The F Word

It's 2007. No one knows what's up or down anymore. However many years ago humans discovered fire, and then we discovered feminism. Which one was more incendiary, more instrumental in altering the fundamentals of human life is debatable. (Most) men run from it, and plenty of educated women won't associate with it.

Why, in this age of supposed enlightenment, is Feminism such a dirty word?

Language is nothing if not imprecise, which may be the root of the problem here. "Feminism" seems to denote female superiority, and oh good god we can not have that. In actuality, feminism operates under the belief of equality between genders, and while there are obvious things that separate us, we are all human beings and should be treated as such. But say the word "feminist" and men and women alike run for the hills, envisioning copious body hair and overalls, braless manhaters with upper lip fuzz and "The Second Sex" always at hand. After all, Feminists are really what's wrong with this country.
Classification allows for distortion, which all adds up to a convenient way to relegate an ideology and the people that subscribe to it as "other" or "wrong" or "crazy."
The men who are intimidated by the concept and what it stands for, who can't bear the thought of equality between humans due to a inflated/stunted sense of self and masculinity are just casualties of twenty/first century America, and have had all the humanity diluted out of them by the system of mind control we call contemporary culture. They, like many other products of our society, would be laughably inconsequential if they didn't run the damn show.
The women who refuse to acknowledge what's terribly wrong here proudly perpetuate the entire process in "naughty _____" Halloween costumes. Women should wear what they want without fearing assault, but in our world, which exists upon millennia of signs and signifieds that form our perceptions and interpretations, a person is all too capable of turning herself into an object (i.e. less than human) and she will be treated as such.
For some reason, Feminism has become such a loaded word that even the people in whose interest the concept was formed now reject it. So here's an idea: change the name. If Feminism is an unmarketable concept, why not Equalism or Humanism? It seems that right now we're in a cultural lull that refuses to address these issues-- there's a war going on that was sold to the public by a faux cowboy using macho language and cartoonish masculine posturing. Simultaneously, popular culture continues to sink to the lowest common denominator, sacrificing respect for women for an easy dollar. I know InTouch magazine and the rest of the pile of refined Amazon rainforest detailing Jessica Simpson's latest haircut/weight gain/ shoe purchase isn't necessarily demonstrative of our culture, but this is who we give our time, energy and money to?
All I'm suggesting is that we all turn on our bullshit detectors and refuse to let these images and ideals of femininity and masculinity infiltrate our collective conscience. None of us benefit from believing that one half of the human race is less fully human (i.e. capable of rational thought, deserving of respect for their minds, not bodies, etc.), and I'm sick of the culture that happily perpetuates subordinating and antiquated gender roles, producing weak men and the women who cater to them.