The Voice of a Pro-Life Feminist

By Sarah A

I am a pro-life feminist.

Some feminists think that I shouldn't exist, or at least shouldn't call myself a feminist.

To not be constantly excluded, I have hidden my religious beliefs from fellow feminists.

Many pro-choice feminists argue that women should be able to choose. I don't oppose this. Unlike other pro-life people, I do not wish that the state would ban abortion. However, it doesn't mean I cannot have a religious conscience, saying that abortion is wrong. I don't judge others, but for me personally, abortion is wrong.

I wouldn't ever choose abortion myself, and that's a valid choice. Many other women are in the same boat, and I wish feminism would be more inclusive of us.

We Need to Speak Up Against Sexism in Every Context

By Megan Liema

A recent article on Huffington Post ('Liberals Are Sexist Too', by Emily Peck, Mar 6 2017) made me think.

We often think of sexism as being associated with conservatives. But then, liberals and leftists have not been immune either, of course. The difference is that, many progressives have had a double standard, letting sexism go unchallenged as long as it originated from the left.

We need to put an end to this. Not only should sexism always be challenged, a double standard will only discredit any further action against sexism.

We don't need to be personally sympathetic to the politics of Sarah Palin or Kellyanne Conway. But still, sexism is sexism, and it is never acceptable. It should be as simple as this.

Why Marisa Kabas, Elizabeth Bruenig, Ivanka Trump, and Other 'Unwelcomed' Feminists will Save Feminism

By TaraElla

Marisa Kabas, Elizabeth Bruenig, and Ivanka Trump have all been made to feel unwelcome in feminist circles, despite being feminists themselves. Marisa Kabas, because she supports Israel. (I am personally neutral on this issue, as an East Asian it is inappropriate for me to take any stance, I believe.) Elizabeth Bruenig, because she is pro-life. And Ivanka Trump, because of her father.

The idea that feminist circles can make certain feminists feel unwelcome is quite ridiculous. The marriage equality movement certainly doesn't make supporters of marriage equality unwelcome, no matter what their other affiliations are. Same for the environmentalist movement. In fact, these movements practically celebrate conservatives who break ranks to support them. People passionate about marriage equality or the environment join those movements, and find mutual support in them. In feminism? That's not always the case, as the aforementioned people found out.

Feminism is very unfriendly to its 'outcasts', compared to other movements. Yet as these 'outcasts' refuse to stay quiet, and continue to speak up, it makes people think. Already, questions are being asked as to why feminism must be so unfriendly to people with certain views that have nothing to do with gender equality itself. After all, environmentalism doesn't demand its adherents support women's issues, and still functions quite well. Similarly, the marriage equality movement doesn't demand its adherents believe in climate change, and still has had many successes. In fact, the focus on the issue at hand and the inclusion of people from diverse backgrounds is what makes those movements strong. Why should feminism be any different?

We are on the verge of a strong feminist moment. But if we let feminism be hijacked by other issues, it will just lose relevance and die out.

The Crisis in Feminism: How it's in Danger of Becoming an Unthinking Cult

By Anonymous

Feminism has long been a movement of intellectuals, debating, sometimes heatedly, about issues. Some feminists believe liberal capitalism will help women get ahead, while others believe that socialism will help women more. Some feminists believe in the West exporting feminist values, while others believe in letting feminism develop organically within other cultures. Some feminists believe in affirmative action policies, while others do not. And so on.

It's a healthy thing to have so many ideas. It's a healthy and constructive thing to debate, and form even more ideas as a result.

Sadly, all this appears to be at risk right now. The poisonous idea that everyone must agree on everything, or that people should be included only if they conform to certain views, first took hold of some progressive movements some years ago. It looks like this idea is beginning to take over feminism. People are already saying things like there's no space for certain kinds of politics within feminism. How ridiculous. The only thing that feminism doesn't have space for is sexism.

There's still time to save feminism, the diverse feminism we've come to know and love. But we need to speak up now.

Sorry Ana Tijoux, There's No Other Feminism

By Katie Bay

Chilean hip-hop artist Ana Tijoux recently called for 'another feminism', one specifically against capitalism.

But why would feminism be specifically against capitalism? Or, let's turn this around. Why would feminism be speicifically against socialism? It doesn't make sense, does it?

