BY HANNAH LEWIS
A friend recently came out to me. I was as outraged as I was surprised.
She’s a human rights lawyer who works in a university. She wasn’t the sort of person I expected to be having that conversation with.
The conversation we had is one that I’ve had before. It’s a conversation that I’m more than a little bit over.
“Well, Hannah,” my friend told me, “of course I believe in women’s human rights it’s just that feminism is irrelevant. Besides, I don’t want to tarnish myself with a label that implies hairy legs, lesbianism and militant ranting.”
For a lesbian who is prone to eloquent, but forceful discussion, her take on feminism was disappointing and surprising. I’m sure, dear readers, you’ll understand my outrage at her ‘outing.’
This conversation is so utterly old that sometimes I think I should carry feminist business cards around with me. The card would look something like this:
If I had such a card, I’d use it to vet prospective friends, lovers and employers. On the flip side of my magic feminist card (for those who wanted to take it away) I’d explain the need for feminism.
There are so many issues that women face and feminists must fix that it is hard to know where to begin. In Australia women are still paid less than men, their reproductive rights are threatened and we’re the only Western democracy without a human rights act. 1 in 3 women also experience some form of sexual violence in their lives.
When I cast my eye abroad, the need to be a feminist is equally apparent. Recently, I’ve been campaigning for Miriam Lopez, a Mexican woman who was raped by soldiers and denied justice. Her case is just a drop of water in an ocean of misogyny. In Iran, a woman’s testimony in court is not equal to a man’s and in Afghanistan 87 per cent of women experience domestic violence.
This isn’t even the tip of the iceberg in Australia or abroad. It’s a tiny shaving of the right hand corner of an iceberg the size of Antarctica. The abuse of women’s human rights is a global phenomenon.
But I’m not just a feminist because of the issues that women face in Australia and abroad. I’m also a feminist because I believe that feminists (and yes, I mean men and women) can change things for the better for women.
Feminists fought for the right to vote for women. And they won. Feminists are fighting to safeguard abortion rights in Australia. And, at the moment, we’re still winning. Feminist activism also led to international law dealing with women’s rights issues.
So friends, it’s time to come out as feminists. It is only through telling people what feminism is and countering the myths that we will be able to recruit and organise together towards women’s equality.
Hannah Lewis is the Activism Coordinator at Amnesty International Australia and a proud feminist. She hopes that by the end of this article you too will be a proud feminist. These views do not represent the opinions of Amnesty International Australia and are the opinions of the author alone.
feminaust ~ for australian feminism 
Great blog piece Hannah. I’m over having conversations with people about why feminism matters.
Been there so many times. It is infuriating. And depressing. I think I need one of those cards too!
Devil’s advocate – I don’t understand why we need the distinction between men and women, when human rights are abused world-over. Surely if we get human rights right, these blatantly sexist gender arguments will be resolved, by definition.
**Trigger Warning**
Because we still deal with things like having to pay the same amount for college tuition but only make $0.75 to the dollar that men make and that’s in the US where we’ve really pushed gender equality. Being a Feminist doesn’t automatically mean that you are against men’s rights and often times this is completely forgotten about. Most feminists are all about Human Rights as a whole but it’s kind of hard when one side of the scale gets more attention than the other. For example just look at the African-American Rights movements in the United States, they had to fight just to be considered human beings and they still fight racism and inequality every single day just because of their skin color. Right now we have a war raging against LBGT community where they face real and very terrifying violence daily across the world. Women fight a lot of similar battles although perhaps not to the extreme as these other two communities all over the world. In some parts of Africa it is common for women to be castrated, sewn shut and then when they reach acceptable age they are cut open and raped. There are some parts of the United States (Mississippi) where the women all get together the night after one of them has been beaten by their husbands just to remind the victims that this is their place as woman and wife. Europe in notorious for Misogyny. Middle Eastern Women will be tried for Adultry if they are raped and report it in certain counties and when they are arrested they are raped more by their prison guards.
No Feminist would ever deny fighting for all human rights and often we fight for them every single day while fighting for our own rights, but often times people forget that the Feminist Movement has made so much more available to other groups than just Women’s Rights. Yes if we can just get Human Rights down solid we will be fine but it would take people and society to recognize these other groups as people first. We still can’t do that.
