Power of 10 - Feminism is not a dirty word.

So, there is this new show Power of 10 on CBS hosted by Drew Carey. They poll Americans, and contestants have to guess what percentage an answer was given.

Tonight one of the questions asked American women if they considered themselves a feminist. I thought, surely that would be close to 50%. Wrong.
Only 29% of women polled considered themselves a feminist. 29%?!

Here is what Merriam-Webster says:

Main Entry: fem·i·nism
Pronunciation: 'fe-m&-"ni-z'm
Function: noun
1 : the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes
2 : organized activity on behalf of women's rights and interests

So 71% of women separate themselves from these two definitions. However, you don't have to organize and join N.O.W. to believe that sexes should be equal...thus considering yourself a feminist.

71% of women do not believe that women should have equal pay to their male counterparts? Because equal pay is a feminist goal. So long as you like making less because you are inferior...

Maybe these women should have their voting rights taken away, because feminists fought for that right, too. Oh, no? You still want to vote? OK, that's fine. But maybe you should start calling yourself a feminist.

The Christian right and Fox News have done a good job making the word "feminism" to mean "butch lesbian". That you have to shave your head, ride a motorcycle, wear a tanktop, and kick some ass. One of the results of this successful stereotyping, is that most people don't want to represent these polarizing images. So they "go with the flow" through their life, not giving a shit about anything.

[8/8/7 addition - An example of this "not giving a _ about anything", would be people's reaction when they see thousands and thousands of protesters taking to the streets, especially at WTO and G8 summits. They always seem to garner to most protest, and rightfully so! The people in those images have been successfully framed as "angry protesters that you have nothing in common with". Because the media won't explain to you why they are pissed, just that they are pissed. So from my witness, most people scoff at images of protest on TV. Sort of a "why do they care so much" attitude, instead of asking why they are so pissed off...and dare ask, should I be pissed off? Unless, of course, you already love globalization. To each his own.]

So that means roughly 2 out of 3 women that are reading this do not consider themselves a feminist. So I ask, what is it that doesn't make you a feminist?

By the way, the contestant answered it correctly within 10.