This is kind of unrelated but, living in a country as El Salvador where there’s so much violence against women (Guatemala is the country where most women are murdered, I think, and they’re two hours away from us), there’s also so much stigma on the word “feminist”. Granted, I live in the better part of town, where my friends have never had to face things like this, but do they not read the news? When I tell any of them I’m a feminist, you would not believe the looks I get. Like I’m gonna get my gun and start killing men or something. People have made feminists here into a joke. Oh, look, the ridiculous feminists don’t want women to wear skirts! har har har. I just don’t understand, especially living in a country like this, how can they think feminism is not necessary? Or have they just been misinformed? What do you think?

Eh, chica, I wish I had a simple answer for you.

I know this much: the stigma you experience in El Salvador, I also experienced in Argentina and have seen pretty much everywhere else in Latin America. But… I also see it here in The Netherlands.

I understand the reluctance of many women to identify with feminism, though. To begin with, the history of the movement is plagued with transphobia, racism, anti sex workers stances, a colonial attitude to women’s struggles, an alienation of Women of Color and Indigenous movements, etc. It is, historically, not as inclusive a movement as many of us would like. Moreover, we have a history of oppression behind us where feminism has actively contributed to the alienation of those who it should have stood for.

I use the label for myself because I also believe that it can be much better than what it used to be. And because, honestly, it is a word that, through so much rejection, feels like one worth reclaiming. But that is my personal belief.

With that said, I don’t think the people you mention reject the term because of its oppressive past. And that’s a whole can of worms. Mainstream media, through the past 50+ years has also painted the movement with a rough brush. Dworkin and MacKinnon were, for the most part of the late 70’s to the mid ‘80’s practically the only visible faces of feminism in media. And I am going to be honest with you, if that’s the only feminism I had been exposed to, I would probably reject the label too. Because it didn’t allow for much personal choice. Because it presented it as a monolithic structure for and by white women who also happened to have pretty radical ideas about what being a woman is about. As much good as those feminist did with bringing certain topics to the general public, they also portrayed feminism as a rather alienating environment.

And then, of course, there is patriarchy. That word. I am not even that fond of it even though I use it quite some. But let’s face it, it’s reductionist. It doesn’t offer the complete picture. That’s why kyriarchy is much better describe the different structures of oppression operating at all social levels. And patriarchal structures (and let’s not fool ourselves almost all mainstream media is aligned with it) like to downplay the extent of women’s oppression. In our countries (Latin America) this also happens through government intervention and police work. We are kept in our place and told again and again that there is no problem and we should embrace our femininity while we reject the politics that go with it. Some of us will buy into that. Some of us won’t. However, I also believe that those who might reject the term might still have the awareness and understanding of the issues at play. Labels are, after all, not that necessary to know there is a problem.

But then again, people should be told about bell hooks before they are told about mainstream white feminists. If her ideas were more readily available, probably your friends (like mine back home) wouldn’t be so reluctant to embrace certain concepts.

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