“but only make $0.75 to the dollar that men make”
False. That’s a thoroughly refuted claim. The only discrepancies shown are not even remotely that and hold true in much smaller percentages only in high level CEO positions where the differences tend to lie between a mix of Old Guard sexism and female employees refusing to push for better contracts.
Women are paid the exact same for the exact same work at the exact same job in places like Australia, America and the EU. Please don’t push that refuted lie.
“in the US where we’ve really pushed gender equality.”
Most of the world sees US Feminists as pushing for gender supremacy for females. While they, by definition, aren’t Feminists who are pushing for that the US style of Feminism is a detriment to the entire movement.
Which leads me to the rest of your post. One of the biggest modern day issues people have with Feminism is that the most vocal Feminists are not Feminists at all. You claim human rights are a prerogative but don’t seem to understand that mens rights in areas that ARE serious issues and women suffer from LESS than men are not just ignored but openly mocked, ridiculed and attacked when brought up EVEN in non-Feminist “spaces”.
Sadly, and disgustingly, many faux Feminists have taken the forefront of the moment (especially online and in campuses) and actively fight against mens rights based on fallacious, illogical reasoning even while they cry that they support all human rights. This same ignorance has caused transgenders (only the born male ones who identify as female) to be repeatedly attacked by “Feminists” for being “men trying to take up womens space”. It’s truly, TRULY disgusting and yet is almost never vilified or countered by any other Feminists standing in the movement with them.
Now it may be simple for you or me to understand that despite this quite significant minority within the movement, Feminism IS about equality and ISN’T against mens rights or the civil rights of any person. But as someone who has lobbied with Feminist organisations, I ROUTINELY have to explain to (mostly) teenagers and grown adult women that Feminism ISN’T a hate organisation. These people, even my niece, ONLY see the rabid, illogical faux Feminists at the forefront of every blog, school meeting, website, Youtube channel or newspaper spewing insane, usually misandrist, bullshit.
And what do they think? A quick talk with most of them shows me that they stand there supporting EVERYTHING the Feminist movement fights for and the only difference is that they think “Feminist” is a dirty word. Not because of some ridiculous “Patriarchy”, not because of “being raised ignorant” but because of what they see in relation to what too many faux Feminists say and do.
Feminism is quickly becoming the very stereotype that conservative morons printed of suffragettes and it needs to stop. But the issue is that the only way we can stop it now is by INTERNAL reformatting, not by expecting everyone else to bow down and accept us without pointing out any issues with our claims or us deny any criticism EVER of our movement, an issue that simply fosters more illogical actions in the name of Feminism.
Feminism needs all Feminists to return to the idea of equality. We don’t fight against our brothers, fathers, sons. We stand SIDE-BY-SIDE with them and steadily march towards an equal future for EVERYBODY.
I’m a woman, aboriginal and i’m not an MRA supporter.
…If you don’t address the ways in which women specifically, as a class, are victimized and disadvantaged, you won’t resolve them. Just because human rights are abused world over doesn’t mean the types of abuse that men and women face are the same, or their etiologies. For example both men and women can be raped but men do not face the systemic rape culture that women do, where women must constantly monitor their surroundings and behavior, in response to (and in fear of) sexually aggressive male behavior. This is not always noticeable or even conscious because it can be so ingrained.
The problems facing men and women do connect in the sense that (IMO) they are ultimately caused in large part by gender roles which harm both men and women. But to address that underlying issue we must ask how gender roles affect men and women differently.
Of course, if you don’t recognize the distinction between men and women it becomes easier because then you can just ignore women’s issues entirely. Same goes for issues facing people of color, transgender people, sexual minorities, etc. To solve the problems facing the world we need more intersectionality and complexity, not less.
I don’t think that its possible to get to the point where we respect ALL human rights as long as women continue to be treated like second rate citizens in nearly every part of the world. Women make up 49.5% of the worldwide population, yet hold very little political or financial power in the world overall. As long as people treat their mothers, grandmothers, sisters, wives and daughters as the “weaker sex” or as little more than property in their personal lives, it’s difficult to address the idea of human rights in general.
When you consider how the dominant political, financial or military powers in a country rule or govern that country, you usually find that a small group of people (less than 5% of the population) are able to control (and often abuse) over half the population; not just women, but minorities, the poor, the elderly, children, those who practice different religions, etc. That kind of disregard for humanity on such a large scale is going to be hard to wipe out without a major paradigm shift. Sure, you may make a small impact by defending the human rights of minorities, or the elderly, or another group. But securing the basic human rights of women – half of the worldwide population – will make the biggest impact. Once women’s rights improve significantly, I think we’ll find that human rights in general will follow..
so true, i fight for human rights, gender does not come into it.
