active feminism -- what does it mean?

[probonbon]

Have just been reading, though not really contributing to, a very absorbing thread about the meaning of feminism. There is a great deal of intelligent analysis, quite a lot of it entirely beyond me

It's so important to know exactly where we stand and I was interested in how this translates into real life activities to help women who are suffering the effects of patriarchy. Do you write to MPs or visit refuges or support local women's aid groups? How does it work? How is it possible to bring the theory into how we interract with the real world? How do you manage it?

"If I were very vocally against poverty and deprivation, and I read a lot of books and wrote papers and attended courses on poverty and deprivation, and contributed to blogs about poverty and deprivation, and became very angry with people who would blame poverty and deprivation on the sufferers, and maintained a very high profile socially as anti-poverty and desperation, I think if I didn't actually do anything material to help poor and deprived people, I wouldn't be surprised if others thought I was an armchair opinionist and possibly a tiny bit flaky."

I get your point, but I think you're undervaluing the work of talking about/publicising things. For example think of Joanna Lumley's gurkha campaign last year. What she did really was get the word out, then when she came to lobby MPs the whole country was behind her, and public pressure is what changes things.

Now look at this past month, the BBC has put on about 3 programmes about feminism (loosely) - and there is already a massive debate about it. People are talking about women's situations - not only in the UK but around the world - on this site, on the radio, in pubs. Maybe 5000 people might look at the LFN website as a result of that, if there is a campaign to write to your MP about a particular issue on that website, maybe 200 might do so. That's 200 letters that wouldn't have been written. The talking part of active feminism is not an end in itself - of course not. But you have to keep the idea that injustices are happening in people's minds, and then translate that into calls for action.

The "active" stage is then petitions, marches, protests, letter-writing campaigns to those in positions of power, sponsoring organisations that help women (if you can afford it - I currently can't), using your professional skills e.g. if you are a lawyer then doing pro bono work for female refugees from e.g. Congo.

Does that make sense?

Elephants, thanks for your thoughtful reply. And yes, yes, to what you say. After thinking about this for a couple of days I think raising awareness and bringing up one's children to be on the right road are paramount, especially if one isn't in a position to help directly. Here, it's right in my face, and what has stuck a sharp stick in my side is seeing all this time spent analysing feminist theory when I see women heaped very materially with crap every day and in need of the tiniest respite. It doesn't make me morally superior, gawd knows I realise that. Maybe here, it's particularly hard, because while all the right rules are in place, the same old crap carries on: as one Indian acquaintance said to me, what do you campaign for when the battles have been won but it just carries on?

Also I am privileged: it never occurred to me, and has never been the case in my wider family, that boys and girls are pigeonholed. It's not a part of our lives. I don't have to work hard at home for that: it's just the way it is.

Skatergrrl, what a great list, and that is the second mention of Reclaim the Night. I'd never heard of it before. I've been googling

Like Skatergrrl, a list of things I do that could be considered active feminism:

• Out of various charities I donate to, some are specifically feminist causes (Abortion Rights, Action Aid sponsorship of a young girl, particular interest in Oxfam donations that focus on women)

• I also try hard to challenge casual sexism among friends and colleagues

• I'm also pregnant and have been pretty vocal about not wanting a torrent of pink or dresses (though it must be said that the first present I bought for my little niece last year was indeed a dress...)

• In organizing events (specifically, comics events), I try to make sure that there is a balance of female guests vs male guests - there are way too many conventions I've been to where the whole guest list is entirely male. And if I do go to such a convention I make my dissatisfaction vocal, too. The same principles of diversity apply to other groups too, where possible.

I must say I don't go on marches or picket things.