Letters

"Perhaps today's smart women should stop contemplating the lexicon and start figuring out the fight." Readers sound off on Rebecca Traister's article about "feminism."

Jul 12, 2005 | [Read "The F Word," by Rebecca Traister.]

I'm a bit disappointed in Rebecca Traister's article. I hold it to the same standards that I do the feminist movement: You are what you do.

But I do share Traister's larger concern. Do we really need to make our social movements sexy? I mean, whom are we attempting to court? When hasn't feminism had an image problem to those who don't share our goals of social, political and economic justice? I have nothing against sexiness. I think people working together for social justice is hotter than Paris Hilton, but I'm skeptical about having to dress up feminism (or any other social movement for that matter) for mass consumption.

Traister's article situates feminism in ways that do little for expanding global social change. By largely equating feminism with reproductive rights -- which Traister uses as a hook, identifying how Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement gives a "new urgency" to "women's issues" (read: reproductive rights) -- and looking at only U.S.-based feminism, Traister misses an important opportunity to acknowledge the valuable work of feminists worldwide. To equate feminism with U.S.-based reproductive rights' issues reveals an uninformed article at best and a worrisome form of U.S. imperialism at worst.

Finally, a glaring omission in an article discussing language and the women's movement is the use of the term "feminisms" -- a popular term among activists and scholars alike around the world. And while a simple pluralization doesn't solve all of the problems of feminism, I think it does situate the emphasis appropriately: The goals of feminism -- not its name or its image -- should be its beacon.

-- Jennifer Burke

Rebecca Traister's article is interesting and nuanced but totally misses the larger point: The vast majority of young women just don't care.

Most women don't identify as feminist, not because they worry about feminism's history of exclusion or because "feminism" seems like their mom's word or because they've adopted softer terminology. They don't identify as feminist because they are not at all conscious of feminist issues. They don't know of any feminist battles that weren't won about a hundred years ago, or they don't agree with the feminist political stance as they know it.

Remember that in the 2004 elections, more people voted for "whatever" than for Bush or Kerry.

One of Traister's interviewees says, "If I hear one more person say, 'I'm not a feminist, I'm a humanist,' I'm going to kill them." Personally, when I meet anybody who's thought enough about either of those words to have a preference between them, I do a little happy dance.

-- L. Almagor

Rebecca Traister's piece about the use of the word "feminist" raised some interesting points about the role of language in a political movement and the corruption of the political descriptors of the left by the right. "The F Word," however, completely lacked any insight into the feelings of an extremely important constituency for continued progress in social, political and economic gender equity: men. Although I do not have the relevant statistics at hand, it seems clear that if political actions that advance the equality of women are to succeed, at least some fraction of men need to be on board for them. My personal experiences suggest that plenty of left-leaning men are interested in helping further feminist causes. However, the use of the word "feminist" can seem exclusionary to men, as it places the focus, linguistically, on the advancement of one gender rather than on the equality of the two genders.

I understand, of course, that the advancement of women implied by the word does not need to come at the expense of men, and that most feminists are absolutely not anti-male. However, as a liberal man who wholeheartedly supports gender equity, I still feel uncomfortable calling myself a feminist because of the gender bias that seems, however inaccurately, inherent in it. By failing to even raise the issue of how pro-gender-equality men react to the word "feminist," Traister's piece seems to demonstrate the sort of disregard for the male viewpoint that can deter men from applying the feminist label to themselves. Perhaps a new label for those who are in favor of gender equality would be useful, particularly if it is part of a general acknowledgment that gender equity will be difficult to achieve if only one gender is working toward it.

-- Nicholas J. Condon

Why is it always about words? And not just any words; the "right" words. Fussing over how to coin or re-coin feminism is yet another vestige of the shockingly anti-progressive p.c. movement, which had highbrow lefties fretting over context without considering meaning, action or implications.

The trouble with loaded labels like "feminism" is that such coinage is too reductive to allow any real thought -- or any thoughtful deviation. As a pro-choice woman, I believe that abortion rights are necessary and inalienable, but I also believe that the extermination of a child (or a "maybe child") is nothing to get all "you go girl" about. A valid concern, I think. Why is it then, that my vacillation around the gray areas of this dark social issue attracts scoffs and jabs from educated, upper-class "feminist" friends who cheer wildly when Whoopie Goldberg wields a wire hanger in Washington?

Perhaps the smart women of today should stop contemplating the lexicon and start figuring out the fight. Do we want to make sure abortion rights stick around? Do we want to have lots of babies and make lots of money? Do we want that jackass coworker to stop staring at our tits? Me too. But I guarantee you these battles won't be won with words, let alone the "F word" or any of its throwaway replacements.

If progress is what we want, then it's time to stop talking among ourselves and start tackling some tougher crowds -- and tougher issues.

-- Kristen Acimovic

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