Am I a S**t Feminist? | The Series

A Netflix Original

In 2018, I was approached by two friends who asked me if I wanted to occasionally feature as a guest blogger on their site. Naturally, I agreed and of course, for my very first contribution, I obviously decided to weigh in on 'feminism' (which I have to say, is not something I feel I have a lot of credibility in).

I feel writing about feminism is much like when Indiana Jones crossed the lettered tiles on the floor in 'The Last Crusade' (best Indiana Jones film by the way, come at me). All is well and good until you use the wrong phrase, word or naming convention and BOOM - you're suddenly hanging on for dear life whilst a group of triggered individuals swarm around you.

Take care not to offend anyone

To be blunt, it's a minefield. And it was this confusion that prompted me to write that blog in the first place. Now, when it comes to feminism, I have always identified with the Wikipedia definition, which is:

"Feminism is a range of political movements, ideologies, and social movements that share a common goal: to define, establish, and achieve political, economic, personal, and social equality of sexes."

The above sounds completely reasonable and should be simple to enforce. However, I find some factions of feminism contradict this very statement, almost by placing women in this untouchable upper echelon, above reproach; their thousands of years of discrimination excluding them from any further comment, criticism or wrong-doing.

It's this aspect that I want to discuss in a series of blogs going forward. Where deserved, women should be praised, uplifted and celebrated. We're a pretty cool bunch (we can grow human beings, it's insane). And I know there's still a lot to do to remove barriers, challenge well-established norms and in general, make life a little bit better for women globally.

But the same should go for everyone actually, including men (have I triggered anyone yet?) Regardless of gender, people should be held to the same standards. For that is true equality, right?! Watch this space.

To read my original piece for 'Am I S**t Feminist? head on over to The Colloquuim.