Jayne Kulikauskas wrote:

> I think that the word "feminist" is inherently flawed because of its
> etymology. It is derived from the Latin "femina" meaning woman and
was first
> used (in its current sense) to mean advocacy of women's rights.
While many
> people and even some dictionaries claim that feminism is about
equality of
> the sexes, it seems to me to inevitably imply that men oppress women
and
> that women's concerns ought to be put first.  If people are
interested in
> equality, I'd far prefer to see a term like "egalitarianism".  Even
if
> radical feminists had never used this term, I would still find it
> objectionable for this reason.

It seems logical and appropriate to me that a movement whose initial
aim was to address the discrepancies between the rights of women and
those of men would call itself something derived from the word
"femina".

I suppose at some point, you could change it to something like
"egalitarianism", but I'd think that might be a more appropriate term
for a movement that not only works for the equality of men and women,
but also has a balance of both men and women as members. There are men
who call themselves feminists, but I think the majority of feminists
are women. Again, something that seems appropriate to me.

Is it possible to be both a feminist and a humanist, or egalitarian, if
you prefer? I believe men's and women's issues sometimes require
specialized approaches to bring rights and responsibilities in
balance...and because I'm a woman, women's issues will naturally be of
more importance to me. Just as men's issues would be more important to
men, that seems logical enough to me. But because I'm not _just_ a
woman, but a person, and don't live in a world solely comprised of
women, and because fairness is important to me, I can take an interest
in the rights of men as well.

Why does it have to be either/or?

> > I
> > believe feminism started out as a good thing, and can be one again,
if
> > it's taken back by women who are more interested in loving men than
> > hating them.
>
> This is the position of Christina Hoff Sommers.  It is the focus of
her book
> _Who Stole Feminism?_  This sounds like it might be a good one for
you to
> read.

Thanks, Jayne. I picked up a few more books at the library today, but
didn't see that one. I'll have to look for it next time.


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