This is a complex issue.
The associations in the U.S. are not so violent as Mary suggests in
Canada, so "feminist" is not such an emotionally charged term, just an
uncomfortable, socially unacceptable one.
As a graduate student, I have worked (and it has been an effort) to make
myself more comfortable with the label, feminist. I have read a lot about
the many, and sometimes conflicting theories and practices that are
identified as feminist and can speak the academic lingo that
justifies/explains/authorizes a feminist perspective. I haven't
experienced any obvious back lash like diane describes.
Although, as I write this, I have to admit that I don't often declare
myself as a feminist.
As an elementary school teacher in mostly white, middle class suburbia, I
am much less comfortable with the label feminist. It has never come up in
conversation with other teachers in the teachers' lounge or in classrooms
unless I bring it up. And when I started, a few years ago, I always did so
by phrasing it as "some feminists would say . . ." or some such tentative
testing of the waters. I never heard any outright rejection of feminism,
but no signs of interest, either.
The overall impression here is that feminism has served its purpose. It
was a movement in the past, like the civil rights movement, that
accomplished great goals, solved the problems it set out to address, and
is no longer needed. So anyone claiming feminist associations gets treated
like they've missed the boat, they're beating a dead horse, or they must
have just gone through a bitter divorce.
or that's how it looks from here, anyway,
Kathie
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Life's backwards,
Life's backwards,
People, turn around.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Sinead O'Connor and John Reynolds
Fire on Babylon: Universal Mother^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Katherine_Goff who-is-at ceo.cudenver.edu
http://ouray.cudenver.edu/~kegoff/index.html