Defining Feminism

I found the discussion in class on tuesday very interesting regarding the three waves of feminism and how do you define feminism. In my experience a lot of people I meet outside of the Bryn Mawr bubble view feminism in an negative light or think that it’s not needed anymore. I’m always amazed at the amount of men I meet who are willing to say that there isn’t a need for feminism any more. I have gotten that comment many times but I'm always a little shocked that a man would make that definitive a statement about womens rights. I was thinking from the class discussion on the definition of feminism that I am not sure what definition of feminism I use.  I wouldn’t feel comfortable putting my beliefs into a box. For the question of autobiography being a feminist genre I found it confusing at first because as a group we weren’t sure how to define feminism. When I tell people why I think that feminism is important and needed I usually draw on past experiences when I have been looked down on or not allowed to do things because I am female.  For example when I was in kindergarten they made the T ball league coed so my best friend Megan and I joined. The coach was annoyed that they had let girls into the league so he wouldn’t let us be in the team photo. So it’s hard for me to say that autobiography is not a feminist genre when that is usually how I express my own feelings regarding why feminism is needed. Before the discussion my view of feminism was based mostly on the idea of equal rights for woman but I think that learning about other definitions of feminism is helping me expand my own beliefs.