How to Tell If Your Son Is a Feminist
My job for the past seven weeks has been to index a 6-volume set on feminism in literature from antiquity through the 20th century. Indexing is the kind of work which, once you stop for the day, your brain keeps categorizing and developing term hierarchies. So as someone is talking to me, in my mind, I’m indexing the terms and concepts that come out of his mouth. It’s exhausting.
These days my head is full of feminist theory and criticism. Having read so much about it, I can’t help but think about how the concept relates to me, and more importantly, to my children.
Time was, feminism was the dirty F-word. Media painted all feminists as militant, man-hating lesbians, hell-bent on destroying family values and undermining the infrastructure of society. Many of the freedoms and choices we women (and our daughters) enjoy today came at great cost to our foremothers. But what about the boys?
Feminism isn’t just a female thang. I was...