This is like the “I’M COLOUR BLIND I DON’T EVEN SEE RACE” argument. To which is the response is: “How lovely for you, but unfortunately that’s not an option for a lot of people because they live in a racist society that constantly reminds them of the colour of their skin and they have to deal with realities of being a minority every single day.”
I work in a large international human rights organisation. The overall goal of the organisation is, obviously, a decent and dignified standard of living for every human on the planet. But within the organisation, we have plenty of sectors that focus specfically on women, or indigenous peoples, or children, or immigrants. Why do these sectors exists? Because these groups consistently represent the most vulnerable demographics within a given country or region. You have to address the specific barriers and challenges they face or they will not benefit from the improvements. They will get left behind. Even within our gender programmes, we have to make sure that policies will have positive impacts for all women, not just some women, otherwise poor women, unmarried women, queer women get left behind.
For example, let’s say you want improve the farming situation in a specific community. At the moment, farmers are working 14 hour days and barely scraping together enough to eat. One bad crop could spell starvation for a lot of them. Farming machinery like tractors could greatly improve their productivity, meaning they could cut their working hours and while still growing enough to eat, maybe even with some produce leftover to sell at market.
But you fail to take into account that women in this community are not allowed drive vehicles. Driving is a man’s job. You also fail to take into account that while men own most of the farms, women do most of the manual labour in the fields. So now this community have all these tractors, which is great for the men, but the women are still breaking their backs 14 hours a day in the fields and productivity doesn’t actually improve all the much. You also fail to take into account that women are not allowed go to market or sell produce in this society, which means they may never see any of the extra income the farm is generating. Sure, her husband might come home and give her a share to spend on household expenses, but he could also drink it all away in town and come home with empty pockets; ultimately it’s up to him. The woman still has no income, no freedom and no improved quality of life. This is why you need a gender specialist, who has researched all this stuff beforehand and who can say, “Hey, instead of investing in tractors, we should invest in high-quality tools that can be pulled by livestock, which means that women AND men will benefit. We should also help the women organize themselves to advocate for the right to go to market, which means they will gain some measure of control over their family incomes.”
So when you talk about getting “human rights right”, you need to understand the practical implications of what that means. You can’t just barrel into a country or a situation demanding more general human rights for everyone. You need to break the situation down, you need to look at the different stakeholders involved, you have make sure your interventions have positive impacts for the maximum amount of people, not just the most privileged groups in that society (which, in the vast majority of countries in the world, is men). Being general doesn’t get shit done. Being specific does. Anyone who has ever worked in development, human rights or advocacy can tell you that.
I tend not to call myself a feminist. I’ve believed for at least 55 years that women are seriously and systematically disadvantaged and undervalued, and that this hurts them greatly (and mucks up a great deal for men too), but there have always been quite a few women who are upset at men calling themselves feminist, and I don’t want to upset them. I call myself a fellow traveler, or someone who agrees with most of the causes and the set of beliefs that are usually taken to define feminism.
Some of the women who’ve been closest to me have refused to call themselves feminist, and while I didn’t agree with them, I learnt a bit from their reasons. For instance, my mother, a strong and independent woman who survived a long and wretched second marriage for the last twenty or so years of which she provided all the childcare and financial support for its four children. When I asked her in some astonishment why she wouldn’t think of herself as a feminist, she said in effect – because they piss on my dreams. She’d had to become strong and independent. But if she’d had her preference, her first husband, who’d been killed in WW2, would have survived and she’d have been his devoted and dependent wife, as she had been for six months before he went to the war.
A long-term lover who (before my time) had been a prostitute didn’t like feminism because in her experience women hadn’t been oppressed or treated with contempt, and she associated feminists with the many who insisted that prostitution was rape and should be stamped out. (Later she worked in the accountancy section of a firm and within two days had become a feminist.)
@Dave – you’re right, but sexist people DO make a distinction between men and women, so — though ideally the world will no longer discriminate between genders — while it still does we should be open about what it does and speak out hard against it.
