is mcgill university’s feminist collective right: can anybody be a feminist?
Can anybody be a feminist?
The Feminist Collective at McGill University’s Faculty of Law made it clear that yes, anybody can be a feminist as long as they believe in gender equality. The Feminist Collective campaign sought to reclaim the idea that anyone can be a feminist no matter their gender, religion, sexuality, ethnicity or upbringing.
Although this may seem obvious to some, the Feminist Collective believe that there is still a disconnect in broader society between the word ‘feminism’ and the phrase ‘gender equality’. This misconception is due to a popular view that feminists can only be, and only represent, an elitist few.
On March 24, The Huffington Post Canada reported on a photo campaign launched by the Feminist Collective consisting of photos of individuals ranging from white homosexual men to Christian women of colour. All of these photos were accompanied with a tagline describing who they are as well as declaring that they are feminists.
The campaign, however, has been criticised by National Post writer Meghan Murphy. Murphy claims that the ‘I Am A Feminist’ campaign is an uncontroversial and shallow representation of feminism, which does not do the movement justice. She further comments, ‘Campaigns like “I am a feminist” tell us nothing about why the feminist movement exists and what it means to be a feminist. Instead, it seems to encourage anyone and everyone to take on the label.’
But is this necessarily a bad thing for feminism?
Murphy may argue that the campaign depoliticises feminism by allowing anybody to take on the label. She believes that nothing good can come from campaigns that don’t demonstrate or talk about why the feminist movement is relevant. But there are plenty of campaigns that talk about these issues; most recently the ‘I need feminism because’ campaign has become wide-spread across universities and social media globally.
Different campaigns have different aims and goals. They all do not need to be about the history or the reasons for a political cause; campaigns can be about breaking down misconceptions and barriers. This particular campaign does not undermine feminism (as Murphy suggests), it instead promotes inclusion and diversity into a movement which by definition (if you believe feminism is about gender equality) should be inclusive and diverse in its constituents.
Murphy believes that feminist campaigns should only be about igniting social and political change and should not be simply an identity or a label one puts on to feel empowered. ‘Movements are about effecting change on a political and social level — they tend to have one or more agreed upon goals and share a particular ideology — they are not simply whatever one person decides it means to him or her.’
Realistically, the obstacles that I face in reaching gender equality, as a white, heterosexual, middle-class female, are going to be different to those faced by someone who is a homosexual, poverty stricken, woman of colour. Furthermore, the obstacles I face should not overshadow the larger and more pervasive obstacles of others.
Women make up approximately half of the global population; it is therefore not surprising that they have different needs and views, as well as face varying degrees of political and social discrimination. The way they need to go about change is going to differ, and it is going to take more than one or two collective goals (as Murphy suggests) to get there.
A campaign that addresses this idea that feminism is inter-sectional by welcoming a diversity of voices and perspectives on these issues is, in my opinion, unequivocally a good thing for feminism and the world in general.
Without breaking down misrepresentations and being inclusive of all women, feminism cannot be successful in promoting gender equality and therefore cannot be successful in igniting political and social change for all. We cannot be united if there is this ill-conceived notion that feminists believe that some women are more equal than others, this isn’t Animal Farm.
Murphy is overly quick to judge those who label themselves a feminist, accusing them of distilling the broad history of the movement into a generalised and empty term. However, when I label myself a feminist I don’t do so lightly or for personal gain. Rather, it makes me feel empowered because I belong to a community who want to not only improve my life, but the lives of all people who feel they are discriminated against merely due to their gender.
The label to me is powerful, and definitely not empty. The more people who identify as feminists and label themselves as such, the more inclusive feminism becomes. This increases positive public opinion for the movement, which has always been instrumental in creating change, both socially and politically.
