This may come as a shocker to a lot of people, but I don't define myself as a feminist. I don't define myself as a political party. I don't define myself by any social movements nor by my beliefs.
If you talk to me you will realize very quickly that I have a lot of opinions on many matters. I can go on for hours about my thoughts on foreign affairs. I think people should have the right to marry whoever they want. I don't necessarily agree with ObamaCare. And I absolutely want to get paid the same as everyone else as soon as I get a job...
So why aren't I one of those previously mentioned terms or another? Simple.
I don't like labels and I think labels sometimes do more harm than good.
I'll explain this with the feminist example just because it's something almost everyone is familiar with. Do me a favor and think about what comes into your mind when you hear the term feminist. Got it? Good. Now hang onto those images or terms.
Google thinks of things like
Feminist movement
Feminist theory
Feminist definition
Feminist quotes
If this is what you thought of, then I'd have no problem with being defined as a feminist. However, when I asked people what they thought of, my search drastically changed.
White women
Amy Schumer
Not shaving arms
Man hating
Do I have a problem being compared to Amy Schumer, maybe but that again is okay. But I don't want people to look at me as a man-hating, hairy, woman who only wants some women and not those of minorities to have equal rights. The second you identify yourself as a feminist, most people take their preconceived notions about feminism and place them on you.
This is what I have a problem with.
I don't want people to believe I think a certain way and fit in a very small box of beliefs. Although labels bring about a lot of good through social and political movements, I don't think this outweighs the negative connotations.
I also don't want to be put in a small box of ideologies. By defining myself by a specific word, I'm worried that people automatically think that I think a certain way instead of how I actually think.
A lot of labels are also too narrow. I'd rather say I value equality than say I am a thousand different terms.
This isn't to say you shouldn't define yourself by a label. This is to say you should define yourself by whichever term you want and not judge people who want to label themselves differently or not label themselves at all.
I define myself as a college woman who works to get to med school. I define myself as a sister, a daughter, and a friend. There's a lot of words to define me, but I keep my values separate.
