This post is a departure from outfits and shoe picks and faux celeb shenanigans, but it’s important to speak up for yourself, speak out against wrongdoing, and challenge the status quo. So here we go.
Celeb Shailene Woodley doesn’t consider herself a feminist (click here for the TIME article). When asked “Do you consider yourself a feminist?,” she responds: “No because I love men, and I think the idea of ‘raise women to power, take the men away from the power’ is never going to work out because you need balance. With myself, I’m very in touch with my masculine side. And I’m 50 percent feminine and 50 percent masculine, same as I think a lot of us are. And I think that is important to note. And also I think that if men went down and women rose to power, that wouldn’t work either. We have to have a fine balance. My biggest thing is really sisterhood more than feminism. I don’t know how we as women expect men to respect us because we don’t even seem to respect each other.”
Her definition of feminism is so inherently flawed that it’s laughable, but it makes me want to stand up and say—or post, as it were—”Yes, I am a feminist because I love men, and I think the idea of ‘raise women to power, take the men away from the power’ is never going to work out because you need balance. With myself, I’m very in touch with my masculine side. And I’m 50 percent feminine and 50 percent masculine, same as I think a lot of us are. And I think that is important to note. And also I think that if men went down and women rose to power, that wouldn’t work either. We have to have a fine balance. My biggest thing is really sisterhood more than feminism. I don’t know how we as women expect men to respect us because we don’t even seem to respect each other.”
As you can see, I’d say the same thing. I’d just say yes, I’m a feminist. Because feminism is about equality.
When feminism comes up in cocktail party conversation, it can be hard to explain this concept. It can be hard to fight the “jokes” about women’s power and the liberated female and all the other bullshit people throw at women because it’s socially acceptable to do so. It’s as frustrating as rape jokes, which is why I actually started to write this post. When rape comes up in a funny joke, it can be hard to explain why it’s just not okay, no matter how clever. Rape isn’t funny. Click here to read Rape: It Ain’t No Joke.