If I Had a Hammer, I’d Smash Patriarchy: The Equalism v Feminism Debate
Anna Spysz of the Krakow Post has a nice post on her blog about embracing “equalism” over feminism, because, as she puts it, “to me it signifies in the simplest, most elegant way, the goal of the movement: complete gender equality.”
Equalism, of course, has had various waves of popularity over the years: as a more inclusive way of proclaiming feminist ideals; as a term without the baggage that the f-word carries; as a way of including not just gender but racial equality as well. But Spysz’s own take is that, for a generation removed from those early feminist battles, “equalism” is a term much easier to relate to. She writes:
Growing up in the 90s in the U.S., I took it for granted that I could do anything a boy could do, could grow up to be anything a man could be. Those initial battles had already been fought for me, and I couldn’t imagine that the gains would ever be taken away. In essence, equalism is just post-feminism, for those who never really experienced feminism in its initial struggles.
So, equalism: Any better than feminism?
