How many of you (guys included!) openly identify as feminists? Anyone coming into this thread to tell me about "feminazis" or how feminism doesn't exist or doesn't need to exist can go elsewhere, please.

I'm not afraid to say that I'm a feminist. My mother and father are both feminists, and neither of them hate men.

i don't really identify myself with any group or belief system or &tc., openly or covertly.

I've never identified myself as a feminist in any way. I believe women should be treated equally as men, but I believe everyone should be treated equally under any circumstances.

By "she" I meant Libi.

it should come as no surprise that I embrace the label.

*raises hand*

Here.

yo.

I think if I identified with any label, it would be homosexual male (top).

@corey: big tits.

I really don't see a need to proclaim feminism. I guess I feel like we are past that. I take it for granted that men and women are equal.

From the National Organization of Women website:
In 1963, the year of the Equal Pay Act's passage, full-time working women were paid 59 cents on average to the dollar received by men, while in 2005 women were paid 77 cents for every dollar received by men.

So no, I don't think we're treated equally yet. But I hope it'll happen soon.

@mizsarah: Those statistics could be a bit misleading. Wage is primarily based on position/rank, education, and quality of work.

If a woman isn't as capable a worker as a man, she shouldn't be paid the same. Of course, the opposite applies.

I'm not saying that women aren't competent, but that study doesn't indicate the details, but instead appears to be an average of salaries across the market.

@corey- those stats are usually balanced for that...

women get paid less for the same jobs as men. In some fields it's just more obvious.

@Corey,
I'm looking at the US Bureau of Labor Statistics to see if there's any merit to your assumption. The best study I can find is 8 years out of date, but it finds that the difference is mostly due to the fact that jobs traditionally held by women are paid less across the board than "men's" jobs (e.g. construction and manufacturing).
Another study says that when you look at college educated workers who work over 60 hours a week, the wage difference jump even higher. So no, I don't think it's about who works harder.

Xenu,

I'm a Feminist, a Camila Paglia feminist, definitely not Dworkin or Gloria Steinem (who I dislike). Admitted, I havn't read much of any of their works, probably 2-3 books and many articles for each of the women I mentioned.

As if! Buffy was THE SLAYER. You can't kick more ass than that. Unless you are a slayer with friends and family who back you up.

Yeah, I'm one. I'm... some kind of modern Wollstonecraftian? I'm sure there's a better name for it, because Wollstonecraft said a lot of things that (while perfectly good in their time) just aren't relevant and/or defensible two centuries later. I'm sure there is some feminist or other who pretty much agrees with what I believe, but isn't always grounding everything in religion or asking that women be allowed to go to college or something. But I try to avoid reading anything from the 20th century when possible, so I don't really know who that might be.

Of course, the issue I'm most actively engaged with is the general disrespect of women in comedy, which is distressingly rampant -- both in terms of some people's material, and in terms of the way women comedians are treated by a lot of people. It's not really a theoretical concern, of course -- more of a practical one... less a case of elaborate philosophical frameworks, more a case of some people being jerks and some other people not being inclined to stop them. (Then again, I harbor the suspicion that most philosophical frameworks are generally an attempt at systematizing the fact that some people are being jerks and other people don't stop them.)

And I want to kickpunch anyone who says we are "past feminism." On a regular basis, reading and hearing some things a lot of men say about women, seeing how they treat women, etc, makes me so angry I either want to go hide in a cave and cry or go and bite people. FUCK YOU if you're so privileged and comfy and blind that you can say we're "past it."

Damn uppity women.

I think it is good to fight for the underdog: the under-represented, underclassed, underpaid, those with fewer rights and less freedom to choose. I think feminism is one of many things that falls from that tree.