Feminist: What does that mean?

To get a better idea of people's perspectives on Women's Studies and Feminist I decided to ask three of my closest friends what they thought. Two of my friends are college students, one being a female and the other male. The other person I asked was my Boyfriend who is in the Army. When I first told them that I was taking a Women's Studies course they thought that it was interesting and wanted to know what made me want to take the course. I went on to ask them what they thought of when they heard the word Feminist and they all had very similar responses. They all basically thought of an uptight man-hating woman who is very opinionated and stuck in her ways, especially when it came to men. After that I went on to either say that I was a Feminist or that I wanted to become one. The people that I told that I was a Feminist told me that they didn't believe me and the other people that I told that I wanted to become one were just like please don't and what man pissed you off that bad that you needed to go to that extreme, simply because they all had a very negative opinion of what a Feminist was.

I really don't know what to expect when it come to this course. I figure it will be a lot of information about women who have made a big impact in history, ranging from literature to politics. Other than that, like I said I just really don't know what to expect. I'm really looking forward though to the discussions that will be held through out this course. I'm sure that there will be a lot of different opinions on a lot of different issues that will come out. Like I said in my introduction, I'm always open to other people's views, because there are so many different people with so many different backgrounds here at Tech.

I'm really having a hard time answering the question about what I think a Feminist is. Simply because the fact that I try not to pass judgment on others and listen to stereotypes. But if I would have to say anything I would say that a Feminist is a very independent woman who is really big into Women's Rights. She isn't one to depend on a man or agrees with a lot of the policies that are in place in our government system. I wouldn't say that I was a Feminist, simply because I'm not overly concerned about Women's Rights. I do care that women have an equal opportunity in everything, but I don't feel like I'm out spoken when it comes to those issues. I really don't like labels and if I were to label myself as a Feminist I feel like men wouldn't take my opinions as seriously. They would simply dismiss anything I have to say simply because I was a Feminist.