Are You a Feminist
 

I am! Neoliberal backlash has really done a number on feminism and I think we need to pry their fingers off it and take it back!

So, as part of my strategy :smile:, I took the Are You a Feminist quiz found on the same site where you can find your political profile in the thread posted by Koukla72.

It's a fairly simplistic quiz but it does cover many basic points. It also seems to be doing an equality feminist view but it sneaks some difference feminism in there. Felt it was a bit essentialist for not explicitly including other identity markers affecting female identity/experience such as race/ethnicity. It did marginally include sexual preference.

Anyhoo, here are my results:

You Are 100% Feminist
You are a total feminist. This doesn't mean you're a man hater (in fact, you may be a man). You just think that men and women should be treated equally. It's a simple idea but somehow complicated for the world to put into action.

I don't need a quiz to tell me. I am proud to be a feminist.

Awesome Geeky!

In this day and age so many people are afraid to be, or are uncomfortable being, identified with feminism. I blame the neoliberal blacklash!

It's important that more feminists identify themselves because it gives a bit of an omph to the movement again and I do think the movement is in need of more support.

Of course I'm a feminist. I know very few self-respecting women who aren't, even if some of them would never refer to themselves that way.

Most of my women friends proudly call themselves feminists, however. And most of my male friends are feminists as well.

The mentality this is addressing drives me insane, and it's sooooo prevalent now. They are right to call people's attention to it, even though it grates to be reminded of how misguided some people have become about the word "feminist."

I agree that it's some sort of backlash that makes people recoil at the very word. In short, it keeps women in their place to marginalize and ridicule a philosophy that simply aspires for women to be equal. How ridiculous! That many women themselves —true, actual feminists in their every action — have fallen prey to that backlash mentality is disheartening.

My favorite quote about claiming feminist sensibilities:

For, as helpful as it is to be reminded that “[W]omen”, like other “others”, is
socially constructed, the [W]omen whose lives are shaped by that construction,
as it intersects with others, do indeed exist. They exist subordinated to [M]en;
poor more than [M]en; physically and sexually abused, more than [M]en; paid less than [M]en; promoted less than [M]en; employed and managing a home, more than [M]en; raising the children, more than [M[en;under-performing relative to their male peers, in academic and professional settings; exploited, denigrated, and stereotyped in popular cultural imagery, more than [M]en; assigned the cultural function of reflecting [M]en “at twice their natural size.” They exist,
sometimes colluding in their subordination, sometimes resisting it, using
whatever their circumstances offer to piece together a life. And feminists
while continuing to acknowledge, celebrate, and support the investigation of all the “differences” that divide and constitute both [M]en and [W]omen, need not
be embarrassed and should not be afraid, to describe our work as being about
[W]omen, and to imagine that our work is of a kind in which we have a special
competence, and a special stake.
Clare Dalton

You bet.

But of course!

Yes, I'm a feminist. I remember when I first started job hunting years ago, the NY Times was divided into 2 sections: Male Female .

I never saw a female

Policeperson
Fireperson
Judge
Priest/Rabbi, etc.
Cabdriver
Busdriver
Waitstaff person in a higher class restaurant, even a coffee shop
Doctor

No male
Nurses
Grade school teachers
Air flight attendants

When I got my first job all the women were called by their first names and the men by their last names. All the "bosses" were men; the secretaries were women.
I had to wear skirts every day, even in freezing weather.

This list could continue, but suffice to say, I am a feminist!

Yeah, I'm a feminist. I don't blame neoliberalism, though; I'd be curious what the reasoning is behind that.

According to the quiz I'm 95 percent feminist, only because I'm not sure I believe anyone has the "right" to be a stay-at-home parent (question 7, "Women should have the right to choose any path in life - from being a stay at home mom to a Fortune 500 CEO"). If you can make it work financially and your partner is on board with it, go right ahead, but I wouldn't consider it a universal human right to be financially supported by somebody else.

nm

Eilonwy: thanks for addition to my vocab - I know I will be mulling this over for quite some time. I LOVE new information especially if it is illuminating!

nm

That was very well put, Eilonwy. I've read about the concept of the kyriarchy but don't often think to use the word; perhaps I should start to.

Well then it is even more perfect for me!

I'm a proud feminist. So is my husband. I don't know what neoliberalism is, but I don't blame it for the backlash against feminism. I blame religious leaders and asholes like Rush Limbaugh, and his ilk, who put feminists in the same category as killers and rapists, when they bloviate and pontificate and look for blame for the world's ills.

nm

Absolutely, I'm a feminist. It kind of burns my ass when some women go out of their way to make it clear they're not feminists, since they've undoubtedly benefited from the hard work done by feminists in older generations.

It also burns my ass that so many people equate feminism to man-hating. Just an attempt to shame women out of fighting for equal rights. "Oh, of course I don't hate men! Here, take your privilege back with my sincerest apologies." Nope.

Responsibilization (variation of the protestant work ethic) is integral to neoliberalism. Everyone is responsible for their own achievements and social location/power/dynamics play no part in that equation. So Women's subordination/exclusion is unrelated to male privilege, and Women's disadvantage is purely a result of the individual Woman's choices.

Neoliberalism, via the responsibilization thesis, undermines feminism's criticism of male domination, just as it does negatively racialized people's criticism of racism.

Love this post!

Ass burning is good, keeps us focused and alert to what's going on.

I thank all the Women who came before and fought for all the things I now take for granted like greater reproductive freedom, job choices, protection from various expressions of male violence, and the esteem to know that I am entitled to all of these things and more.

They were much braver than I but I try to do my small part whenever/wherever possible as I am sure all of us responding to this thread do.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/145/3...4b48d0ca_m.jpg

Definitely. :toothy7: I used to read a lot of bell hooks when I was in high school. The pic above is a piece I did dedicated to the baddest bad girl of the 70s (IMO).. Prof. Angela Davis.