My father emailed me an article from a couple days ago that ran in The New York Times called “Who is a Feminist Now?” I had heard about the mini-controversy that sparked the article, an interview in which actress Shailene Woodley admitted that she does not identify as a feminist and was then met with serious backlash by women all over media.
Woodley is my age, and much like her, I have written about my reluctance to call myself a feminist as well. I understand exactly what she is talking about, and I felt just as attacked by these critics as I’m sure she did.
The truly meaningful part of Woodley’s interview, which has not received any attention, is what she says immediately after stating that she does not consider herself a feminist:
“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. There’s so much jealousy, so much comparison and envy.”
The girl hits the nail on the head. How can we expect to raise ourselves up, when we are also the ones keeping each other down?
I mean how ironic is it that the people criticizing Woodley are not men, but other women. They are also nearly all women above the age of 30. True – women probably care more about such a prominent female actress disassociating from feminism, but does it not speak volumes that those quickest to judge are women themselves? What Woodley says is not wrong. It is accurate. It is not that she does not understand feminism; it is that feminism does not understand her.
These angry, female critics should realize that there is a serious issue with the fact that women of my generation have such a negative connotation associated with the term “feminist.” Whether they would like to admit it or not, it is their faults that we shy away from this term. They taught us the version of feminism that we fear – anger, ugliness, resentment – not the true definition of feminism.
When you look it up in a dictionary, the literal definition of feminism is “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.” I do not believe there is a woman out there who would say she does not agree with that idea. What Woodley is pointing out is that we do not associate feminism with that definition. Our generation has been taught a kind of feminism that teaches us to hate men, and ourselves, rather than see them as allies. And like Woodley says, this ‘”raise women to power, take the men away from the power’” type of feminism is not going to work, for it goes exactly against the true definition of feminism, which calls for the equality of both sexes.
Maybe feminism needs a new name, but either way, it certainly needs to be rewritten. We need to be united as women before we can ever hope to become social, political, and economic equals with men. We also need the support of our men. The new feminism, the feminism of my generation, what I would call modern feminism, needs to be one of love, respect, and acceptance, not this antiquated version of “man-hating, bra-burning” feminism.
Stop telling us we did not live through enough oppression to understand the need for feminism. We understand. We are telling you that we do not want your feminism. Our society has progressed, and feminism needs to progress with it.
Girls, Who Run the World? 