In one sentence, or possibly two, what is a feminist?

[curlew]

Because I'm beginning to think that a lot of people misunderstand the word.

I will quote Gloria Steinem:
A feminist is anyone who recognises the equality and full humanity of women and men

Feminists are not trying to remove anyones rights or freedoms and they are not gunning for our sons.

1 You think that people should be equally valued and respected, and given equal opportunities, regardless of their gender.
2 You observe that this is not currently the case.
3 You want it to be the case.

Equal rights, respect & responsibilties for all

the 3R's they should learn them that in them there schools

Feminism = the campaign for equal human rights - to me.
People get confused because we are different physically.
No one liner will better the first one posted from Gloria IMO!
Humanity is the bit that hits home for me. Equal human beings - we are not worth less because of physcial differences. Once upon a time the physical strenth of man was seen to be the most important thing - it stuck.

OED: a person who supports the advocacy of women?s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.

Encyclopaedia Britannica: a believer in the social, economic, and political equality of the sexes.

Wikipedia: a feminist advocates or supports the rights and equality of women.

Simpler explanations can get too reductionist, more complex ones can add extraneous requirements.

So, nothing about hating men, gunning for boys, wanting women to be in charge or thinking men are redundant, then?

Not in the theoretical definition of a feminist, no. In practice, who knows?

I know the answer to that, Suelford.

No.

HTH

I suppose the term 'feminism' is itself part of the reason for misunderstanding - of course it arises from the initial starting point of inequality but it sounds one-sided. One day hopefully it can be discarded and 'egalitarianism' will serve the purpose.

(Of course much of the 'misunderstanding' we see is no such thing)