Feminists

I worry that the term “feminist” tends to be interpreted as a distinct portion of individuals rather than the norm, because it’s reinforced by media (and others) as an outlier mindset.

The worst perpetrators of misogyny tend to get attention because of their extreme actions and points of view, yet somehow *not* being like them is never described as feminism. Instead, feminism seems to be considered just as extreme, perhaps as a natural counterbalance.

This could be another case of an accurate phrasing gone awry, as it did with global warming and defund the police. In those cases, as with feminism, the majority of our society would agree with the premise, but very quickly the phrase becomes sullied to represent something sinister and non-mainstream. We certainly know the who, how, and why behind that, but once the perception takes root it’s nearly impossible to reverse.

Bottom line, I bet most first-world men and women are feminists whether they know it or not, and irrespective of whether they’d accept that label or not. We still have a long way to go regarding women’s rights, but being a non-feminist today is actually the extremist position, and it would really help if people heard it stated that way. Not holding my breath, but…