Feminisim is the radical notion that women are people

"Feminism is the radical notion that women are people." (Rebecca West)

"Your silence will not protect you." (Audre Lord)

"A man of quality is not threatened by a woman for equality." (Slogan for the National Organization for Women)

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Inspired by recent activity on Angie's site.

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"I wouldn't call myself a feminist, but..."

Well, why not? What's wrong with being a feminist?

I'll tell you:* Feminists are evil, man-hating lesbians. Or they're whores. Or whiners. And they just don't realize how much men sacrifice for them every day, or how hard it is to be a man. They don't understand that it's out of our hands, really, because men and women are SO different physiologically that equality is absolutely impossible. I mean, can you imagine what would happen if a woman became President?! She'd probably declare nuclear war the first time she got her period!

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Here's the crux of the problem: Equal rights and feminism are not women's issues. They're human issues. Just as women have been harmed by the patriarchy, so have men. It seems to me that the real problem that people have with feminism is that they cannot conceive of a way that two unalike things can be equal in their value. Now, I'm not going to get into the "types of feminism" argument** and talk about if it's necessary for women to be exactly equal to men, or if women and men can be equally valuable in their own respects with the strengths and weaknesses each bring to the table.***

What I will say is that equality is an essentially human issue. Yes, we as women have come a long way. We can go to school, hold jobs, for the most part not be harrassed at them, own property, and enter into legally binding contracts. But there is such a rich history of oppression, and women as a whole (as Simone de Beauvoir would write, Woman) are still so oppressed and victimized,**** we cannot presume to say that equality has been acheived.

But, you may ask, is equality something that we even want? God made man, then woman, and decreed that woman should serve man. He didn't say that man and woman were equal, so it must not be so. I will resist the urge to say, "Yeah, well, God didn't say that people shouldn't beat themselves over the head with kittens, but you don't see anyone running out and grabbing Fluffy by the tail, do you?" Instead, I will point out that, by and large, it is the evangelical "christian" movement that relies on the degradation of women in its teachings.¹ All this is despite the fact that Jesus chose women as central players in his ministry, respected women's opinions, and made every effort to further the situation of women every where he went.

Yes, equality is something we want. Not just "we" as women, but "we" as human beings. "I passionately believe that no one can be free until we are all free, that no one can be secure until there is justice for all, and that no one can claim to be human until there is a humane world..." (Mark Mathabane). This is what equality means to me: a world where no one is afraid of being hit by a "loved one," where you can go on a date without fear of rape or assault, where equal work actually means equal pay, where sexual harassment doesn't happen, anywhere, ever; a world where men who love men and women who love women can love as freely as men who love women and women who love men, where people don't feel compelled to change their body shape, their skin colour, the shape of the nose or eyes, to conform to some "ideal type," where birth control is perfectly accurate and there is no need for abortion, where children can grow up without fear of sexual abuse or victimization, where men or women can stay at home and raise children and be given respect and dignity, and where each person is seen with love and respect, valued for the person they are and their own strengths and weaknesses--not as a man or a woman, not as gay or straight, not as young or old, not as able or disable, not as skin colour, but as a human.

That is equality. That is feminism.

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* Note: Tongue-in-cheek, of course.

** As it happens, I consider myself an equity feminist.

*** A variation of this argument occurs in the Queer community. Should the emphasis be on sameness, or can we recognize that each group (in the Queer community, referring to hetero- or homosexuals) brings with it its own strengths and weaknesses?

**** Incidentally, October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Yet breast cancer gets more attention. Could that be because breasts are fetishized? If only women's safety were...

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¹ Some of the statements from Focus on the Family: "A wise woman will understand her husband’s need to be needed: as a provider, a protector, a lover, a father to their children, a companion. She will continue to take all her needs to the Lord, but she will also realize that God can and will meet many of her needs through her own husband." Most of the statements found here belittle men and assert that women need to be patient and understanding...as if men are little better than mentally challenged grade schoolers. I don't know about you, but I find that insulting on behalf of men. (Alternately, anyone familiar with Stockholm Syndrome?)

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"Because woman's work is never done and is underpaid or unpaid or boring or repetitious and we're the first to get fired and what we look like is more important than what we do and if we get raped it's our fault and if we get beaten we must have provoked it and if we raise our voices we're nagging bitches and if we enjoy sex we're nymphos and if we don't we're frigid and if we love women it's because we can't get a 'real' man and if we ask our doctor too many questions we're neurotic and/or pushy and if we expect childcare we're selfish and if we stand up for our rights we're aggressive and 'unfeminine' and if we don't we're typical weak females and if we want to get married we're out to trap a man and if we don't we're unnatural and because we still can't get an adequate safe contraceptive but men can walk on the moon and if we can't cope or don't want a pregnancy we're made to feel guilty about abortion and...for lots and lots of other reasons we are part of the women's liberation movement."