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From: gcf@mydog.UUCP (Gordon Fitch)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Re: Why I Am Not a Feminist
Message-ID: <9104141120.6798@mydog.UUCP>
Date: 14 Apr 91 15:20:01 GMT
References: <2805efd1.34d0@petunia.CalPoly.EDU>
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dgross@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Dave Gross) writes:
| WHY I AM NOT A FEMINIST ....

If I may condense severely, Dave Gross says he is not a feminist
because "mainstream" feminists do not denounce violent or
fascistic types such as Solanis, Dworkin, or Brownmiller.

However, I'm unclear as to what "not a feminist" means just as
I'm unclear as to what "feminist" means.  For instance, for some
people "feminist" means someone who struggles for equality for
women.  Does Dave Gross mean he won't support equality for women
until Molly Yard calls Susan Brownmiller a bad name?  I doubt it,
but it could be so.  On the other hand, such a move might prompt
him to join NOW.  Until we know what the speaker means by
"feminist" we don't know what "not a feminist" means.

Part of the problem is that feminism isn't a party or a church; 
it's hard to say, often, whether some idea or policy is with it 
or against it.  When someone recites that familiar phrase "I am 
not a feminist, but... " they're usually about to agree with what 
they think of as feminist doctrine, so that this preface actually 
means the opposite of what is says.  I think what we're hearing 
when we hear that phrase is the echo of an enormous campaign of 
distortion and self-delusion: all feminists hate men, all 
feminists burn bras, all feminists are totalitarians, and so 
on.  This isn't new, nor is it a conspiracy; it's a natural 
class reaction to a change in the balances of privilege and 
power.

Some feminists _do_ denounce Brownmiller and Dworkin; if someone
wants to define me as a feminist, I'll give a demonstration.  (In
the case of poor Valerie Solanis, I must forbear; I am told she
died a few years ago.)  So now what, O not-a-feminists?