Why I Hesitate to call Myself a Feminist

Other people will call me a rebel, but I just feel like I'm living my life and doing what I want to do. Sometimes people call that rebellion, especially when you're a woman. -Joan Jett

Joan Jett, among other women in society and history alike, is considered a Feminist. Many people of today see the word feminist and automatically deem that person as a crazy, man-hating, psychopath with no right to opinions. Why is this? What has happened since 1895 when the first use of the word feminism was recorded? In society today, why do less women proudly state that they are feminist and often try to avoid the word completely? What has led to the discouragement of giving ones self this title?


In 1848 the Seneca Falls Convention, assembled by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and others, called for full legal equality with men, including full educational opportunity and equal compensation. This convention was a key forerunner to the Woman Suffrage movement. Women gained the right to vote in 1918 and 1920 respectively, after years of facing much resistance in the United States. The first recognized accomplishments for women's rights is often referred to as the "first wave" of feminism. Though some black women such as journalist Ida B. Wells participated in the suffrage movement, first wave feminism was dominated by white, middle class women. Toward the end of the first wave, as Marxism spread in parts of Europe, feminist Marxists such as Rosa Luxembourg called for more dramatic social transformation.

After the suffrage movement, first wave feminism became less of an ordeal and began to diminish. Luxembourg's call for total transformation would not be acted upon until the 1950s and 1960s. Inspired by feminist writers and philosophers, including Virginia Woolf and Simone de Beauvoir, second wave feminists aimed to change the social standing of women. These feminists often became so radical many women from the movement were alienated as others formed separatist communes to completely eliminate men from their lives.

The third wave of feminism arose in the late 1900s. This wave challenged middle-class white feminists and expanded feminism's goals to include equal rights for all people no matter their race, educational status, social standing, physical appearance/ability, or sexual preference. During this time, feminist Heather Corinna began a website magazine called Scarleteen, offering sex education to young people. Corinna's emphasis on several matters of sex and a person's body began a movement within third wave feminism called "sex positive feminism." At the same time, women of color became more and more active in feminism. Groups like the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective led a reproductive rights movement that treated reproduction as more than just access to birth control and abortion rights. They rejected earlier feminist eugenicist thinking and insisted that oppressed women should be supported when they chose to have children as well.

In the 21st century, more commonly seen is radical feminism. Radical feminists aim to challenge and overthrow patriarchy by opposing standard gender roles and oppression of women and call for a radical reordering of society. This form of feminism insists that the world would be a better place and could continue successfully with little or no existence of men.


Taking a step back and looking at the progression and expanding definition for the word feminist or feminism, it is easy to see why so many people look down on those who claim to be a feminist. After taking into consideration that of the 28 percent of Americans that consider themselves to be feminist, an overwhelming majority are radical feminists, it is even easier to understand the sudden avoidance of the title feminist. Because of these reasons, I think it is a shame that women who stand for equality cannot claim the title first given to them.
I do believe that all peoples, regardless of thier race, should be treated as any other person, but to a certain extent. For example, if two men were cutting trees and hauling wood for 8 hours each day and being paid the same amount per tree cut and hauled, and one man did more than the other, he should naturally be paid more. With the same example, but with two women, if one did more work than the other, she should be paid more. Now, take a woman and a man and apply them to the same example and say that the man did more work than the woman. The man in this instance should be paid more. Flip that last example around and make it to prove the opposite and the woman should be paid more.
I am not going to say that there are jobs that one sex or the other will never be able to have and shouldn't be able to work, because I don't believe that personally, but I am going to say that there are certain jobs that women and men will just be able to do better than one another and should get paid more for that fact.

I hesitate to call myself a feminist because even though I believe in gender equality and women's rights, I will not go as far as saying that men are not a necessity to life or society. I believe in equals, isn't this what feminism was started for? Equality? So why now is it so important that women take equality and try to use it as a pass to make females the superior gender?

I will stand with women who believe that we should be treated equal with men, call us what you will, but in today's day and age, please do not call me a feminist.

(Bullets: I live in a country women are the most privileged.

Being a woman is not a disadvantage.

I don't need ANY title or movement to make me feel empowered.

I support EQUALITY and that's not what Modern Feminism is about.

Nobody should be (or feel) OPPRESSED. That goes for men too.

I only feel "victimized" by feminists who tell me I'm wrong or weak for not BULLYING the opposite gender.

I KNOW I'm strong. I don't need to hurt others to prove it.