On my journey to becoming a feminist, I realized that the word carried a lot of weight. Some of it I invited, other aspects I did not. But the reality of deciding to take the label on for yourself and become involved with feminist discourse is having to deal with conversations of what a feminist is, what a feminist isn’t, and what exactly does it mean to call yourself a feminist.
On The View today, the panel discussed what it means to be a feminist and who considered themselves to be a feminist. Megan McCain brought up the issue that conservative women are not invited into “feminist spaces” because they are pro-life and abortion rights are one of the issues that many feminists tend to be supportive of.
Guest co-host, Deborah Roberts talks about how she doesn’t call herself a feminist because she is Southern and “traditional” so while she believes in the ideas behind feminism, she doesn’t know how she fits into it.
Joy and Sunny both bring up that feminism means the equality between men and women. Then Whoopi, brings up that the feminist movement has at many points failed to be properly inclusive towards black women and by extension queer women, disabled women, etc.
I think it is fair to say that feminism has failed and continues to fail when it comes to being intersectional. Part of that comes from the whitewashing of “feminist heroines” like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who revealed their racism when black men were given the right to vote before white women. Or the upliftment of heroines like Scarlett O’Hara, with the desire to remove all the racist (and frankly internalized sexist) things about the character because she’s sassy and has great eyebrows.
When it comes to the issue of conservative women within feminism, it gets tricky. As I’ve said before, liberal movements that give women more rights will always benefit all women, even those who would be diametrically opposed to some of the work that we do.
That brings us back to Megan’s post: can conservative women be feminists?
In my opinion, not if they are socially conservative. Not if they are afraid to call out racism and sexism in their own party because it makes them uncomfortable. Not if they oppose LGBTQ+ rights issues and not if they are about removing safe access to abortion. The reality is that when it comes to equality, unless women are able to make the decision of when they want to start a family, they cannot be equal to men.
Yet, at the same time, I would not be surprised if there were feminists who do want to have conservative women in their ranks because conservative women are a powerful voting block. As a queer woman of color who spends every Women’s History Month being reminded of who white feminists find empowering and knowing that the woman’s march has in the past taken sponsorship from pro-life groups…I have my concerns.
What do you think? Can conservative women be feminists? Or does feminism have to mean something more than “equality” to count?
(image: Screengrab)
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