Friday, November 05, 2010

Defining Feminism

Wiscon is a feminist science fiction convention. It recently posted this about its views on feminism:

Feminism is many things to many people, but one way to describe it is as a belief in the social, political, and economic equality of all. Feminism is part of a larger constellation of movements seeking social, political and economic equality for all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, creed, ability, status, or belief.

Since its inception, WisCon has worked to create a space for feminism and its consideration within the science fiction community. Feminism is vital to WisCon's identity. Feminism itself has grown and changed over the decades, and WisCon has reflected those changes, often imperfectly, just as those changes have been unevenly and imperfectly implemented in other feminist contexts.

At base, we recognize that a commitment to feminism means a commitment to social justice of all sorts-we might not be able to focus equally on every issue, but still we cannot pick and choose which people deserve justice and which issues we are more comfortable with. We are called to be true to our principles, even (and especially) when they are unpopular. WisCon's commitment to feminist science fiction is a commitment to ensuring that our future includes everyone, not just white, well-off, able-bodied, straight men.

This definition of feminism is not an uncommon one. My first reading of this

Feminism is part of a larger constellation of movements seeking social, political and economic equality for all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, creed, ability, status, or belief.
made me think that this type of feminism isn't about gender at all because gender is not listed among all the "regardless" characteristics. But a friend suggested that my reading is too literal. What do you think?

There's a backstory to this definition: Elizabeth Moon, a fantasy and science fiction writer, was initially invited to be a Guest of Honor at the convention. But when she posted an anti-Muslim rant on her blog the invitation was withdrawn.

It is possible to view the posting of this definition as a response to the backstory because the definition ends with:

We are called to be true to our principles, even (and especially) when they are unpopular. WisCon's commitment to feminist science fiction is a commitment to ensuring that our future includes everyone, not just white, well-off, able-bodied, straight men.
I found all this useful for the purpose of understanding the different definitions of feminism which motivate people in the movement (if there is such a thing as a feminist movement right now), and especially useful because it is the first written version of this very wide definition of feminism I have found. (Later I will write about this and the other definitions in more detail.)

But note that the quoted list of characteristics which should not restrict a person's opportunities contains at least two which may conflict with the others in the same list: creed and belief.

If my creed tells me that people who are, say, female or gay should NOT have equal opportunities, how will we balance giving equal opportunities to that creed AND those whom I might want to see subjugated or oppressed or even killed?

That may be nit-picking. More generally, I'm not sure that definitions of feminism should be grounded on the current pecking order in one particular country. White men are not necessarily a relevant category in other countries, for example, and a more abstract definition would work better than one which compares other groups to the group which may be most favored in the U.S.