why is it that u dont identify as feminist? god i hope im not sounding judgemental or something cause youre super level headed and chill im just wondering man
1. In general I am not comfortable using loaded/complex nouns to describe myself. I think the clique mentality that happens often draws away from the actual issues that need to be talked about. You can buy a t-shirt that proclaims your feminism, which is so weird to me. It’s not a fan club or a sports team lol. Imagine someone wearing a t-shirt that says, “I OPPOSE THE DEATH PENALTY!!!” It’s really wacky. Anyone can say “I’m a feminist”, that means nothing. What are your actual ideas and solutions? That’s what I care about it. Sort of like how fandoms become more about the fandom than the actual thing they’re a fan of.
2. There are many ideas, methods, and people that have gotten mainstream acceptance in the feminist movement that I think are troublesome/counterproductive/dumb/etc. I stress that I don’t mean radical feminism like “ALL P IN V IS RAPE” etc, but actual mainstream, well-accepted ideas like “context doesn’t matter, using certain words/joking about certain topics is ALWAYS bad” I understand that not everyone in a movement will agree on everything (that’s really important to understand actually), but I wish to be selective about who I am perceived to be an ally to.
3. One of my goals as a quasi-public person and quasi-entertainer is to assert that life is not black and white and that, for example, the online flame war between the hardcore feminists/sj people and the hardcore anti-feminists/anti-sjw is fucking dumb because they’re all extremists and they’re all doing it wrong. Both groups are very often guilty of ignoring nuance, being closed-minded, fudging statistics, being intellectually dishonest, and just being assholes. But also both groups often make fair points that need to be listened to. And I assert that in general, being an extremist is incorrect, that real solutions are generally more nuanced and more moderate, less ideological and more rational. I think it helps my case to refrain from “picking a side.” and feminists often try to cheat the system in their favor by claiming that feminism is simply anyone who believes in equality, therefore anyone who isn’t a feminist is either wrong or literally a bigot, which is intellectually lazy.