Do you say you're a feminist/ radfem in RL, and what reactions do you get?

[JeanneDeMontbaston]

Curious about this, on the back of the 'schools of thought' in feminism thread, but not wanting to give oxygen to it.

I tend to say I'm a radfem, which I am aware would make some real radfems smoke from the ears, but which feels accurate enough to me. Most people, obviously, are polite and don't show much reaction one way or another. A few look obviously shocked/uncomfortable and start sizing me up to see if this means I'm a seething factory of hatred. A very, very few (in RL, not on here) say they are too. Interestingly (or I think it is, given the NUS campaign), my students seem so far to take it entirely in their stride and do not appear to think it's an kind of unusual position to hold. Though they may just be being very polite.

I wondered how other people identify, and what reactions you get? I've heard people in RL identify as intersectional feminists, eco feminists, queer feminists, etc.

Most feminists who are accused of being whorephobic are in reality anti-pimp or -punter (as pointed out on threads passim on this board)

gallic - yes, that's exactly it. A linguistic double-twist.

Yes, I'm still certainly not sex negative, but I don't feel the need to be all 'hey guys, I'm ok with porn' and 'sex work is work, it's a fun choice!'. I think, sadly, when I was younger I was trying to negotiate a path dictated by my own limited self esteem and need for acceptance that meant on some kind of gut level I knew that stuff didn't really make sense to me, but I also felt driven to get acceptance and approval from men specifically and society, generally.

I'm up for a revival of 'women's liberation'.

Am I?

Sorry, can anyone explain what a 'sex positive feminist'? I've not heard that terminology before.

I don't get that. BY having an opinion about harm reduction?

The rise of transgenderism's belief that biology is both changeable and irrelevant, seems to have made radical feminism much less popular.

This could actually be feminism's big selling point!

Most people would identify with a vehement denial that "biology is both changeable and irrelevant".

Most people get a bit stuck on "gender is changeable and unnecessary". All we have to do is point out that gender ? biological sex, and we're on the home stretch with several battles won. Well, that might be a tiny bit optimistic.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex-positive_feminism

www.newstatesman.com/lifestyle/2014/03/sex-positive-feminism-doing-patriarchys-work-it

^ glosswitch being great

Yep, yonic. I find it quite offensive (their view, not yours).

koala - 'sex-positive feminism' is a term used by people who support (amongst other things) legalized prostitution and porn. The idea is that anyone who wants to ban these things must be doing so because they have a negative attitude towards sex.

It's not at all minimising to equate it with the actions of those men who actually hate prostitutes so much they murder them, is it?

" All that stuff we used to call oppression? We’re totes cool with it now."

That's sex-positive feminism in a nutshell (glosswitch's words not mine)

Koala - it means a feminist who is fine with women having lots of sex with different partners and doesn't judge one-night stands, BDSM, women who sell sex, etc etc.

Unlike sex-negative feminists like me who are totally repulsed by the very idea of heterosexual intercourse, because we are incredibly judgemental and hate men, probably because we're deeply sexually frustrated yet can't bear to admit it to ourselves.

Needless to say, it's a false dichotomy.

Basically a sex positive feminist is a woman who is cool with prostitution and porn, and thinks anyone who isn't is standing in the way of women who make the free choice to be exploited.

That could be a slightly biased definition.

Ah right, so it's a load of crap then?

Yes.

Yup.

You'd think so, rider, but apparently not. Sex negative feminists are basically evil. Some of them are anti-kitten.

Thanks for explaining

In the early nineties, I travelled to some places where not a lot of Europeans go (except biologically male Europeans looking for some exploitative sex.) This conversation frequently occurred:

Man: So, in Europe, women are liberated, right? You earn as much as men, do whatever you like, drink like a man (well, I do), travel here without a partner. Cool!
Me: Yes, compared to life here it's like that :)
Man: You have sexual liberation!
Me: Yes.
Man: So why won't you fuck me, then?
Me: I don't want to. Choice means ... choice.
Man: No, you've got to fuck me! It's what you liberated women do! Are you insulting me?!

It got very wearing. Such men weren't transferring their own sexual liberation onto me - they were viewing me as an unbound sexual gatekeeper. Therefore, according to their view, it was my duty to open my - er, sexual gateway.

There seems to be rather too much of this still festering around our own 'liberated' society today. If you fancy going along with your new role as unbound gatekeeper (or free prostitute, to be mean,) you're sex-positive and all that crud.
Doesn't sound very liberal or unbound to me.

During a conversation about Ched Evans, I was asked if I was one of those feminists by a work colleague, to which the only obvious answer was yes. Ever since then, all sorts people have made all sorts of weird comments about how I won't approve of certain things, even though my actual opinion hasn't been asked.

I would probably identify as a radish feminist, with radical leanings. I find the whole TERF question awful, I don't care what people want to identify as, I find the idea that SRS is difficult to come by horrible, I don't want trans* people to suffer, I also get a bit pissy when they want to dictate how I should think. The NUSWoman thing today has convinced me that it's not an organisation I wish to be involved with. I have a T-Shirt with Radical Feminist printed on it, DH cringes when I wear it.

I have no one here that I can talk about feminism with. So you lot have to put up with me. Lucky old you lot

Urgh, i think i'd identify as 'sex positive' when i was younger. Definitley more radical tendancies now though.

Careful, Rider, some bloke'll be asking you to put on a furry outfit and open your pussy gateway.