I recently read and shared a Spectator article about the isolation of Sweden’s “feminist foreign minister”. She’d been outspoken about the subjugation of women in Saudi Arabia.
It’s been sitting uncomfortably with me.
The political isolation is wrong, but the way she was described also seemed wrong even though the article was supportive.
She was described as a feminist because she wants women to have fair treatment in Saudi Arabia; isn’t that what every fair-minded individual would want?
Does that mean that the norm is that everyone is a feminist?
I’ve decided that feminism is a redundant term. It’s definition is the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of the equality of the sexes. What reasonable person wouldn’t advocate women’s right to equality? Those who wouldn’t want this are the misogynists.
If feminist beliefs are the norm then perhaps the term is no longer needed. So instead of the general population, feminists and misogynists, we should just have everyone and misogynists. And ideally we wouldn’t have the misogynists.
Does this make sense? Can we get rid of the term feminism?
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