Feminist Friday: I'm a Feminist and So Are You

Photo Credit: Kate Mereand-Sinha
Image via Flickr/Creative Commons

Earlier this week I changed the tagline of this blog. It once read: "I have some stories. I want to look good while I share them." I didn't change it because I feared you'd think me vain. Trust me, I am vain. No need for you to wonder about that.

I changed my tagline to "My Life as a Blogger, Writer, and Southern Fried Feminist," simply because I believe it better describes what The Writeous Babe Project is all about. I do worry, however, that the
f-word might scare away or alienate some readers. For so many, feminist is a dirty word associated with this idea of a woman who hates men, marriage, makeup, and stay-at-home moms and who is angry about everything except an announcement that Ani DiFranco is coming to town.

As a happily married woman who loves eye shadow and is in awe of any woman who can stay home with a kid all day, I am a feminist who defies all those stereotypes.Well, not all of them. I freaking love Ani DiFranco!

People have asked me how I can be so bold as to call myself a feminist when that label has such negative connotations.  I can do so because I have a clear understanding of what feminism actually means. And I believe that if people -- both women and men -- would focus on the true definition of feminism they'd quickly realize they're a feminist too.

A few days ago a pal of mine asked me via Twitter what it means to be a feminist. She then clarified that what she really wanted to know what was my definition of feminism.

Feminism is simply the belief in the economic, political, and social equality of the sexes. Period. And if you believe in that, guess what, you're a feminist.

Things get complicated, however, when we get into how an individual chooses to live out her (or his) feminist believes, because feminism is both personal and political. It's a lifestyle.

I'm not going to write a single post on how I live out my feminism. That post would be ridiculously long and you'd stop reading and go back to watching the Olympics before getting halfway through it.

But each Friday from now until I run out of things to say, I am going to address different feminist issues here at The Writeous Babe Project. I'll do my best to relate the posts to writing, but sometimes I may need to just rant or rave.

I promise the posts will be interesting, as many of them will tackle those gray areas such as "Can I still call myself a feminist if I take pole dancing lessons?"

And I promise the posts will be fun, because as feminist humor writer Caitlin Moran said in a recent interview, "Feminism is a revolution and revolutions are fun."