Who is a Feminist?

I am sure everyone has heard of Lady Gaga, and almost everyone has seen her video "Bad Romance." Gaga herself says the video is supposed to show "how the entertainment industry can, in a metaphorical way, simulate human trafficking -- products being sold, the woman perceived as a commodity." While I am hesitant to link the music business with something like human trafficking (I spent all last semester pouring over international treaties and conventions on human trafficking, it is an ugly ugly business, where many women and children are raped, beaten, abused, and deprived of any sense of humanity, and an issue more people need to recognize), I can agree with her when she says that the "industry" does commodify women. Is Gaga a feminist? She has certainly stated her belief that the "industry" is misogynistic when she came out and said "I find that men get away with saying a lot in this business, and that women get away with saying very little . . . In my opinion, women need and want someone to look up to that they feel have the full sense of who they are, and says, 'I'm great.' " Further, she spoke at the National Equality March last October, and put her voice to the LGBT cause. But, does that make her a feminst?

What exactly does it take to be a card carrying member of the feminist movement? At one point, Laura Bush called herself a feminist. And I will give the lady props. She is part of a party that systematically seeks to oppress women, and calling herself a feminist, which is an ugly word in the Republican party, must have taken guts. She said this in relation to her own pet cause, which is educating women. She said during the campaign that she did not want Roe v. Wade overturned. She said she thought to limit the number of abortions in the country, and that she thought it should be done by abstinence sex education. But I hear the groans of "but she is married to George W. Bush! The king pin of undermining a woman's right to choose!' Yes, yes she is. Maybe she married him for love, and maybe she lashes out against his decisions in private. I mean, you can marry someone oh whom does not share your political beliefs. (I couldn't do that, but I know plenty of people who are in long term relationships with people who have different beliefs.) But she is educated, she earned her masters degree, and she truly believes that education is an "equalizer," to use her terms. I agree with that. We really need to vamp up our education system, because a high school diploma from one high school is not equal to that of another high school. That seems feminist enough.

Another lady of the Republican Party, Cindy McCain, wife of Senator John McCain, has aligned herself with the LGBT movement, posing for the NoH8 project. She has a masters degree, started and ran a non-profit that helped get medical personnel to the scenes of disasters and wars, When she married John McCain she pushed to keep their finances seperate, which I think is majorly feminist.

So, as of now, we have Cindy McCain, Laura Bush and Lady Gaga applying for application in the feminist club. Wow. So, what decides if women are feminist? I've talk to my mother a lot about this, who does not identify as a feminist. But she thinks women should get equal pay, for equal work, and has constantly been that "bitch" in her job who will call out the supervisors and managers of the company she is contracted to work for when they give raises to the male "chefs" and then cut her benefits. She thinks women have a right to affordable birth control and contraception, even if she believes that abortion is morally wrong, she still does not want to see the choice taken away. But she is not a feminist. She abhors rape culture and thinks that the worst thing in the media right now is the victim blaming of girls. She thinks a woman should wear what ever she wants to wear, and not be accused of "asking for it." She thinks that stricter laws need to be in place against domestic violence, and hates the police because they often show up and accuse the victim, saying they deserve it. But she is not a feminist. Now, she is a little weary on the gay rights thing. But she has been getting better at it since she learned that her daughter is one of those queer people. She has been asking a lot of questions about it, and still doesn't want the word marriage attached to it, but she is more accepting of it. But she is not a feminist. Why? Because she still wants men to open doors for her, and she still wants dad to pay for the date. (Although, when her and my father were dating, they ALWAYS went dutch. And now that they are married, they share finances, so in effect, even if dad is the one handing over the cash, both of them are still paying). I try telling her that you can be a feminist and still have a guy open a door for you. It's called being polite. She opens the door for anyone who are using a walker, and for persons who have their hands full, it's a polite thing to do. But she seems to think that by being labeled as a feminist, no one can ever do anything nice for her. Ever.

Some people think being a feminist has to do with reproductive options. Some people think it has to do with equality of opportunity. Some people see it as strictly equality. Some people see it as a humanist thing. What is feminism? My co-blogger identifies as feminist, and is a man. I know that feminism is more than a woman's problem, because the societal confines that constrict women work against men, too. Just as women are pigeon holed into the madonna/whore dichotomy, men are similarly confined to a heavily negative manly man/girly man dichotomy. I hate the fact that "girly" is seen as an insult, but as it stands, men are constantly forced to prove their masculinity, which is detrimental, even if they are the sole beneficiaries of this thing we call "patriarchy." So, if feminism is more than a woman's issue, should it be called feminism? Feminism has expanded to take on all sorts of societal ills, including but not limited to - fighting racism, fighting classism, fighting able-ism, fighting sexism, fighting homophobia, fighting for health care reform, and a plethora of other things. Find any other feminist blog and you will find a wide range of these issues discussed on a very regular basis. So, what is feminism? Who gets to be a feminist? I realize we are not all perfect, and that we all slip up sometimes, and that at times, even well respected feminists disagree on an issue. (Look at Taylor Swift, who writes her own songs, manages her own business, which is a feminist thing to do, yet writes songs about waiting around for Romeo, which is very much not a feminist thing to do. Feminist bloggers are always disagreeing about how to handle this problem). But what issues are so core to our cause that we cannot afford to disagree on them? Which issues are so important, that if you don't have the same stance as the rest of the community, that you can't join the community?

And what about the women we know are feminists, but refuse to use the label? Can we, as a community, label them as feminists? What would these women's reasons be for not wanting to embrace a the feminist label? Should we even be using a "label"?

No, I am not going to answer these questions for you. But, I will direct you to lady gaga's video.