I wrote a blog post on my blog A Modern Military Mother declaring how proud I was to be a feminist and how surprised I was to discover that two educated friends of mine didn't think that they were feminists because they didn't need to be.
Then I was lucky enough to receive this comment: "Listen love, I suggest you just sit back and count yourself lucky you don't live in an Islamic society that has no respect for the female race. It's very equal nowadays in Britain so stop complaining and enjoy what you have."
I just laughed and replied; "ha ha, that is very funny." I assumed it was joke.
Following further discussion it would appear that feminism needs a rebrand. The common perception of a feminist is someone with droopy boobs and furry legs, who frequents Greenham common, doesn't wash and likes to lick lady bits. But it's not that people don't want equality of the sexes but they see equality as a sign of decency, which doesn't require a label. Quite simply, perhaps the term 'equalist' would be better one person suggested to me.
It would appear that amongst the unofficial survey I conducted by posting a thread on a forum, the majority of women respondees don't like the term feminist and then began to illustrate a few minor case of male prejudice when men tried to adopt traditional female roles. They then went onto to demonstrate cases where females exploited the maternity leave system. Little Miss Ogyny is a character found as much in women as in men. I like to think of myself as Little Miss Ann Thropic; a much more holistic and equal approach to general malcontent. Anyway, I digress.
I find this state of affairs very interesting because as far as I am concerned we are a long way from true equality. It would appear that there is however, a state of apathy and that women don't want to be liberated. This is fine for them but what about the women that do want to be liberated, like me. I have designed a hoodie - a feminist sister hoodie in a bid to unite the sisterhood.
What do you think? Would you wear it? Would you be willing to state you are feminist, out loud and proud?