(electronic music)
(inaudible)
- Babes, I am no stranger to "dirty words."
I mean, I teach sex ed and sometimes I say penis, or vagina.
(giggles)
But no word is so dirty as feminism.
Say anything about it and suddenly I'm a feminazi
and being compared to Hitler.
Laci Green, teaches sex ed, wants equality.
Hitler, dictator, killed six million some people.
Oh, okay. Makes sense!
No it doesn't.
Being a feminist is very simple.
It just means I believe in gender equality
and that's it, that is literally 100% it.
Surely it's not so simple, Laci,
I mean everyone's hating on feminism.
Look it's actually kind of scary,
they have torches and stuff, please hold me!
Throughout the past few decades the media has led
a very successful attack on feminism.
- It's not a good word, it's a bad word.
- She is a direct counterpoint to
the liberal feminist agenda for America.
I could not be more pleased.
And basically what feminism has delivered
is angry women and feminine men.
- There is a reason why feminists
tend to be uglier and fatter.
I'm just saying when you look at your average
women's studies professor, it's gonna be (gagging).
- The interest in ending men, that's really what they want.
- [Rush Limbaugh] Could it be said that years of
properly defining feminism has proven fruitful?
- It's mostly the right-wing and they've done
everything in their power to undermine
the movement for gender equality.
First they denied that gender inequality still exists.
Then they paint feminists as walking stereotypes.
They cherrypick the extremists and they're like,
"This is feminism. Look how radical it is!"
Okay, true. In some ways feminism is pretty radical
but only in the sense that it's "radical"
to stand up for equality.
Intentional distortion of feminism is nothing new.
In fact it's been around since feminists first organized.
Sadly those messages have managed
to penetrate the cultural psyche
and now people are scared to call themselves feminists.
There are three pervasive myths about feminism
that I'd like to punch in the genitals!
That's like a little bit too violent for me,
but I would like to delicately thrust into the public eye.
Thrust.
Myth number one: Feminists are man-haters
man-hating it up in their anti-man caves.
I'd be lying if I said that beneath my
bubbly exterior there isn't a bubbly pit of anger.
I'm angry about inequality.
But that's hating sexism, not men as a whole.
I mean, babe, c'mere. Am I a man hater?
Okay, don't answer that.
- I think guys get defensive because we benefit from sexism.
We're used to having women validate our opinions
so when it's a woman that challenges our view of the world
it's easy to take it personally.
Myth number two: I'm a humanist, not a feminist.
Humanism is the belief that humans should
focus on alleviating each other's suffering
instead of relying on gods or religions
or supernatural powers to do that for us.
It's not the same thing as feminism.
Saying, "I'm a blankety-blank-blank, not a feminist"
basically erases the issue of gender.
It sweeps it into this huge landscape of human issues
which are all equally important but markedly different.
It also erases the entire historical movement
that is feminism.
People also get mad that the movement would have
the audacity to reference women in the title.
A part of this anger is, "Ew, girl stuff."
Another part is feeling like feminism is only for women.
Feminists focus mostly on women
because it's mostly women who are hurt by sexism.
Men are hurt by sexism too, in sneaky ways,
which is why feminism is a movement for everybody.
And number three, "I'm not a feminist but,
"insert feminist opinion here."
Whenever my friends do this I just wanna be like,
"You are feminisming right now!"
Feminism, fully loaded!
I'd love to see a world where there are no more,
"I'm not a feminist, but"s.
Instead I would just like a world full of actual butts.
Can we do that? Let's go, people.
J.K. Rowling once wrote that fear of the name
only increases fear of the thing itself.
By actually calling ourselves feminists
we align ourselves with a great legacy of equality,
this epic movement of women and men
who made it possible for us to be where we're at today.
By calling ourselves feminists we stand up to the
misogyny and ignorance that has undermined that history.
We remind others that feminists are simply people
who believe in equality of the sexes,
who want to see a more just world.
And there's nothing dirty about that.
♫ Peace be with everyone
♫ Except your mom. Oh ♫ - [Voiceover] What?