What is Feminism?

In my experience, feminism is the ideology behind women’s rights and gender equality in all parts of society. I have heard the word used in such a context (to describe the belief that people need to fight for women’s rights) and also in a negative light as a way to refer to people who supposedly hate men. I do identify with the term because women are oppressed (in various ways) in all of the world’s cultures. Feminism is necessary in order to attain the equality that humans deserve.

The readings made me think about how much feminism has influenced the lives of all people as well as society at large. I did not think to ascribe many of the cultural changes of the last few decades to feminism, but “A Day Without Feminism” made it clear that feminism has made a difference.

Before the readings, I had always had a problem coming up with a solid definition of feminism in my mind (though I acknowledge that the definition I provided above may still be flawed). Many of my problems with defining feminism arose when considering whether feminism is simply an ideology or inherently part of one movement. I was glad to see that the introduction “Feminism’s Legacy” outlined some of the different definitions of feminism. Dicker’s belief that various feminist movements with different qualities can exist through different groups is logical and will help me when thinking about the meaning of feminism. Dicker’s excerpt has made me analyze the different attributes of feminist groups that I have encountered in the real world and in the media. Those who believe in women’s liberation are all feminists, but it would be difficult to say they are all part of a grand, unified movement due to their varying perspectives (though some may argue otherwise).

-Zach