The F-Word

Suzanne Miller

I have always considered myself a supporter of women’s rights. Even before I was old enough to really understand the concept of gender equality, I knew that I was doing things my mother could have only dreamed of. I ran across the soccer field, basketball and volleyball courts--not as a burgeoning pre-adolescent feminist--, but simply as a child, giving no conscious thought to this divide in equality known as gender. At the ripe age of eleven, my world transformed from soccer fields and basketballs to tampons, boys, and calorie counting. Being a “girl” all of a sudden became the reasoning behind what I could and could not do. I was no longer just a kid—devoid of any gender specificity—I became a young woman. I began to think of myself as a bonafide woman around sixteen or seventeen and it was at this same time I began to identify as a feminist. That word never came out of my mouth as a term of self-identity until now. I always sidestepped the issue, beginning sentences with “I am not a feminist, but…” I grew up with the naïve idea that men and women, boys and girls, were afforded the same rights and opportunities in our society. I never gave any consideration to issues of importance to young women: reproductive rights, birth control, sexual violence, eating disorders and body image. The more these issues began to introduce themselves to my peer group, the more I realized the injustices associated with them. Our government is still fighting to make decisions about a woman’s body for her; most insurance plans do not cover contraceptives, while Viagra is subsidized for; we live with the staggering statistic that one in three women is sexually assaulted in her lifetime; and I still cannot find a single teenaged female who truly loves and accepts her body the way it is. For these reasons and more, I am proud to call myself a feminist.

For many people, the word feminism has conjured up this stereotyped idea of a male-hating lesbian conspiracy against mainstream society—it hardly occurred to me that there could be such a thing as a heterosexual, feminine feminist. As far as I knew, feminism was the philosophy that women were superior to men. To the contrary, feminism (as defined by the Feminist Majority Foundation) is “the policy, practice or advocacy of political, economic and social equality for women” (www.feminist.org). Despite the fact that this definition is right in the dictionary, there is widespread confusion as to what the real meaning of this “f-word” really is. Historically, the term feminisme was coined in the late nineteenth century, and consisted of three evolving ideas. As explained by Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards, co-authors of Manifesta: young women, feminism, and the future, these philosophies include “the political belief that the sexes are culturally, not just biologically, created; the process of opposing male supremacy; and a woman’s right and responsibility to realize her own potential” (51). During this same time in the United States, the term “suffragist” was used to describe the movements of early feminists such Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony, who planted the first seeds of the women’s liberation movement at the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848. By the time the Second Wave came in the late 1960s/early 70s, with prominent feminist figures like Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem, “[the f-word] had become symbolic not of fairness but, more aggressively, of social upheaval and a fear that female superiority was its ultimate goal” (Baumgardner, Richards 52). I believe that this misconception is still very much alive, and is in large part the reason why so many women deviate from identifying as feminists.

While young women of the current Third Wave may contest that feminism has no relevance to their lives, they must acknowledge and honor their feminist foremothers for making the world a little more gender equitable. Young female artists and athletes have the feminists to thank for increased representation in major art galleries around the country and for Title IX, respectively. But most importantly, feminism of the Second Wave began to change people’s perception of a woman’s role. The traditional paradigm of the stay at home, dutiful, subordinate wife and mother was beginning to change shape. It was Betty Friedan’s classic, The Feminine Mystique, that in 1963 exposed “the problem that has no name.” It “lay buried, unspoken for many years in the minds of American women […] a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning that women suffered in the middle of the twentieth century […] each suburban wife struggled alone […] as she made the beds, shopped for groceries…lay beside her husband at night—she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question--is this all” (Friedan 50)?

With the formation of NOW—The National Organization for Women—and other feminist groups in the late 1960s, the movement for social, political, and economic equality in the United States was gaining momentum. As written in their statement of purpose, “NOW is dedicated to the proposition that women, first and foremost, are human beings, who, like all other people in our society, must have the chance to develop their fullest human potential” (97). NOW is fighting for many of the same things in 2001 as they were in 1967: reproductive rights, subsidized childcare, increased numbers of women in government, equal pay, and an end to sexual violence and sex discrimination, etc. We are still fighting very much the same fight.

Feminists of The Third Wave have outed themselves in many ways; from “girl power” to Riot Grrls to Lilith Fair to the fanatic popularity of women’s athletics, feminism in the 21st century is very much alive. Feminism has relevance to all of us, even for guys out there: We all have women in our lives of importance: mothers, sisters, wives, girlfriends, etc. And the issues that matter to them should matter to their fathers, brothers, husbands, and boyfriends: sexual violence, discrimination, and harassment; eating disorders, reproductive rights, access to contraception, etc. While by no means do I expect the masses of male youth to run around proclaiming themselves feminists, I think the majority of men would realize that they do in fact support and agree with feminist ideology and the fight for gender equality. Calling myself a feminist has not always made me the coolest kid around. It is not the most popular topic to bring up at parties (I don’t recommend it) and many times I have been branded a “feminazi.” I have a tendency to get carried away in a fit of passion, but I know that my support for feminism is solidly and sanely rooted inside my heart and mind. Hopefully my presence as a self-proclaimed feminist can open the eyes of other boy-loving, arm pit shaving young women out there who think feminism has no place for them. In case the textbook definition is not basic enough for anyone, the simplest interpretation I could offer someone would be that feminists are just women who don’t want to be treated like shit. Now that isn’t so radical, is it?

Works Cited

Baumgardner, Jennifer, and Amy Richards. Manifesta: young women, feminism, and the
future. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000.
Beauvoir, Simone. “The Second Sex.” Feminism In Our Time. Ed. Miriam Schneir.
New York: Vintage Books, 1994. (8)
Friedan, Betty. “The Feminine Mystique.” Schneir 50.
National Organization for Women. “NOW Statement of Purpose.” Schneir 97.
The Feminist Majority Foundation. 26 Sept. 2001. <http://www.feminist.org>

Suzanne Miller is a student at Santa Monica College.