Feminism has its privileges
Kelowna Daily Courier / Vernon Daily Courier
11 Jan 06
Viewpoint -- Debra Critchley, spokesperson for the Vernon and District Women's Centre.
[Page: A7]

Here's a piece of news that is no secret - I am a feminist. My co-workers and I can be found sporting buttons with sayings on them such as, "This is what a feminist looks like" or my favourite, "Feminism - the radical notion that women are people".

As April 1 and the deadline of the Vernon Women's Centre closing looms, I started reflecting back on my own life as a feminist.

It was my early work as a labour activist that introduced me to feminism as something more tangible and applicable than my women's lib buttons and radical T-shirts. The idea that women in the workplace were and continue to be subjected to lower paying jobs, no benefits, limited access to childcare, sexual harassment and discrimination of many sorts, came as a genuine shock to me as a woman in my early 20s.

Like many young women today, I thought, "What's all the fuss about? Women have equality."

In my 20s and 30s I moved forward with a sense of entitlement to the equality that I naively believed existed. I was affronted and outraged each and every time I witnessed or heard about the many injustices of living in a patriarchal world as a woman. And heading into my 43rd year you would think I'd be tired by now.

Well, some days I am a little tired but that is when membership in a movement definitely has its privileges. In the circle of feminism made up of women feminists and pro-feminist males (and no, men cannot be feminists and I will get to that in a minute), I speak a different language. It is the language of equality and oppression filled with emotion and sometimes a twisted sense of humour.

Feminists are a tough crowd, we can often come across as being non-compromising, and, in fact, often are; we are regularly accused of being humourless and let me assure you, a sense of humour is a requirement for membership.

Without humour we would be a really scary bunch.

One of the requirements that make me feel most impatient is that you have to be willing to say the same thing over and over and over and over again. Sometimes it is just about saying it for the sake of saying it - there is really no expectation of any significant or real change but there is an unspoken rule in this membership that we say it, whatever it is, as often as we can.

Which comes to my next requirement for membership - you really have to not expect any big changes in a short period of time, you really have to be okay working in a movement where the word movement really is relative to the space and time of evolution. Which by the way rhymes with revolution.

To be eligible for membership you also must be a woman who is at least shocked, appalled or outraged at least once a newscast. Following this, you really should know how to swear because in our world feminism is not an "f" word but we do know a lot of others. And we must remind ourselves that even when it feels like a war we are a movement that has never been responsible for starting a war.

You have to be okay with feeling like a fish out of water from time to time, as if you live on the planet alone and no one really gets it - because at the end of day the reality is, very few do.

Depending on the narrow-mindedness of your community you must be willing to have your sexual orientation questioned and combat the assumption that all feminists are lesbians and all lesbians are feminists.

Further, you must be able to tell well-intentioned men that they are denied membership by virtue of their gender.

Feminists also must learn that being referred to as a "special interest group" is a reality. It is one that comes with the territory and likely has been one of the most effective tactics used by politicians that don't want to talk to you. Which leads to the next requirement, you must become accustomed to creating space to speak versus being invited to. And then know when you do talk about women's equality the fall back position of your opponents will be to categorize your behaviour as "aggressive, rude and uncooperative".

After all, it is the easiest way to silence feminists, the good news is the gig is up and we know the strategy well and have learned to stop internalizing the criticism.

And really the feminist movement is grounded in a principle that if we can change how people talk about inequality and oppression that we will in fact change attitudes and behaviour, so sometimes you have to be willing to wear your secret de-coder ring in order to understand the language.

In all seriousness though, the women's movement has made such big changes in the way we behave and organize and respond and engage in political action. I am proud to have met the requirements of membership and worked alongside so many strong, wise women. It is a world that has provided me with support and validation that I would have felt very lonely without.

This movement has sustained itself through some very tough governments, including the current B.C. Liberals. And if the Vernon Women's Centre is forced to close April 1, remember one of my other favourite sayings: Feminists - we are everywhere.

We know that the work isn't over and although we may be denied the place to organize, we will get through this as a movement and we will continue to recruit new members.