Are there any feminists out there?

[roundwindow]

And if so, where are you all hiding?!

Maybe I hang out in the wrong places, but since I left university (and later since I left London where I had a quite lefty arty-farty public sector job) I just feel like I'm the only feminist left on the planet.

I used to think my parents were hideously conservative and archaic with all their 'oh you and your women's lib' responses to my values. But maybe it's just the world of grown-ups?

What made me think about this was that I was recently reading Trinny and Susannah's 'What your clothes say about you' book and the section on new mums seemed so jaw-droppingly misogynist (sp?) to me. 'Pity your poor husband when you don't make an effort, don't be surprised when he leaves you for someone more interesting.... don't even think about wearing flats!' etc etc. And yet this is mainstream, this ideology is everywhere. Makes me so

And the culture in all the gossip magazines, where no young female seems to ever be accepted on her merits and it's all about what she looks like or how undignified her behavour is.

So any other proud-to-be-feminists out there? Tell me what you're thinking about!

Oh, plenty on here, of many and diverse stripes. Are you new to MN? If so, welcome.

Have you been reading the Daily Mail?

I think things have gone backwards in the last 20 years. Makes me

You're not. None of the women you work with want to be paid less for doing the same thing as a man do they??

Trinny and Susannah need clothes to give them armour because they're a couple of hot air balloons. Really confident, intelligent women don't need 'armour' to face the world on an equal footing.

I wouldn't buy closer or now or reveal if you held a gun to my head.

I'm a feminist. Many more here on MN than in RL I think

I find it hard to understand how you wouldn't be.

Well we bumped into Trinny in Central Park Zoo. Her dd has a ridiculous name and her DH is hen pecked. She is not a feminist. And on a general level, what does she have to say that, eg your best friend can't say?

Yes, quite new. Lovely to meet you all

No I haven't been reading the Daily Mail.. I'd rather eat my own shite... but sometimes it feels like my whole world is turning into the Daily Mail and I get worried that I've been stranded on my own ideological planet.

What constitutes a Feminist these days anyway? I don't do bra burning, but work in a male dominated envirinment and don't take any shit.....

Yes, I'm a feminist, and would agree there seems to be more of us here on MN than I get to meet in RL (and I work in London public sector...)

What am I thinking about? Right now, mainly:

• how to raise my daughter to be confident and resilient
• the incredible pressures on young women around their appearance and early sexual activity (much worse than in my day, I reckon)
• the pornification of our culture
• sex trafficking and exploitation
• the appropriate feminist response to radical Islam
• the politics of childcare

What are you thinking about?

Well, I am a feminist. Late to the party, mind you, but I've got there in the end.

Forefront in my mind, having just left the sector, is the question of why women in the financial services industry earn so little compared to men.

Yep lots I think.

But I have to say I never feel it has anything to do with what I wear which can be as feminine or not as I wish.

But more a mindset and some sort of internalised set of values I learnt a long time ago in university days.

me too
hiding in a small village
the local hairdresser asked if I had a 'friend'

Yup, lots of feminists on MN. Mind you, we don't all agree with each other on everything...

hester, I agree with all of those points/concerns. What does one do about it?

Portoeufino- I don't know... I guess that's one of the things I'm curious about in starting this thread. At 34F I don't do bra-burning either, but I would call myself a feminist loud and proud. Weirdly, though, the opportunity hasn't really come up much in RL. In my experience, lots of people are still wary of the word feminist and its 'unsexy/killjoy' implications. I wonder where all the consciousness-raising goes on these days.

Hester- I'm thinking about lots of the same things as you, plus: the tendency of female-dominated professions to be lower pay/status, the sex trade, the ongoing objectification of women in the media and its impact on young girls' aspirations, my desire for the standardisation of Mr/Ms as adult titles, the tendency for working mothers to do more than their fair share of domestic duties, etc. etc.

Lol @ Ninah

Yes I am and I find MN a real haven where I can find people who feel as strongly as I do - in RL I find many of the women I know, including educated, professional ones, barely register the idea and happily sign up to all sorts of ingrained sexist stuff that I find deeply suspect - eg automatically changing their name on marriage, or hankering after emulating a nigella/cath kidstonesque home life as a sign of feminine success, despite the pressures of being a mum, or not questioning having different attitudes to their DC according to gender, or having no email address and just using their DH's - often I feel I must slightly mad that this stuff even bothers me, as I'm surrounded by people who live that kind of life.

I do know feminists though, here and there. But it really, really shocks me how many women don't even think about it, don't think inequality or sexism is an issue, and see feminism as an extreme position. One friend is actually very indulgent to me about it and asks me "interested" questions about my feminist views as if I'm from Mars She's perfectly accepting of me, but the idea that it might apply to her too just isn't there...

ps I have just read McMafia which touched upon the sad trafficking of women, and though I like porn ....

the pornification of our culture enrages me too.

A Sunday Supplement magazine with an Irish broadsheet today, just to mention somehting that bugged me only a few hours ago... all the men in it were interviewed fully clothed about their thoughts, plans, likes, regrets etc... The only women in it were billed as up and coming totty to keep an eye out for. All obligingly wearing swimsuits and posing sluttily. why do women buy into this? I suppose there were all only about 23 but still............ please sisters.........

Surely anyone with an ounce of intelligence who thinks reasonably seriously about politics is a feminist? If not, they bloody should be

I don't expect that all feminists will agree of course - but it is a relief to chat to people on here and feel that they know where I'm coming from, that it does matter.

Porto.. I think what we do about the points Hester raised is just make sure we're talking about them to start with. My experience in RL is that there are lots of taboos to polite conversation which mean these things don't get talked about.

if you substitute the word feminist with equalist, then how could anyone not be.