What should feminism be renamed to?

[Ciggy Socialist 8,787]

I think this is important to talk about as feminism has lost big in the PR war. I've talked to people who generally agree with feminist ideas, but like myself, refuse to use the label due to the connotations with reactionaries and poorly explained theories like patriarchy and rape culture (both of which are real and I'm happy to debate any Rich, Straight, White Men.m4a about  ). I usually say my opinions on gender politics and don't label myself within that context. I defiantly use the feminist jargon, but people will listen more if you don't call yourself a feminist I've found. "Gender egalitarianism" doesn't carry much political weight and isn't catchy enough, despite its lack of being problematic. So what do y'all think?

[Urbi 51,300]

I don’t really care to be honest. I kind of see why people do not want to be associated with feminists even if they support the ideas but we all have to realise it’s because New Wave Feminism is a fucking cancer and if suffragettes only knew what their younger colleagues are doing nowadays they’d roll over in their graves

[Manel 8,762]

I label myself a feminist.

True, this new wave of social media feminists has done a lot of damage because their speech is meant to cause an impact and get engagement from other social media users. They spew shit and marketable phrases like "We're the grandaughters of the witches you couldn't burn". Stuff that doesn't add to the conversation because it's not meant to be discussed.

I am a feminist and I definitely don't agree all the time with certain speeches, but this "people will listen more if you don't call yourself a feminist" thing is something that doesn't ring well with me. If you're not open to discussion just because I label myself a feminist, then it's not worth it for me to waste my time talking to you.

PERIOD.

[Hermione 26,193]

It shouldn't be renamed to anything. Labels are always going to carry negative connotations, but some of them are necessary to have. At its core, feminism is about women's rights since they're not on equal footing with men and the end goal is equality (or liberation, depending on who you ask) of the sexes. That's why I will never use gender egalitarian; it basically erases the fact that women get the short end of the stick and implies otherwise.

If you're uncomfortable with certain aspects of feminism and want to distance yourself from them, maybe call yourself a certain type of feminist like "(insert wave here) feminist" to show that you're not associated with whatever branch or subgroup you have issues with. I've been doing this with libfems lately, lol.  Also, this isn't the same thing but I call myself a feminism supporter rather than a feminist. I believe that due to male socialization, men inherently cannot be true feminists even with the best intentions simply as a result of having been socialized under patriarchy.

[Ciggy Socialist 8,787]

21 hours ago, Hermione said:

It shouldn't be renamed to anything. Labels are always going to carry negative connotations, but some of them are necessary to have. At its core, feminism is about women's rights since they're not on equal footing with men and the end goal is equality (or liberation, depending on who you ask) of the sexes. That's why I will never use gender egalitarian; it basically erases the fact that women get the short end of the stick and implies otherwise.

If you're uncomfortable with certain aspects of feminism and want to distance yourself from them, maybe call yourself a certain type of feminist like "(insert wave here) feminist" to show that you're not associated with whatever branch or subgroup you have issues with. I've been doing this with libfems lately, lol.  Also, this isn't the same thing but I call myself a feminism supporter rather than a feminist. I believe that due to male socialization, men inherently cannot be true feminists even with the best intentions simply as a result of having been socialized under patriarchy.

I clarify to people that I don't have many issues with feminism besides there communication strategies, so I'd agree with this label dodging, "I'm a feminism supporter", but I think excluding men from the label of feminist is pretty sexist and problematic. Feminism is a theory or rather a variety of theories, so saying that a theory and its label can't be adopted on the premiss of sex is incorrect. It's almost like saying a white person could never join BLM or say they're an anti-racist. And just for hole poking sake; feminine men, queer men and trans women go through male socialisation, but still often experience bigotry that stems from misogyny, so I'm not sure where you're drawing the line of what is and isn't male socialisation. If certain men experience indirect misogyny, doesn't that mean by your standards that they could be feminists? If you say men can't be feminists that creates a whole nightmare for optics as well. It makes feminism seem exclusionary and man-hating, implying that men can't empathise or understand women. It also reinforces the rigid binary of male and female, that feminism seeks to make more flexible. Overall I think your idea here is really counterintuitive and divisive. If you were saying that female voices should be prioritised in feminist spaces, that'd be one thing, but I think this is way over the line in theory and in practicality. 

[Courtney Love 4,388]

On 6/11/2019 at 11:17 AM, Ultraviolet said:

I clarify to people that I don't have many issues with feminism besides there communication strategies, so I'd agree with this label dodging, "I'm a feminism supporter", but I think excluding men from the label of feminist is pretty sexist and problematic. Feminism is a theory or rather a variety of theories, so saying that a theory and its label can't be adopted on the premiss of sex is incorrect. It's almost like saying a white person could never join BLM or say they're an anti-racist. And just for hole poking sake; feminine men, queer men and trans women go through male socialisation, but still often experience bigotry that stems from misogyny, so I'm not sure where you're drawing the line of what is and isn't male socialisation. If certain men experience indirect misogyny, doesn't that mean by your standards that they could be feminists? If you say men can't be feminists that creates a whole nightmare for optics as well. It makes feminism seem exclusionary and man-hating, implying that men can't empathise or understand women. It also reinforces the rigid binary of male and female, that feminism seeks to make more flexible. Overall I think your idea here is really counterintuitive and divisive. If you were saying that female voices should be prioritised in feminist spaces, that'd be one thing, but I think this is way over the line in theory and in practicality. 

Perfectly said. I can understand where @Hermione is coming from with their comment but the line can't be drawn that easily between what is and isn't.

[Life13swift 126]

I agree with most of what others are saying in this thread. I feel like women deserve to be equal tho with men because you shouldn't outshine any woman on what they want to say. 

I do agree with that you can't draw what is/isn't fem because isn't that saying male can't be feminist or something? (I hope I'm understanding part of it). I do understand what some of other parts are saying to.

 

I feel like men need to support women to because every voice should be heard, like men that support female empowerment/indiviualism and not ungrateful men that don't like women (well their canceled anyways). I feel like men can support feminism equality to as long as their hearing what women is clarifying in her speeches. I do think everyone should be equal and be loved and be heard. 

I'm sort of almost like feminist but I also think men should be equal to all men to as do women to women.

If I misunderstood or something let me know. 

[princessnokia 10]

it shouldn't be renamed. if you're worried about your opinions being misconstrued, express them better. say what you mean past the initial label. 

[LÉON 17,800]

Meninism

[Galactic-Tiger 12,036]

Madonnanism