Absolutely agree Dave, and I am sure there are people out there who long to see the time when gender has no part to play in how we treat each other; but like most things people need to be given time to digest change, unfortunately we won’t achieve that change overnight . Education is the key, and sometimes just convincing one friend to change their stance can be an achievement. There has been change over the last 100 years, some would argue, and quite rightly in my opinion, not enough, but every journey starts with the first step, and I do see a future where even terms such as gender or difference in gender become obsolete, and I really wish it was a global situation within my lifetime, but alas I don’t have the faith that the human race will go through any kind of epiphany in the near future..
Love the article and concept. Just a minor thing… if I was given that card I’d have said ‘no’. Purely as I read it to mean ‘do I believe men and women are equal in society today?’ Rather than what I think was the intended meaning … ‘do I think men and women should be equal?’. Just an observation.
The only modification I’d make to your business card is that I would say “Are men, women and others equal?” up the top. Otherwise, agreed all round.
-Tom
Sorry to be a pedant but I would frame it as we need feminism because men and women are objectively NOT equal – and this is what needs to be addressed.
what the hell is wrong with hairy legs, lesbianism and the odd rant?
I dunno… I think we’ve got two questions here, “ARE men and women equal?” to which the answer (looking at the evidence) is no, and “SHOULD men and women be equal?” to which the answer is yes. If men and women and already equal, women’s rights are not being abused and we don’t need to change anything.
I’ll be sharing this article with the teens I work with, we were just talking about this issue yesterday, thanks for writing about it so succinctly. Here in the US though, it is hard to read that the international examples you cite are two countries we’re at war with or aiming for, and one we’re constantly exploiting the labor of. It lets Western countries off the hook and has a subtle and perhaps implicit judgment of Muslims. I appreciate that you said explicitly “Here in Australia and abroad” several times, to undercut that impact. You can always use the US for your example of atrocious and unacceptable treatment of women outside of Australia, we’ve got plenty. Again, thanks for your work!
I consider myself a humanist. I support human rights for all people, not just one gender. Abuse of human rights is a global phenomenon, and yes, in misogynistic cultures women get the brunt of it. However, your entire post reeks of simplicity. Feminism is not a clearly defined movement with a united front. There are varying extremes and the push-back against is directly as a result of groups that have gone well past equality and look to stifle men’s rights (and generally characterize men as the sole purveyors of all evil. For a good example of this, look to the repugnantly ignorant group FORCE, who would like to see the law changed to place the onus on men to prove themselves innocent if accused of rape. Do I need to explain why that is batshit crazy?).
Dismissing your friend for not wanting that label is near sighted. You can define feminism however you like, but your definition is not universal, and a nasty case of mission creep has led to negative connotations in popular culture. It’s not your friend’s job to take a personal hit to change that, when the overarching concept of human rights captures it all well enough.
If you feel you need to be specially noted, then equality isn’t what you’re after, and your friend is right to avoid your label.
Try being a humanist instead, that way we can just all be equal and not worry about genders and colours and orientations and the like.
Haha fuck me I’m tired of this cop-out. It’s always from middle class white men who “know better”.
Ok. Because lord knows it’s impossible for a white male to support all causes equally. You see, I really pondered this question. I used to identify as a feminist, but became increasingly uncomfortable with the growing extremes of the attitudes within the movement. After a while, it became obvious that there was no way to individually identify with every worthy cause, so you cast a wider net, judge things on a case by base basis and run with the basic rule that “We are all equal”. What a horrible belief eh?
I must say I agree with you. As a “minority” female I still cannot be considered to be correct in any conversation with a white male unless HE decides that I’m right. It’s complete bullshit and btw Jason yes you do need to explain why men having to prove their innocence in cases of rape is batshit crazy because as a rape victim I had the cops in 2011 in the USA refuse to take a report and when I re-reported years later they still refused to act and then then the prosecutor refused to convict. Heaven forbid if any white male can be arrested or charged for raping a non white female especially if his parents are connected. The justice system is bullshit in this world and women are treated worse than animals right here in the US so yeah it would be great if they’d stop blaming victims and start doing something to increase the convictions for rape which would significantly reduce the cases of rape because rapists only stop when they are afraid of punishment. If that means switching things then so be it. I’m sick of hearing other targets of rape say they had the exact same experience as myself in the year 2014. Until women get equal rights world wide with no chance of that basic obvious right being revoked then no human (most if not all birthed by women) can hope to be truly fee happy or equal.
As Jamie Utt would say it is best to listen.