Some feminists are capitalists, others are socialists, and that's the way it is.

You can be both a feminist and a socialist, but you can't merge the two without excluding some women, and therefore diminishing feminism.

Feminism is for the empowerment of women, so women can have equal rights and choices as men in life. This is feminism. There is no other feminism, really.

Should Feminists Boycott 'Beauty And The Beast'?

Guest Post by Megan Liema

With Disney's Beauty and the Beast hitting the cinemas soon, there's been a lot of talk about the feminist 'implications' of the film. A lot of this has centered on the character of Belle, played by Emma Watson. But the idea that Belle's relationship with the Beast is unhealthy is also being discussed a lot. Some people say that the relationship looks abusive, and some even say that Belle must have developed 'Stockholm Syndrome'. As a result, a few people have even said that, as feminists, we should boycott the movie.

My response? Relax people! It's just a story. 'Tale as old as time', really. It doesn't mean anything in particular, and doesn't need to be overanalysed. Just relax and enjoy the movie!

Being a feminist means supporting and fighting for equality. But we only need to fight the real fights in life, which is surely not every moment of life. Sometimes, we can just accept things as they are, too. There's nothing un-feminist about this.

Jessa Crispin may hate 'Choice Feminism', but We Love It. (And so do many women.)

Guest post by Katie Bay

Jessa Crispin has been getting a lot of publicity lately with her book 'Why I Am Not A Feminist', in which she heavily criticises 'choice feminism' and instead upholds collective action and socialism. Apparently, 'choice feminism' is so prevalent right now, and she hates it so much, she cannot identify as a feminist anymore.

So what is this evil 'choice feminism'? Turns out it's as simple as letting women choose what they want. Which is what feminism should be about, right?

Crispin does make a fair point about not every choice made by a woman automatically being feminist. For example, I would say that what I chose for lunch today was not a feminist choice. But then, feminism should be about making sure women are able to make the same choices as everyone else. So allowing women to go into business without fear of discrimination is indeed feminism, despite the (unrelated) fact that socialists are sceptical of capitalism. And not every choice women make need to be collective either, because men are not bound by the same 'collective' requirement, right? Nor would that make for a happy sisterhood. For example, some women want to be stay-at-home mothers, while others want to work 60 hours a week in a high flying business career, and still others want to work part time while pursuing a writing career. What's wrong with that?

I get that Crispin really hates capitalism and wants us to be all socialists, but it wouldn't be gender equality if women couldn't choose capitalism (because men can). Like everyone else, Crispin is entitled to make her case for socialism. But she shouldn't demand women support socialism any more than men. After all, socialism and capitalism are not gendered concepts.

Reflections on Anne Hathaway's Speech on Paid Parental Leave

Guest post by TaraElla

Much has been said about Anne Hathaway's speech about paid parental leave, delivered this past International Women's Day.

Paid parental leave is an important issue, and I'm glad at least someone is giving it a high profile. But the thing I was genuinely, and pleasantly, surprised by was that Anne Hathaway actually gets the point that real gender equality and liberation can only come if it includes everyone. As she said, "in order to liberate women, we need to liberate men" too.

Parental leave is a good example of this dynamic in play. In her speech, Anne pointed out that paid paternity leave is needed just as much, as we need to avoid situations that "undervalue fathers and overburden mothers", as well as situations that leave minorities like gay parents behind. This really contains a lot more understanding of the real world situation than many self-professed feminists can claim.

But parental leave is not the only area where real liberation must include everyone. For example, in the past few decades, feminists have been fighting for the right of women to wear masculine attire and adopt masculine behaviour, without doing anything about the inability of men to break free from gender norms. As a result, masculinity is now valued by everyone, and femininity is seen as weak and unprofessional.

Perhaps, one day, every feminist will understand that just supporting policies that allow women to 'do the things that men do', or even to only care about women's (and nobody else's) liberty and equality, will not bring us anywhere close to real empowerment.

Why Feminist Mothers should love Little Moon Society by Haylie Duff

Singer and actress Haylie Duff has designed a new line of kids' clothing called Little Moon Society.

What makes this line different is that there will be plenty of unisex items available, and all items will be able to be mixed and matched.

