What Does Being a Feminist in 2011 Mean To You?

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

I know this has been done before but I think it's nice to do it again.

I'd like one or two comments on what feminism means to you, or what you feel is a particularly important feminist issue to you right now, in 2011. I'll get the ball rolling because if memory serves, this was the conclusion of the last discussion like this:

• Do you believe men and women deserve to be treated equally?
• Do you think think this is happening yet?

If the answers are 'yes' and 'no!'', then collect your feminism stamp on the way in, and let's hear you ....

can I ponder for a bit longer ?

You can indeed AF.

Trills ... yeah, that's why I copped out by lifting the OP from previous discussions.

What being a feminist in 2011 (and beyond) means to me.

Re: the questions - yes and no.

Other replies have been amazingly eloquent and inspiring.

I discovered this board earlier in the year. I'm still at the 'drinking it all in' stage, but I'm beginning to make little forays into activism. I want to continue and extend these forays in the coming months.
I have read most of the key feminist texts this year, on the recommendations of posters on this board (notably dittany). This has given me a sense of women's history that, I now realise, was pretty much lacking from my previous knowledge of the past. I want to make sure that my daughters don't suffer from the same lack.
I have brought feminist thought into the undergraduate lectures I deliver (mostly about topics that affect women disproportionately i.e. eating disorders, childbirth etc.). I have loved the students' responses to this - no-one has laughed, no-one has looked derisive. This gives me hope.
I have spent a lot of this year getting angry at the status quo. I found that the idea of being angry in isolation scares me - women, after all, aren't meant to be. When I imagine joining my anger with that of hundreds of other women, though, I suddenly realise what power and solidarity there might be in sisterhood. Whilst some of my anger has felt impotent in the face of how much inequality still exists, little corner of society like this board suggest the ways to turn anger into change.

May I have a stamp now please?

LRD thank you so much for the "Yes" and "No" - that's pretty much 99% of what I think is required for someone to be a feminist. :)

One thing I've noticed from these boards is that the feminists on here seem very careful not to take credit for someone else's idea/suggestion. They take pains to point out that actually they're reposting something A said or passing on a link B made on an earlier thread.

That ^ probably doesn't make much sense but it's something that seems important, though I coudn't explain exactly why.

'cos we is nice people innit

AnyFucker

Yes HelveticaTheBold, that's what I mean. It just feels different here.

What feminism means to me in 2011:

I write as a mother of two little boys and on how I want to raise them to be good feminists taking elements of both DH and my upbringing.
I want them to not even think of women being lesser beings as it will simply not occur to them.
I want them not to feel pressurised into objectifying women and not to bow to peer pressure at school in this.
I want them to feel that they should never feel that their main purpose in life is to fight, destroy and take everything for themselves.
I want them to see women as beings who are very similar to men not from another planet.
I want them to follow their own interests and hobbies and not worry about them being 'manly' or not

For me it is the growing anger of what this current government is doing with its cuts affecting young people and parents severely while dressing other reforms up under the bogus disguise of 'choice'.
That and the Big Society which seems to be a thinly veiled attempt to get people to do what is mostly 'womans work' for free.

OK - so I'm trying to really condense this

I'm a feminist because historically women have been - literally - owned by men and I don't think we've really worked through, or dealt with, the consequences of that. As a feminist in 2011 that's what I'm doing, looking at how history has shaped our perception of reality today and challenging those perceptions when they are detrimental to women's lives as equal partners to men.

I actually wrote my earlier post thinking about people who might be new to the feminist board and feminism and thinking, like I did, that feminism was damaging to men and irrelevant to them. I was trying to show that it is important to them and it is important to society. It benefits everyone but especially and hopefully will make the world a better place for our children.

I don't actually think it's the most important issue and I don't think that it is a more valid point than others. I think it is a far, far less important issue than rape or DV or VAW or wifework or the stereotypes that children are forced into.

I do hope that there is someone, like me a year ago, reading this thread and starting to nod along as things click into place.