Rape is the least convicted and most damaging felony crime in the world. Anything they do to try to curb it that does not, as always, hurt and humiliate victims of those crimes is fine by me. The perpetrators are wrong NO MATTER WHAT. I don’t see murder victims being shamed and blamed for their own murders so consistently that as a result murder is the least convicted crime but somehow a crime that is to a high extent perpetrated by men mainly towards women and children is somehow consistently under reported and almost never ever convicted if ever reports are actually taken when victims do come forward.
p.s. For health reasons (need to reduce stress) I’ve set this to not alert me of follow up comments so if you do respond do not expect a response.
There’s always a tiny percentage of extremists in a cause who have a disproportionate voice that set a movement like equal gender rights back a billion years and make the whole thing a lot harder than it has to be by taking it way too far. The variants of “left wing lesbian separatist” such as your friend cited is a case in point. One can champion a cause, such as gender equality, without putting a good percentage of people off because one is a looney that is nodded to out of fear face-to-face but effectively ignored by everyone else except pocket pissers. A just cause is not fun. It’s not entertainment. It is not there so that people can feel righteous and fight the good fight. Mainstream people should embrace gender equality and reject feminism. Thus my answer to your article is no, I’m not a feminist – thank you – I support equality. I will continue to work towards equality by continuing what I’ve done my entire life, and treat everyone equally. If you’re a feminist reading my comment, I ask for one thing: next time you make a statement, check what you’re saying by flipping the genders – if you’re offended by what you’ve written, then don’t say it There’s enough hypocrisy in the world already.
Society is wrestling with the morality of abortion. If a life is viable and will grow in to a human being, then the thought that terminating it is actually murder is very unsettling to everyone. Who has the right to terminate life? Why is terminating a life a “right”? Help me understand. Yes, it’s “your” body, but carrying a baby to term does not kill you (in the normal case). If you don’t want children, and you’re making a choice out of convenience based on your situation now, then you’ve got a serious mental health issue in my books. I think as a civilized society, we’re right to ask ourselves the hard questions like these. Tell me why I’m wrong.
just randomly – i feel personally for myself (not for making opinions about policies for the general society), that if I have an abortion within the first two weeks of conception, its the same morals as using the pill. The reason why the catholic church is against contraception (not that I agree with them as I clearly use contraception) is because it means that you are having sex not for the purpose of raising a family or making a commitment to someone else (i.e. meaning that it would be a big/meaningful decision), but that you are having sex purely for the selfish pleasure of it. Which means… that every time I have sex I am actively choosing to not allow a baby to be conceived even if it could have. So if I accidentally get pregnant and I don’t want it and I have an abortion before the baby develops a spinal cord. I (hopefully cause I’ve never actually had to follow through with this, I am very careful with contraception) will not feel too guilty about it. At least not more guilty than I already feel about all the babies I haven’t had!!
In response to your friend who you mentioned in the article. I am a feminist and for health and reclaiming of adulthood reason I do not shave and oh yeah I’m also bi-sexual sooooo yeah. I’d post the research articles by doctors that explains why after sexual maturity the body grows hair and why that hair should stay right where it is but I figure anyone who truly wants to learn that can look it up themselves. Either way I used to be a model but afterwards I decided that I was sick of always worrying if I’d shaved, spending money that I did not have to look like a child, dealing with cuts, chaffing, razor bumps and also the increased cases of infections and all so that I can buy into my own oppression as an adult female to make men feel better about themselves.
There is nothing more disturbing than seeing a grown woman with zero body hair except for her head and eyelashes posing like a child, while wearing childlike clothing (usually pink), yet being half naked with a sexy look on her face.
Reblogged this on Flip It Right Side Up.
Believing that men and women are equal does not make me a feminist, just to add another point of view to this debate. I am an equalist. Men in the western world and especially little boys get a pretty hard time especially when dealing with gender stereotypes that are portrayed in the media and elsewhere. Women and men need to celebrate and nurture out differences and allow equal rights to both genders, but feminism is far too narrow an ideology to acheive that, as it simply promotes the right of women rather than representing a struggle for true equality. That is why I’m not a feminist. Yes I am a woman.
Hey, so can you point towards any equalist schools of critical and cultural theory? Any famous equalists who have forwarded thinking on social justice in the last hundred years or so? What advocacy have equalists been doing lately? Can you highlight some campaigns that have happened under the banner of equalism recently? And what does that advocacy look like? Just more equality for everyone generally?
