"Why I'm not a Feminist"

https://www.elitedaily.com/life/im-not-a-feminist/1144970

TW: article posted briefly mentions rape/sexual assault

We read the article a couple of weeks ago titled "Why I am not a Feminist" by Haji Shearer and I keep thinking back to the article because this is something I try to be introspective about quite often. I believe it is unacceptable to be anything except intersectional in not only a person's feminist practices but if someone does not identify with the word "feminist" then they should try to be as mindful and intersectional in their personal daily practices. No one is perfect and I continue to check myself daily and try to improve. As a white, heterosexual, cis, early twenties female my voice is not the most important voice by any means when it comes to the voices that drive the feminist movement. I think it's important to define what feminism means to me before I go on with this note. To me, feminism is just a term or a badge. What is done under the term "feminist" is what is actually important to me; if it had a different name I would still be one. To me, it is the idea of being intersectional and bringing a movement towards equality for all people on all topics: reproductive justice, eliminating environmental racism, ensuring safety and equal rights to members of the LGBTQ+ community, native people, people of color and other minorities, and a number of other topics. Again, if feminism was a different word it does not matter to me but what actually matters is what it encompasses.

With that in mind, I continue to get frustrated by what seems to be a movement of new Millenials or Gen Y individuals coming out with the bold statement of "I am not a feminist". I provided an example with the link of one in particular provided on the Elite Daily where people can post their opinions on a website and write their own articles. Many of these articles are written by presumably cis, white women who claim something along the line of "I'm not a feminist because feminist are too extreme" or "they're not fair to guys, not all guys are bad". To be quite frank, this is really annoying to explain to people that once again that as a person that identifies as a feminine female that my femininity and motivations in life are not centered around a male counterpart or not hurting a male's feelings. This article, in particular, says "But men can be underpaid. Men can be denied education. Men can be discriminated against. Men can be sexually harassed." and to this I say

...we know

The whole premise behind the feminism I believe in is creating a better life for all with the goal of equality. I know the feminist movement has had bad moments in history where it was not intersectional and there are many people who still don't keep the goal of being as intersectional as possible as one of their main goals when discussing feminism. But after going to rallies and protests and listening to people who do and people who want to move towards a better future of equality they recognize that unjust, bad things happen to all kinds of people. We as feminists don't need to be reminded that "Men can be discriminated against" because we know. That is why we work, that is why we make phone calls to our representatives, that is why we go out to marches, that is why we step back and listen to other, that is why we table in front of our student unions or knock on doors or talk to people on the street about these issues because we are very aware. Whether people personally identify under the label of a feminist or not, most people are at least vaguely aware of what is going on right now and recognize that what many experience they must quietly endure because no one in authority supports them.

If you have made it this far in this post, I'm impressed because all of this is my opinion that I have been thinking about since high school and have really been tossing around since 2016. Maybe I'll do more research and write an essay about this, who knows. But to wrap up this post, I am in no means even close to perfect in my day to day choices. I make mistakes and constantly have to ask myself if the words I am saying are intersectional enough and if my goals are intersectional enough and I grow and try to improve on this every day. And to the bold individuals who like the be the devil's advocate and be controversial and who don't want to identify as a feminist, that is fine. I honestly don't care because that one word in particular is not what matter, what matters is being aware.