I too am a feminist, but I will say that what I am is often termed an 'intersectional feminist'.
everydayfeminism.com/2014/04/kyriarchy-101/If you’re familiar with feminism, you’ll have heard of the term patriarchy – the social order that privileges men and oppresses women. It’s a useful term as it gives a name to the institutionalisation of male privilege.
But feminism has moved on from being purely concerned with male privilege.
We now – thankfully and rightfully! – take into account the number of different privileges and oppressions that people experience.
First named by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, intersectional feminism is concerned with the social order that privileges and oppresses people based on race, gender, language, class, sexual orientation, (dis)ability, culture, and so on.
Mainstream feminism has been traditionally concerned with gender inequality. Intersectional feminism, however, is concerned with all types of inequality.
Not all feminists are intersectional feminists, no, but we are a growing movement. The phrase "
My feminism will be intersectional or it will be bulls**t!" originating from an essay written by Flavia Dzodan (
Link here) has spread around to many places online. It's true that feminism originally focused on white women only, but now with intersectionality we incorporate more now than just the oppression of women, though it is our primary focus. We fight for different races, we fight for different genders, for different sexes, for different sexual orientations, for different body shapes, for different cultures, and more, against all types of inequality. Many other feminists in this very topic are probably intersectional as well.
ThosePeskySwedens wrote:
Never heard it explained like that before, thank you. Seems a lot of people use it without knowing what it means just because it sounds scary.
You can read more about it here too, if you want to look into it more:
rationalwiki.org/wiki/Rape_cultureI'll pick out the part on victim blaming in particular, too:
Victim blaming is a notable feature of a rape culture. If the victim can be shown to be "out of line" at any point, society turns on her, often demanding she at least voice some sense of remorse for her behaviors that led to the rape. Was she dressed "like a slut?" Did she lead the guy on? Had she been out partying? Is she pretty? Was she "friendly" (wink-wink, nudge nudge) with the boys? If so, then shouldn't she have at least expected the likelihood of being raped, and done something to prevent it?
Even if a rape victim actually does meet the maximum standards for sympathy, the implication is that the victim's transgression against traditional values and polite society was more important than the actual act of violence done to the victim.
That's the problem see; sure, we're
told that rape is bad, and yet society still trivializes it at the same time. Just a plaster covering of "
don't do that" smeared over the top, while all the horrors and dismissal lurk underneath. Earlier the issue of "
men can't be raped" was brought up, but as the entry mentions, "
Men can't be raped" is
also a part of rape culture. It is heinous and another issue that intersectional feminism also deals with.
