I consider myself to be a feminist. I thought it might be a jolly ruse to see if I fit into the official definitions proposed by others.
In fact, as I was hoping to move from the sublime to the ridiculous, I have to say I was rather disappointed with Urban Dictionary. All of the definitions were surprisingly (and disappointingly) well-phrased and normal. No ‘lesbians in dungarees’ here. Damn. Why else would I have gone to Urban Dictionary?!
Determined as I was, it still took me until entry 37 to find any sort of light relief: ”A women that refuses to cook you some eggs” – which I did smirk at. Eventually, after more justification of feminism, entry 45 reads
“A feminist is a man-hating lesbian. She despises anyone with a penis, erect or otherwise. She boycotts all feminine products because most are made by men, instead opting for reusable menstrual pads that she sews by hand, and when she wants to go swimming she uses sea-sponges in place of tampons. She disapproves of words like “ass” and opts for synonyms like “bottom” or “hiney”"
And, finally, according to feminist.com, feminism is the movement for the full social, political and economic equality of all people.
So, how did I measure up?
Google: check, and check. I support feminism, if feminism is – as I believe it to be – the latter definition: “advocating equal rights for women”. I advocate and believe in equal rights. I am a Google-defined feminist.
Wikipedia: Almost. I believe in equality for women and men (important distinction here, it’s not all about women), but I don’t do any campaigning. Perhaps I would if they threatened to take the vote away, but I haven’t joined any rallys to equal pay just yet. I’m a lazy Wikipedia-defined feminist.
OED: Check and check. As a women, I surely pertain to women…? And I advocate feminism – it’s a good thing.
Urban Dictionary: taking the sensible definitions – check and check. I am pretty sure that I am a person as well as a women, and I think I definitely prefer that definition out of the others. I like that it asserts that men and women deserve equality in spite of their differences, which is something I very much believe in. I think it would be fair to say I believe in equality for men as well as women.
To be honest, I’m a little disappointed with my definition experiment. It seems that in the interest of defending feminism, it is impossible for even Urban Dictionary to make a joke. Sad. While I don’t want feminists to have a bad name, it’s the obvious justifications such as ‘despite popular opinion’ and ‘a feminist is not a man-hater’ that bely the truth here. Feminists do have a bad name – and one that they shouldn’t have. I want to stand up and assert women’s rights, but not at the expense of men. I consider myself to be a feminist. I don’t consider myself to be better than men (well, not all of them) but I do think women’s rights are important and need defending, sometimes precisely because of the bad press that women get.
To be honest, though, it’s not something I try to make a huge fuss about. Unless someone annoys my inner feminist. I think we’re all feminist, really, unless we actively support inequality, and I guess all these sensible definitions do nothing more than back me up.
“erect or otherwise” HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Posted by Thursa | April 2, 2011, 07:58