alixtii | Political Rant

escritoireazul linked to this poll and discussion on feminism and for some reason it inspires in me the normal snobbishness towards liberal feminism.

I mean, I understand the need for a big tent. But there's still a part of me that when I hear the famous "I'm not a feminist, but..." thinks that they're right; they really aren't feminists. Someone who can't bring themselves to say the word "patriarchy" in mixed company really isn't part of the solution, that part of me thinks.

I understand that there are people who really do believe that women are inferior; I've met men and women like that, carried out civil conversations with them. I've found myself, despite myself, even liking some of them. That doesn't mean I don't think they are those who poison our society.

Why are our standards so low that we're ready to treat not believing such bigotry as a badge of honor? When we really make the term as expansive as some in the movement seem to want, I'm not sure what it means anymore. (Okay, as a Wittgensteinian, that was somewhat disingenuous. But still. You know what I mean.)

I have no interest in separating the sheep from the goats. Anyone who wants to lift up the banner is more than welcome to march beside me, both figuratively and literally. Feminism shouldn't have an ideological test; your brand of feminism is probably different than my own, and that enriches the movement, making sure voices are heard and dialectics kept alive. It would be pretty stupid if the only valid form of feminism was that of a white heterosexual male.

But I don't understand this obsession with trying to convince people who don't identify as feminist that they really are ones and just don't know it. The watered-down "feminism" that often gets sold sometimes scares me, as much as I recognize it as necessary in the name of apologetics. If feminists were truly in the majority, the world would be a radically different place.

I don't delude myself that the battles of liberal feminism are already won. But I do wonder when we'll begin to address the real problems.

Hi, I'm Alixtii, and I'm a radical feminist.