Have we ever considered that if we focused on men, their relationship with women and issues around womens’ rights might also improve? A lot of policies focus on punishing men, In australia (I don’t know about other places as I don’t live there), a day where men focus on violence of men against women, I think is a really positive strategy, its about educating men about why they might feel abusive and why they should seek help if they take their anger out on their partner in this way. Of course any assault should come with the full punishment from the law, but I think turning back the issue to focus on why men do this behaviour, rather than just saying they’re animals and can’t be understood is why people don’t want to be associated with the ‘old’ version of feminism.
Considering the recent spate of violence on Sydney’s streets as well, I think men should have a day where they get to talk about and highlight the issue of violence by men on women and men in general, in a non-judgemental way.
Yeah, plenty of people have considered that. Have you heard of White Ribbon? It’s a global network run by men for men that aims to end gender-based violence. From their website. “Our vision is for a masculinity that embodies the best qualities of being human. We believe that men are part of the solution and part of a future that is safe and equitable for all people.”
Feminism is in its third-wave and no respected modern feminists would say that men are just animals who can’t control themselves. That kind of thinking is sexist and out-dated, and it’s the root of the whole mentality that says women need to cover up their bodies and be careful of who they hang out with and how much they drink, because men can’t be expected to control themselves so instead we need to police women’s behaviour. The reasoning that follows on from that is if a woman fails to take the necessary precautions, she is of course complicit in her own abuse.
Feminists believe men are better than that. MUCH better than that. A lot of anti-rape advocacy these days does what you are suggesting, which is shifting the focus away from victimized women and their behaviour (what was she wearing? why was she out so late? what did she have to drink? why did she let him walk her home? ad nauseum) and instead examines the behaviour of men who commit violence and challenges toxic manifestations masculinity.
“Feminists fought for the right to vote for women. ”
Is the sentence as intended or do you mean ” Feminists fought for the right for women to vote. ” ?
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To those here rejecting the term “feminist” in favour of “humanist” or whatever – have you considered that most of the gender based problems that men face are also because of the same patriarchal system that hurts women? (Note: I’m not saying that all men participate in or are responsible for their own oppression – centuries of systematic, patriarchal culture are a fault with society and out of the hands of one dude.)
If you truly want gender equality, it’s the same system we’re fighting against – the patriarchy hurts BOTH sexes. When male sexual assault victims are mocked or dismissed, it’s due to the false belief that men “can’t” be raped or victimised, because it is women who are the “weak” ones. When fathers are treated like lesser parents, it’s because of BS gender role expectations, which dictate that women are the caregivers and men can’t be. When little boys receive flak for having stereotypically girly interests, yet tomboy girls are spared, it’s because society thinks women are lesser than men – and therefore a male acting feminine is “lowering” himself and it’s something to be ashamed of.
If you fight for equality of the sexes and the destruction of unfair, stifling gender role expectations, it’s the patriarchal system we live under that you’re fighting against. When you make things better for women and reject the enforcement of rigid gender roles, it’s making things better for men, too.
I reject more than the word ‘feminist’. I reject this (admittedly, varied) movement called ‘feminism’ because I don’t believe that pushing women’s ‘rights’ is what this society needs. Protecting human rights for all humans is a given, ditto to women being able to achieve in life and follow a path that they have chosen for themselves. But valuing human life and fostering compassionate and thoughtful humanity is not what feminism is, I’m not fighting the ‘patriarchy’, I’m not angry and flinging blame against a patriarchal society every time an ignorant person judges me on my looks or my ability to fulfil stereotypical feminine attributes. To me feminism is a movement that focuses on others, and the behaviour of others. The spiritual movement I support starts with the self, and every interaction in your immediate life, every moment, fostering a caring and empowered attitude for all humans, of all ages, genders and nationality to be valued and supported in our global community. I’m sorry, but feminism is altogether too narrowly focused and I dislike the feminist stride of “well you care about this list of things so you are a feminist wether you like the word or not”. To all those happy go lucky pigeon holers out there, no I am not a feminist, and it’s not out of ignorance for what the word means.
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I used to be a feminist but I grew up as per my left leaning anti-feminist blog. I am worried that Amnesty International Australia may endorse the Nordic model of prostitution law. If this happens I will be out of Amnesty after many years as a member. State branch memberships of AIA is being stacked by extreme feminists to this end.
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