some neo-conservative anti-rebel - gah!

But yes I am a bloody feminist, whether the "proper" feminists think so or not. So bloody there.

I don't think there is a sliding scale.

I think there are a very small number of core beliefs that are needed in order to be a feminist rather than not-a-feminist, and everything else is optional. But these optional extras go off in many different directions, not simply from "minimal feminist" to "maximum feministyness".

I've described myself as a feminist for about thirty years! it's part of who I am entirely BUT, I'm also a believer in capitalism and am a Tory.

I am married, am a SAHM and have a very traditional set up with a feminist husband! Hmm, now I just sound feministly confused !

I am hugely independent, my DH works away a great deal so I can fix a loo, change a wheel, find a fusebox, run my own business, haul great hay bales around but can bake a mean sponge and generally don't need a man much at all ( but like having one!)

I share Spiderslegs views on the burqa ( but I'm an atheist anyway) and share all feminists loathing of the way women are objectified in the media. I despair at the behaviour of men like John Terry and Ryan Giggs but more at their wives for putting up with them.

Of course you can, my name is somewhat convoluted. And what are stickies? If you don't mind me asking. I have heard them mentioned but have never seen one, at least I don't think so.

Thanks Cat! (can I call you Cat?) Am reading now. Mumsnet should have its own (stickied) version too, btw xx

Hiya Undefeated: there are various; this one I like the best so far:

finallyfeminism101.wordpress.com/

Forkful will probably have other suggestions.

And welcome!

Also, having lurked around for a little here before being brave enough to post, can someone link me to this 'Feminism 101' so I can read up again, and don't ask any silly questions if I decide to post. Thx

I'm a feminist - but not sure which type! I Maybe a small f type, I don't do much to advance feminism except complain if something is unfair to woman or sexist...

I am thankful to those in the past who got me my freedoms, and thankful to anyone fighting the good fight at the moment - I guess I was more vocal when I a teenager, then during my twenties tended to lost interest, in other issues too, as I was busy with working hard/enjoying my twenties... do that make sense?

Now I have a baby, and will want another soon, I hope I have more time to get involved again. Oh and hello xx