Feminist. The word brings about a sense of empowerment for some, anger for others, and discomfort for the ones who whisper it followed by "I don't believe in calling myself that because I think everyone should be equal."
In the 21st century, there has been a surge in the feminist movement thanks to social media and the fact that oppression of women all over the globe unfortunately is still happening. But with social media comes responsibility. I am here to tell you...Taylor Swift is a feminist. Katy Perry is a feminist. Demi Lovato is a feminist. When they fight, they aren't revoked of their metaphorical feminist card because they had emotions. Were they childish? Yes. Misogynistic? No. People can make mistakes without you stripping away the title that you somehow gave them because feminism, believe it or not, is not a club where you can pick and choose the seated members at any point of time.
You can not retract someone's feminist card because they do more or less than you do for the cause. You do not have that right. Feminism is all-inclusive. We support women, men, and all the non-binary genders in between. But, this being said, feminists have the right to not be totally aware of all that is going on in the world. Why not, instead of dragging men and women through the dirt for doing something, we educate them? I guess it falls on the shoulders of the sadistic few who take pleasure and making a mockery of people's wrongdoings, or things done right that just weren't up to their standards.
Let's take this tweet from self-proclaimed feminist, Demi Lovato, as a prime example of where the social media driven feminist can sometimes be quick to speak out against someone doing as much as they can. Demi Lovato used Kesha's infamous court case with Sony as a speaking point on her twitter, to call out long time rival Taylor Swift. It got me thinking... is this how we are going to go forward in this movement? Every time something unfortunate happens in the celebrity-crazed world, are we going to sit at our computer screens waiting for each celebrity to talk about it? When did feminism start to be something that had to be earned and not learned? I just didn't get why she was calling out Taylor's 250k donation to Kesha as a negative thing, since Taylor was in some way helping but just didn't want to make a big scene where people would probably speak negatively about her regardless. Is this to say that I'm saying Demi isn't a feminist? No, because that would make me a hypocrite. I think Demi Lovato does her own share of work for the feminist movement, but she shouldn't be judging people for what they have yet to do in order to force a reaction from her fanbase. If someone is actively helping in the present and trying to further the positive progress of someone in a non-threatening way, who are you to put them down?
This is just one example of the new era of feminism acting with a club-based mentality. What isn't understood by people who try to pick and choose who is a feminist, is that there is a learning curve. Women in this generation have grown up in a world that is telling them a different definition of feminism, one where women are trying to be better than men. Some might need time to adjust to the idea that feminism is equality; in order to achieve that equality we need to destroy things like gender norms and barriers that subject all of us to inequality.
Five years ago, I was without a doubt one of those girls who didn't want to be called a feminist because "I just want everyone to be equal," but now I have a full understanding of what the term "Feminism" really means. It sickens me that if a women or man is willing to help other women in the fight against inequality of the sexes in any way possible, someone who calls themselves a feminist will have the audacity to call out said person to try to say they aren't being feminist enough or that their efforts are fake. The way the new age is trying to separate the movement into sectors such as "fake feminists" or "rich feminists" is uncalled for; it turns people away from the movement that has been building for decades. Instead of teaching, these people are preaching their anger at someone who may just not be as educated on a subject. Yes, Taylor Swift could use her white privilege in order to shed light on more controversial topics; however, so could her boyfriend Calvin Harris, her ex-boyfriend Joe Jonas or his brother Nick Jonas or dozens of other musicians who have power of popularity just like her. Yes, we would all like to put an end to the inequalities of the world. Since when is starting locally and quietly considered a bad thing? People doing what they can in any instance is important and very much needed.
Just in case the point hasn't been adequately stated: It is not the job of the feminist movement to ban people from participating, or to judge people who do participate for "not doing enough." It is the job of the feminist movement to educate, to inspire feminists to learn from each other, and to continue the fight towards realizing our long-term goal. In a world with so much inequality, it is hardly fair to start fighting with each other when we are all trying to get to the same place.