I never took the word (or ideology) seriously until I was forced to upon finding out that one of my greatest heroes -- Joss Whedon -- was a proud and vocal feminist. Certainly, it's tough being a male feminist, but I'd wager tougher being a female one...
In my mind, there are two ideological precepts that make you a feminist:
(1) you believe equality (whatever that means) between the sexes is desirable and important, and
(2) you believe women are currently less privileged than men.
Feminism comes in a wide range of colours and visions, so I don't want to be too prescriptive here. As for the first point, it's rather taken for granted in general discourse nowadays that there should be equality for all people. Some will say women and men are "equal but different", which I find problematic already, but not necessarily preclusive of a feminist worldview: you can still see relevant differences between men and women (at a societal level or a physiological level) if you want, but if you believe that women are under the thumb of or commoditised by a patriarchal society, or lack access to the same opportunities as men, or are generally underprivileged compared with men, then you qualify as a feminist as far as I'm concerned.
So I'm wondering who here would either identify as a feminist OR agree with the two precepts and NOT identify as a feminist. Why or why not? Are women underprivileged compared with men?
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