What’s Feminist Coming Out Day?
Feminist Coming Out Day (FCOD) is an international movement encouraging women and men to “come out” as feminists.
So this has nothing to do with me, since I’m not a feminist.
I find that very hard to believe. To be honest, I’ve never met someone who’s not a feminist.
No, seriously. I’m not a feminist.
You know what the dictionary definition of feminism is? Copied from Merriam-Webster:
The theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes
Basically, if you think that women should hold half the seats in Congress, receive equal pay for equal work, and not be viewed as the inferior sex by society, you’re a feminist. Feminism isn’t about putting women on a pedestal or giving them a higher status than men. It’s about equality. Anyone who calls him or herself a feminist and asks for anything else doesn’t quite understand what feminism is.
Cool! So now that I’ve realized that I’m a feminist, tell me more about this FCOD thing.
On campus, there will be a spoken word poetry event where you can “officially” come out as a feminist! It will take place at the Cabot Café on Saturday, March 8 at 7:30 PM, and is being sponsored by the Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS) and Speak Out Loud (SOL). [INSERT LINK TO ARTICLE ABOUT EVENT] You can chill with other newly out feminists, listen to spoken word poetry, and drink coffee and eat food. Basically, it’ll be made of awesome and you should totally go.
If you can’t make it, or if you’d like to come out as a feminist before or after March 8, you can change your Facebook cover photo to this and/or add this border to your profile picture!
I thought people who “come out” are telling people that they’re queer. Will I be appropriating gay culture if I say that I’m “coming out” as a feminist?
You bring up a valid criticism of the FCOD movement. Nobody who comes out as a feminist has to deal with the same sort of consequences as people who come out as queer, and to use the same language can be problematic. However, most of the feminists I know (myself included) can regale you with stories about how various people, from their uber-conservative great-aunts to their Soc/World TFs, have reacted when they came out as feminists. In my opinion, it’s a pretty apt comparison.
So you’re a feminist.
Yup! That’s me.
Why?
I want the world to be a better place, and there’s no way it can improve if we ignore or hinder the contributions of half of its members.
If you’re already a feminist, why are you going to the FCOD event?
Because I love meeting other feminists, especially people who are new to the movement! And, I mean, spoken word poetry is awesome. And so is food.
Sounds legit.
See you there!