The Gender Equality Checkpoint

[DanaC]

Sorry, I wasn't really clear there. I have been at various times a political and/or community activist - so, I was an active member of the Labour party for years and a local politician - and I've been involved in anti-racism activism and some local issue stuff. The two women's groups I mentioned aren't really groups for feminist activism. A lot of the people i know or am connected to in these groups are feminists and there is a baseline of gender consciousness, but there's also a baseline of class consciousness for most as well. As interested as I am in gender issues, I am not in any way an activist in the feminist movement.

That said - I have on occasion supported causes which come under the umbrella of feminist issues - but they've tended to be quite specific, such as supporting the campaign to stop funding cuts for a domestic violence support unit.

I don't mean to diss the whole movement there - I've known some wonderful people who have worked with passion and commitment to try and make our society a fairer one, or even just a more accepting one. Several of my personal heroes are women who have been active in the women's movement - but they're also active in the labour and trades union movement. One was the MP for my town up until 2005 -Alice - now in her late 70s I think. To be a female Labour MP for a northern town in the 80s/90s; man, that's a tough gig :P

One problem with radical feminism - aside fom the echo chamber effect of social media - is that feminism is not a total solution. It is not sufficient - but is treated as if it is all there is - eclipsing other, equally pressing, sometimes more pressing concerns. With the best will in the world, human beings are messy creatures - whilst i think it is useful and desirable to challenge the status quo and try to understand and tackle systemic inequality, the challenge is pointless if it is not relevant to people's lived lives.

As to the spectrum - I think the whole thing's been sent out of whack by the twittersphere.