I’ve been one as long as I’ve been an adult. If you know me, you probably know this, but I want to say it again: I am a feminist. Apparently a lot of people, women and men who consider themselves relatively enlightened and modern when it comes to the subject of women’s equality, don’t. I’ve run into this problem a lot lately, first in conjunction with the production of The Vagina Monologues here in Oslo that I’ve volunteered for. Meghan, the producer, told me that a lot of the women auditioning for the play didn’t identify as feminist, and weren’t interested in volunteering further for the production. Most of them were actresses at the beginning of their careers, and just wanted something to add to their resumés.

I told Johannes about this, and in the process learned some disturbing facts about feminism in Norway. Apparently a good number of Norwegians don’t consider themselves feminist anymore because they feel that feminism is passé. The attitude is that Norway has already achieved equality. That feminists have basically made themselves irrelevant; the only issues they care about anymore are marginal, unimportant and uninteresting to the vast majority of people.

Then last night, I found the new blog Joy and her boyfriend have started, “The Truth about Gender Equality”. I guess I should have figured out something was up from the beginning, given the provocative title–anyone purporting to know the “truth” about a subject so complicated as gender equality is probably going to set off my bullshit alarms. (Sorry Joy! I’ll be interested to see what you contribute to the blog, though.) Joy’s new boyfriend posted a somewhat defensive screed introducing himself in which he claimed to have been “verbally attacked for refusing to support the Feminist movement”. He continues: “How can I support a movement that denies my individuality, grouping me with a host of others who have little in common with my own views simply because my DNA contains a certain number of chromosones [sic]? No, I cannot support that way of thinking.”

Ladies and gentlemen, particularly those of you who refuse to identify as feminist for whatever reason, do you know what feminism is? Do you know what it is that you’re denying?

Feminism: Belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.¹

“Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings.”²

So, my opinion is that if you’re not a feminist, you’re a world-class jackass. To be a feminist, all you have to believe is that women are entitled to equal rights–nothing more. You don’t have to believe that men and women are the same or have the same capabilities and desires. You don’t have to believe that it’s better for women to work outside the home than to stay home. You don’t have to be an atheist, ugly, or a lesbian. You don’t have to be pro-choice. You don’t have to hate men. In fact, you don’t even have to like women. You just have to acknowledge that women have all the rights that men have, and agree that one sex should have the same privileges as the other. Period.

1. From The American Heritage Dictionaries, excerpted at Answers.com.
2. Cheris Kramerae, author of A Feminist Dictionary, excerpted at Wikiquote.