I don't understand what a feminist IS

[MitchyInge]

How do you know if you are one?

do you believe in equal rights for women as for men?

A feminist is someone who feels that all women are not treated fairly or reasonably all the time and wants to do something about it

If that's all there is to it then I must be, or does the desire to do something about have to be realised as some sort of action?

something about it

There was a bit of discussion on whether you actually need to be politically active to be a proper feminist on the other thread. I think a lot of people think you do have to do something, but personally, I don't think that's true. Lot's of people say that they support the environmental movement but don't do much more than put their recycling out once a week. I support feminism (and therefore would say I'm a feminist) but the most I ever do is to point out sexist attitudes when I see them.

Agree with HS. You can be a socialist (for example) without doing anything other than agree with its principles. Ditto with feminism.

I don't think you need to do anything about it, necessarily. For me it's a belief that women and men should be treated equally, and that the struggle to bring this about has not yet been won.

Basically.

definitely agree with that pebbles, the more you start to look into it, the more you realise just how far away from the end goal of equality we really are.

I agree. And the thing about calling yourself a feminist is, often you do start noticing the injustices. And once you notice them you can't stop, and you become more aware of the subtle ways in which you yourself perpetuate sexism (for example, I am now hyperaware of using sexist slurs like bitch or skank, and I don't do it whereas once I'd have just thought, oh, it's just a word).

I also think that these discussions are activism. If I can get someone to think 'oh, hey, I hadn't looked at it that way' that contributes. I have pointed out enough things over time to my husband (I mean like sexist advertising, or if he tells me an anecdote from work I can say well but look at that from the other side) that he spots it now too. So now he perpetuates less casual sexism as well, and so the teaspoons pile up.

Someone on another blog described being a feminist as like taking the red pill. You can't unsee it once you've seen it.

Pebbles, exactly the same story here. The advent of this topic and all the discussions here have changed my viewpoint dramatically. I'm really starting to get it now and, like you, I'm getting more and more angry.

I'd really like to think that this is a symptom of a much wider resurgence.