We are hardcore feminists!

The reading "You're a hardcore feminist, I swear" really hit home for me. I have interacted with girls (or women) in the past who were completely reluctant to call themselves feminists or to even try to forward the status of women in society. It is always frustrating for me when people think they will alienate themselves from their friends, partners, crushes, etc. by calling themselves "feminists" just because society tends to use that label as a bad thing. We need to stop using the word "feminist" as a dirty word. It is kind of like what we discussed in class, that many bad names used against both men and women ultimately boil down to some pejorative of "woman,"or insinuate womanliness as opposed to manliness. I hope that this class will make me and my peers more aware of the way that we gender our conversations and more open to conversations that challenge our perceptions. There are many different ways to be a feminist, just as there are many different ways to be female and many different ways to be male. This class will hopefully help us uncover all of those meanings.