FGS btw that last post wasn't trying to say that only things that are relevant to men are important but I think we are conditioned to think that this is the case and some people (me) come to feminism from this default position and have to unlearn the conditioning but it can be difficult to do that when you still think "but what about the menz." So I think it's important to address this to first time readers.

I agree with Proles.

For me, feminism is about liberating women and ending male supremacy. I think the 'equality' thing isn't actually either very precise or always very helpful. I imagine lots of women find the concept of female suppression a little too 'out there' however, so 'equal rights' is a less radical handle for feminism that can be more accessible.

I think the patriarchy encourages us to think in terms of 'equality' because equality appears achievable within the current system. Liberation means revolution and the end of male supremacy and thereby the end of patriarchy.

[RadicalFeministEmoticon]

I also agree that we need men to do a bit more recognising and relinquishing of their privilege - just the way white people need to do, to end white supremacy. Of course women have an obvious vested interest in raising their consciousness (liberation). Men not so much (relinquishing privilege).

Fantastic idea for a thread LRD.

I have to admit now, much as I enjoy dashing through the feminism section grabbing credit for everything while the rest of you are all being so polite, the idea for the thread was not in fact mine, but someone who PMed me after the DBF threads.

So thanks to her.

Btw, I do see that the equality thing is not perfect, but IMO it is a good place to start, because for a fair few people, the idea that women are not already equal is quite a shocking one. It certainly was to me: I was shocked and really angry to realize that some big inequalities like pay gaps, like attitudes towards 'women's work', like expectations of men and women in social situations, were really still there. It is what got me fired up and I think the idea that women and men are really 'more or less equal' and that feminism is just a 'fuss' about minor details is one of the biggest piles of bullshit you hear.

Feminism in 2011 has a different meaning to me than it did three years ago before I had my daughter.

Now it feels more like a battle to set expectations that enable her to achieve what she can in a society that still wants to pigeon-hole little girls into the role of 'princess', dependent on those around them.

It was the stark realisation that I never had such fears for my son that made me realise the huge discrepancy between the way that the two sexes are treated right from childhood.

Before my daughter, feminism meant me having the opportunities and success that women in my family, who were treated a second class to the men, didn't have before me. Now its about fighting to make sure my daughter has equal opportunities to her brother and making sure that my Son grows up seeing woman as equals.

1. Yes
2. No

Due to having led a quite sheltered existence, I've only begun to think about feminism at all in the last couple of months, which makes me feel quite ashamed that I have had been quite blissfully ignorant of feminist issues my whole life.

What it means to me right now? It means I have just read the first non-fiction book I have read in an age (Living Dolls). It means I am having conversations with my daughters that I would not have known how to have. It means chipping away at the little things, like reporting hideous Facebook pages and signing petitions. It means getting angry. It means thinking about getting myself educated in the hope that I can articulate my thoughts and arguments as well as most of you.

People say the Feminist section of MN is all kinds of awful, I have only ever found the posters here to be brave, inspirational and passionate.
I am proud to be a budding feMNist.

The same as it did in 2010 2009 etc

That sounds facetious, it wasn't meant to btw. Just hasn't changed much for me.

It doesn't sound facetious, but I do think this is a bit the sort of thing that this section is criticized for. As I said, the idea for the thread came from someone who PMed me, not a regular. I don't know if you mean to, but by dismissing the question, you make it sound a bit as if you think it's not important to tell new posters anything, or their questions are somehow 'not worthy'.

It's just not very welcoming. Maybe if you posted about what it does mean to you - in 2009, 2010, 2011, or whenever?

hadn't thought of that.

ok, will think about it whilst on dog walk.

Good good.

Thanks SGM :)

Yes babyheave feminism clicked into place with me when I was pregnant with DD. It was suddenly realising all of these expectations/behaviours that would be pushed on her and how cross people got when I said I wasn't going to do something. Even buying her a sleeping bag with a digger on the front (it was the nicest one there - I wasn't making a point) was shocking: "You can't do that!"

EpicFail I really, really, like your post.

You know, one of the things I am so grateful for is that I found this place before I had children ... not that I wouldn't have been supportive of friends with small children before (I hope!), but I didn't have a sense of just how judged you can feel when you have children. It's great to have the insight.