In today’s Third Wave feminist movement, there’s a growing idea that any “choice” a woman makes, with the intention of doing so to empower herself or the women around her, is inherently “feminist.” Such ideology is referred to as “choice feminism,” and isn’t it a relief? Gone are the days when we worry about the politics of our actions, or consider how the things we love may represent larger gender problems foundational to our culture. No more! Everything is feminism!
But surely you’re wondering—how can everything be feminism?
Even if certain actions or things make us feel personally liberated, doesn’t everything within a patriarchal society hold some weight of embedded toxic masculinity? Isn’t the ‘choice’ offered within a patriarchal society a bit like a magician telling you to “pick any card,” with the trick already rigged for one option and one option only?
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Why don’t we play a little game, so I can show you how feminist the world truly is, called: Is It Feminism?
Going into engineering
We are women in STEM! Watch me do math, watch me calculate the force of my equality thrown into your face!…Can I still be feminist if I’m a history major? I’m starting to realize I hate numbers when the guys in my class mansplain how to use a calculator, and when the professor tells me I’m not “smart enough to succeed in my scientific career.”
Margaret Thatcher
The OG girlboss, the Iron Lady– a woman at the head of politics has to be feminism? Showcasing how women can have convictions, be ambitious; proving to the world that women can fight for the oppression of minority rights just as well as any man (Ah yes, the African National Congress… the apartheid-fighting, South African activist group… the“typical terrorist organization.”)
Stay-at-home moms
After all, they chose to leave their job. Albeit after little-to-no maternity leave offered, the constant degradation of having to breastpump in the public bathroom, the bosses refusing promotions because she seemed “too busy.”
Corporate Moms
Telling The Man that we can be a feminist capitalist cog– if we choose it! I’ll wear pants suits and refuse to show emotion out of fear my co-workers will weaponize my femininity, using it as a reason I’m not fit to lead. When you think about it, maybe we have too many women in the office? (Please promote me, please pick me– please let me be One of The Boys)
One-night-stands: showing up purity culture (getting called “easy” is just the nature of the game), only having sex if it's with an S.O (“lame prude”), Shaving armpits (I hate the way my arm hair feels– but in a feminist way), 17 year olds on OnlyFans looking for sugar daddies (make that bag, baby! Profit off of pedophilia!)
That #Feminist tote bag from H&M– come ON? They’re giving those (female!) child laborers JOBS.
We are so forcefully told: individual choice is the tool of liberation. It allows institutions to continue to avoid making tangible, structural change– to avoid enforcing Title IX, to refuse to close loopholes in sexual assault investigations, to continue banning women’s abortions (subsequently reinforcing the idea that women are property without body autonomy) and books that illuminate the daily fights women make against institutions who want to qualify and prevent her success. Maybe we are obsessed with feminist-izing makeup, and shaving, and academic majors because of modern marketing strategies that characterize “performative femininity as a form of self-empowerment.” After all, it's easier for a company to point at its feminist commercial and claim to be an ally than change the internal policies that maintain the patriarchal status quo.
Or maybe: f**k it. Our choices make us feel confident, they give us joy, make us feel good! Personal choices can’t alter what choices are available to us in the first place, sure. But maybe you can gaslight yourself into thinking that your choice to wear a pantsuit today will manifest more equitable law, healthcare, and private business practices for tomorrow. Sure, maybe when everything is feminism, nothing is feminism– maybe the word becomes meaningless as its scope is widened beyond feasibility. Sure, maybe individual women trying to survive comfortably in the patriarchal spaces we find ourselves shoved into is not feminism.
But isn’t it easier to pretend you have full autonomy over your perception and opportunities? Isn’t it easier to ignore politics in favor of playing dress up with a lipstick shade that will magically cure misogyny?
Isn’t it easier to make equality a choice?
