Labeled as a Feminist

I’m a strong believer that feminism encompasses many different opinions and ideals. You can see them expressed through radical, liberal, multicultural, and many more different types of feminists. And since I have my own beliefs that I would rather not be criticized, I have no right to criticize others. But it’s hard when my very fundamental belief about feminism is questioned and I am left questioning the very validity of my own argument.

The one thing about feminism that I have mentioned multiple times before and that I think most feminists can agree with is that the term “feminism” and its connotations need to be revamped in order to be accepted. Unless the term is accepted, the whole movement is at a standstill and has no way of reaching out to new people to make new changes. I realize that the word has negative connotations and negative stereotypes associated with it because I have been the victim of ignorant remarks about feminism.  But that doesn’t stop me from believing that I am a feminist and definitely doesn’t stop me from working hard to erase inequalities.

At a few points over my Thanksgiving break, I was involved in casual conversations about feminism and saw the viewpoints of a few of my friends and family. The one comment that stuck out in my mind was that fact that one of my relatives didn’t call themselves a feminist because they refused to be labeled. They agreed with feminism and the fight for equality, but didn’t want to be called a feminist. Not because of the negative connotations or backlash but because labeling is unnecessary. They said that they wouldn’t want to be labeled simply a teacher or a brunette and those labels are not who they are but a part of who they are.

I still didn’t understand why they couldn’t call themselves a feminist however. I thought about myself…I AM a feminist. If people label me that, I’m ok with that (even with the negative viewpoints I come across). But thinking more in depth about what this label does for me and for other feminists, I rapidly became more confused about the idea of labels.

With this issue on my mind, I looked up the definition of label. The first definition of label showed that to label is to identify it or give instructions or details concerning its ownership, use, nature, destination, etc.; tag. And then one word in this definition caught my eye…ownership. Does that mean that to label is to show possession? Isn’t ownership and possession something that feminism is fighting to get away from? In my opinion, I see feminism as the fight to break away from the patriarchal ties and to stand as a woman, not being owned or controlled by anyone or anything. Can ideas or a movement be so powerful as to own a woman?

Understanding this definition, I saw where this person was coming from and why labeling their self as anything meant giving up ownership of one self. So I decided to look at another definition of label…

A label is a descriptive term; an epithet, which term used as a descriptive substitute for the name or title of a person. Much better, right? This definition puts a much more positive spin on labeling oneself. It emphasizes that a label is not who you are but describes a part of you or what you believe. Maybe if people saw labels as a description and not as an identifier, more people would be willing to accept the term.

The issue of labels and labeling oneself a feminist relates back to my main argument: words will have positive and negative connotations, but one has to decide which connotations to accept. Once they have been selected, it is then that words will start to have more power. And now understanding both terms, I am even more confident to label myself a feminist.