I’m An Angry Feminist And IDGAF
People give feminism a bad rap and I have no idea why. After all, it’s not like we’re asking for the world. Maybe a little (read: complete) restructuring of our society, a shift in our gender expectations, but the world? That’s only on the menu if men already have it.
At this point in our society, disagreeing with feminism is willful ignorance. It’s a misunderstanding of what feminism seeks to claim for women. Radical feminism calls for the elimination of male supremacy, and there’s nothing even radical about that. It’s basic to expect women to be seen as equal to men. Somehow, though, it has become a form of extremism and when women claim it, we’re often labeled “feminazis” or “angry feminists.” Whenever someone calls me an angry feminist, I ask: If men were seen systemically as subordinate, would they not be angry? FUCK YES.
It serves no one — except maybe, men — to be ashamed of feminism. I’m not scared to be the woman who calls out casual instances of male supremacy and you shouldn’t be either. There’s no other way for us to shift our society without being, speaking, and living in unapologetic feminism. Apologizing for that is like saying, “I’m sorry for informing you of where you participate in a system that can be abusive and oppressive to me. Being faced with your privilege must hurt you, so I apologize.” Why would anyone do that? Sorry, not sorry.
Some women have an aversion to claiming feminism because they’ve been socialized to see their value in how well they subscribe to gender roles. When women have spent their entire lives behaving according to the ‘good girl’ script and benefitting from it, they see their success as a template for other women – but it’s not a template that works well for every woman. Feminism is respecting other women’s decisions to be exactly who the fuck they want to be, whether that’s following a gender script or standing completely outside of the role society has assigned them. If you can wrap your head around the concept that what works for you doesn’t work for everyone, you can wrap your head around feminism.
And if you can comprehend that we exist in a society that has normalized male supremacy, it’s easy to be a little peeved. “Oh, you’re one of those angry feminists?” men ask, and fuck yes I am. I’m angry because there is a gender wage gap. I’m angry because women have to work twice as hard to be seen as half as good. I’m angry because we just elected a president with zero political experience, who discussed grabbing women by their vaginas, over a more qualified female candidate. Our anger is justifiable. In the same way that nobody needs to explain why getting punched in the face is painful, we shouldn’t have to explain why male supremacy is too.
So, reclaim the angry feminist trope. Scream your feminism off rooftops. Tell him you’re a feminist on the first date and if he rolls his eyes, there goes his chance at a second one. Unburden yourself from the idea that you need to make feminism into something that is palatable — you don’t. Be an unapologetic angry feminist and one day, hopefully we won’t need to be angry.
