Just about every time some film star or music artist is asked if they are a feminist and they say no, there is an immediate response from feminists to insist that either they are, that they're being ignorant, or that they aren't wanted for the struggle to free women from oppression anyway--a case of sour fame I suppose.
Equality and freedom are broad concepts that a number of ideoogies lay claim to. Feminism, arguably, is specifically about advocacy for women, and a particular approach to that advoacy in most cases at that.
For example, there are a number of kinds of feminism that have achieved popularity or notoreity. However the current dominant form of feminism is 3rd Wave Intersectional Feminism, which proposes the idea that a society's inequalities come from a general approach to authority and leadership called the patriarchy. This used to just mean a society that was led by men, but it has come to mean more than that.
I would like to point out a few things for the purpose of this discussion.
1. I have never condemned the very existence of feminsm. I disagree with some feminist methods, theories and applications of those theories.
2. My concern largely is because feminism is allowed to influence society without serious criticism being accepted by its publicly known leaders and advocates and is presened as tough we should all just accept its claims. This would be one thing if it was just a few university professors, but when it is heads of government doing it then we cannot avoid accepting that feminism has arrived as a philosophy seeking direct public influence.
3. I believe that all ideologies should be questioned and all advocates of those ideologies shoud be questioned. Feminists have called for public conversations about their ideas, and I am responding. It may not be how they wanted, but I believe we live in a free marketplace of ideas. We cannot be bombarded with 'we need to talk about rape culture!/women's education!/whatever' without a response being expected.
4. I personally believe that demanding that people identify with a movement in order to demonstrate values is contrary to what I believe about freedom. I don't think you should have to call yoruself a Christian, for instance, to say that you believe in charity, forgiveness and faithfulness in marriage. Those are simply values, and they don't come without believing in a bunch of other stuff if you also say you are a Christian. Christianity doesn't own those values, it merely proposes that its believers have them.
So all this having been said--should you have to call yourself a feminist to be egalitarian about relations betwen men and women? Or should it be possible to find common ground and compromise on common interests without worrying about what we call one another?
