Gender advocates. Social activists. Man haters. Bra burners.
Rampant social stereotypes and diverse personal applications of the word “feminist” make its meaning near impossible to pin down.
Among those who identify with the term, individual perspectives surrounding social and political conversations about race, reproductive rights and LGBTQ issues make the feminist agenda vary on a case-by-case basis. Within the movement, debate surrounding who can affiliate themselves with the term and what level of activism it implies further nuances the discussion. From moderates to lesbian separatists to political activists, the term feminist unites a range of views around one point of absolute consensus: leveling the playing field between sexes.
“The social context we’re in has conflicting mixed messages,” said Bonnie Mann, faculty adviser for the University of Oregon’s Feminist Philosophy Research Interest Group through the Center for the Study of Women in Society. “On the one hand, feminism is seen as something that’s very innocuous and sort of seen as being liberal … and on the other hand “feminism” is still a very dirty word and I think many young women are still afraid of the term.”
UO senior Anna Bird is not one of those women.
Originally from a rural town in northeastern Oregon, Bird has always considered herself aware of gender inequalities. However she didn’t adopt the label of a feminist until her first women’s and gender studies class her freshman year. In light of her positive exposure to the principle of feminism, Bird was surprised by the social stigma the word carried even inside her friend group.
“When I started talking to my friends about it, they were kind of shy to the idea of talking about it, and definitely to identifying as it,” Bird said. “People still think that to be a feminist you have to not shave your legs or shave your armpits or hate men and you have to want to lead this really separatist, lesbian life or something. And while that’s credible, and people definitely do do those things, that’s not what you have to do and that’s not what being a feminist means.”
In Bird’s opinion, feminism lies at the intersection of economic, racial and social interactions with gender: and as such, she considered it a feminist’s prerogative to advocate against all issues that affect them. This includes combating instances of domestic violence that affects one in four women in the United States and pushing science and math education for women — a field where men still make up 3/4 of the work force. However, she said, the fabled “bra burning” is in no way a prerequisite.
“The rhetoric of feminism started as a way to combat sexism and as it’s evolved it’s taken on all of these other meanings and these movements for people,” Bird said “I want to think that it’s just a lifestyle choice — you’re just an inclusive person and you lead this life of conscientiousness and if the time comes to be an activist you’re an activist but you don’t have to be a twenty four seven activist or something.”
Bird praised the variety of issues targeted by the feminist movement and the range of perspectives with which feminists themselves approach those issues as a way to spur democratic decision making. However, feminism’s multifaceted nature also invites confusion among those who don’t associate with the term.
“I think that to be a feminist means to be committed to the emancipatory aspirations of women — simple enough.” Mann said. “Beyond that sort of basic aspiration it becomes very complicated.”
For many feminists at the University of Oregon, the most pressing call of the feminist movement has become achieving equal rights for all.
“People have this view that feminists want to bash men down, but that’s not the case. We want to raise people up and gain equality for everybody — regardless of race and gender and class,” freshman feminist and ASUO Women’s Center office assistant Ali Byers said. “At the Women’s Center we try and provide opportunities for all underrepresented people … that’s a good example of the feminist movement as a whole. You have to bring awareness first and then you can make more changes.”
As a male, sophomore Andrew Rogers brings another perspective to the table.
Rogers attributes his first significant alignment with feminist practices to a conversation he had with his mother regarding former Vice President Dick Cheney’s policies on abortion at 10 years old — long before he understood the political implications of the word. He still identifies as a feminist, yet the decision between when to participate as an activist and when to take the role of an ally has become more complex
“Sometimes I see male feminists trying to speak over actual women, which I find disingenuous,” Rogers said. “I think it would be really easy for me to be like ‘I’m a feminist and I’m a good guy and I support equal rights.’ It would be easy but it would be kind of pointless … As a feminist and a feminist ally I want to make sure that I know what I’m talking about and I’m listening to women’s opinions because feminism is not about me trying to be a nice person — it’s about me trying to make shit better.”
Despite Roger’s intentions to further the rights of women, there are those feminists who would revoke his self-affiliation with the term because of his sex.
“We don’t try to indoctrinate. We try to open up certain questions and invite people to participate in their own way, from their own standpoint,” graduate student Fulden Ibrahimhakkioglu said of the general “feminist” movement. “Personally, I’m not sure that I agree with (all feminists), but I don’t think it’s anybody’s right to deny them to claim the term for themselves.”
Various personal perspectives, intentions and levels of activism make feminism tricky to pin down. However, it’s the range of opinions present within the larger scope that Ibrahimhakkioglu believes transforms feminism from a linear issue to a multidimensional space for discussion.
She finds beauty in its complexity.
“I don’t think feminism is an ‘-ism’ like any other. It’s not a system of thought, it’s not a system of ideology, it’s not a cult that one needs to be cautious of. It’s more like an approach, an attitude, an area of study and a political movement,” Ibrahimhakkioglu said.
The end result of such a dynamic group of collaborators, says feminist Women’s and Gender Studies Professor Elizabeth Reis, is a progressive social movement that consistently evolves and adapts itself to target each and every manifestation of what she described as “sexist oppression.”
“People are worried that you have to walk a certain line to be a feminist — but I’d just like to see it a lot more open. We’d get a lot more people and a lot more perspectives,” Reis said. “There’s a whole lot to be done, so the more feminism invites anyone into the process at whatever issue speaks to them, the more effective we’re going to be.”