Feminist mothers have been crying out loud that there has been too much social gendering in kids' toys and clothes in recent years. Perhaps this could start a new trend.

We can only hope.

Was 'A Day Without Women' Useful or Not?

So this past International Women's Day was supposed to be 'a day without women', at least at work. Women would strike where they can, and dress in red where they can't.

But it turned out that, at least where we were on that day, we didn't notice many missing women, nor did we notice a sea of red. It looked as if this 'day without women' didn't happen after all.

Checking the celebrity news online, we did see lots of pictures of celebrities dressed in red, though. We voted on who wore it the best, and Anne Hathaway won. (Her speech was amazing too, by the way.)

So did 'a day without women' happen or not? Apparently it did happen at least somewhere out there. But why not around us? We probably should blame ourselves first, as none of us participated. Not only would it endanger our jobs to strike without any union backing us, we also understood that our bosses simply don't like red in our workplace.

'A day without women' was a nice idea. But in the end, it wasn't practical enough for many people.

Is It More Feminist to Support or Boycott Ivanka Trump?

Donald Trump's controversial policies have caused a global movement to boycott his brand. Feminists are among those involved, naturally. And even Ivanka Trump's fashion products have been among the boycott targets. Boycotters say that as Ivanka continues to stand by her father's terrible policies, she deserves to be boycotted too.

Meanwhile, others have hit back, saying that boycotting Ivanka, a feminist career woman making her fortune for herself, is the most anti-feminist thing you can do.

So who are the real feminists, and who are the anti-feminists?

We believe there are no real answers to this. This is a great example to show that, while feminists all believe in women's empowerment, we may choose different paths to realise our goal, because we see the world differently. And there's nothing wrong with that. We all act in our best conscience, after all.

p.s. Personally, we think that there is no point boycotting Ivanka for standing by her father's administration, as anyone in her position would do the same too, right?

Maybe Kellyanne Conway Had A Point, After All

Kellyanne Conway isn't exactly the most popular person at the moment. So when she recently stated her view of feminism as anti-male and pro-abortion, many quickly dismissed her again, and pointed out the dictionary definition of feminism as a movement upholding gender equality as the 'correct answer'. Once again, feminists get to believe that we are the good people who believe in equality, and only someone like Conway can be so misguided about our great purpose.

But, let's face the reality. Conway's view is by no means uncommon. The idea that feminism is boys vs girls is everywhere, even expressed by some celebrities. And just recently, some feminists have said that pro-lifers don't belong in the movement. So maybe this is a case of, if there's such a widespread belief, there has to be some truth to it.

Real feminism is of course about gender equality, and nothing else. It is certainly not anti-male, and does not have to be uniformly pro-abortion. But if people out there are getting another message, it's not their fault, but ours. We, the feminist movement, haven't been clear about what we stand for. We haven't made the tent wide enough to be inclusive of everyone who believes in gender equality, including people of different political and religious belief, and including men.

If we don't change, the view out there won't. You can't just use a dictionary definition to shut people up.

Let the Suffragette White Become a Feminist Symbol Once More

Recently, during Donald Trump's Congress speech, a group of Democratic female members all dressed in white, inspired by the dress code of the suffragette movement, to send him a clear message that they will be serious about protecting women's rights.

As we appreciated such a display of unity and purpose, especially necessary in the current situation, we couldn't help but think that, perhaps, the whole feminist movement can be inspired by the Suffragette story and spirit once again.

Right now, rightly or wrongly, many people see feminism as having a 'party line' all feminists have to follow if they want to be in the club, so to speak. Meanwhile, many women simply don't believe in feminism, because they don't want to support this 'party line'. Perhaps they feel that feminism is about toeing a party line they don't believe in.

But back in the suffragette days, feminism was made for every woman. The suffragettes were all about making sure every woman had a vote, and women from all walks of life and all political viewpoints were among the participants of this movement. Nearly 100 years ago, feminism was about every woman having a voice. We believe it's time feminism got back to those roots.

The New New Suffragettes

Thank you all for your support in previous years, and welcome to our new website!

We are starting afresh because the world has changed a lot in recent years, and we want to have a clearer focus. As a result, past articles are no longer available. But don't worry, your favorite Liberal Feminist discussion is going to be even bigger and better from now on, we promise.