by Euryclea

Created on: February 20, 2007   Last Updated: April 30, 2007

Who can be a feminist?

There are different types of feminists.

You have the non-sex positive feminists. These are women who believe that the image of the scantily clad female on the front cover of a lads magazine is detrimental to women as a whole.

You have the sex positive feminist. Which is the opposite of the above.

You have the Socialist feminist. Who also campaigns for equal wages, and the rights of women in the workplace.

You have Feminists for Choice. Who are against abortion, but campaign for equality in the workplace.

You have Radical Feminists. Believe that the the oppression of women lies in patriarchal gender relations.

You have Eco-feminism.

Lesbian Feminism

Marxist feminism.

Liberal feminism. A conservative view of feminism. Which believes that men as a group need not be challenged.

The list is endless. Some feminists believe that all of this diversity is both a strength and a weakness. The fact is that one group can be manipulated to challenge another. However, it also means that feminism is very diverse and has support in groups that would otherwise not support feminism.

However, there are some feminists who believe that you are not a feminist if you are Pro-Life, and others who say that your stance on abortion does not matter. There are others who say you are not a feminist if you go out and buy a Lads magazine, as they see you as encouraging the discrimination of women. Others, and this is increasingly the minority (like in the case of abortion) would say that you can still be a feminist and buy a Lads magazine. Feminism is not only about saying to your friends and relatives that you are a feminism. Feminism is about challenging existing society norms, or challenging the laws which we think discriminate against women.

For example, if any of us is in a queue and we the man or woman behind us saying that she was having a blond moment, or someone he/she knew was having a blond moment. We would try to constructively challenge them saying that on the whole people who said things like that where discriminating against women who naturally had blond hair.

Another example would be if we where watching the news, and heard about all these rapes and crimes that was happening in war zones. If we had a spare ten minutes we would write to the country concerned mentioning our disgust that the rapes where happening, and that the authorities where not persuing justice.

Feminism is about realising not only what we say, but also what we do encourages discrimination. For example, the purchase of a bag with the playboy logo. The purchase of a cheap jumper from a shop which is known to use sweatshop labour, and yes even the purchase of an expensive diamond ring. I mentioned the last two because most of the people employed in sweatshops are women, and that diamonds are used by governments and business men/women to pay for guns. Which help them fund wars, or suppress people using murder and rape.

It is about going to a store and seeing all those suits which Mothers claim are unsuitable for little girls, because they make them look dare I say like a hooker. Then complaining to the manager of the store, or writing a letter of complaint to the head office.

It is about finding out where your local rape crisis centres, or womens refuges are and if you have any spare time. Giving that spare time, or giving a little money so the centre can stay open.

Feminism is about supporting other groups in society which are discriminated against.

Feminism is about opening your eyes and realising that we can say we are a feminist, but we are not necessarily a feminist (even in our own eyes) with regards the things that we do.

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