Title: Why Don't More People Call Themselves Feminists?
Headings: Why Don't More People Call Themselves Feminists?
Why Don't More People Call Themselves Feminists?
It's 2014, and lots of women (and men) are still wary of embracing the term.

Content: And many radical feminists continue to embrace an idea of "women-born-women" to differentiate themselves from transgender women, who they believe should be excluded from female-only spaces. Some women, then, cast the term "feminist" aside not out of ignorance, but out of experience. Feminist identity seems to be changing, though, and the Internet may get the credit. Women between the ages of 18 and 29 are the group most likely to self-identify as feminists — they're also the group that came of age with Internet access. Online spaces offer an endless stream of information, with ideas both good and bad disseminated widely. It's nearly impossible to read about politics, women's issues, and even fashion online today and not be more than a click or two away from unabashed feminist thought. While second-wave feminists gathered in living rooms for "consciousness-raising" sessions wherein they discussed the personal ways sexism manifested in their lives, from husbands who did little housework to surviving intimate partner violence, women today have Twitter, feminist blogs, Tumblr, and website comment sections in which to trade stories and discuss the personal and political issues that matter in their lives. That contributes to a heightened awareness not only of what feminism is, but how womanhood and sexism are experienced differently by women of different backgrounds — instead of talking to your neighbors, Internet access means you might be talking to a woman on the other side of the country or halfway around the world. Those connections, and the understanding they foster, mean feminism snakes out across the web, popping up even in unexpected places — food blogs, fashion websites, porn. And it makes online feminism a force for powerful activism.