My take on feminism is that it just means equal rights and equal treatment, so fuck yeah I'm a feminist.

I once had a physical therapist tell me she wasn't a feminist because she thought women couldn't be as physically capable as men when serving as soldiers

That argument has always seemed like a cop-out to me. The division there is with physical ability, not gender. Establish the physical requirements and call it a day. There are weak-ass men who have no business getting near fields like that; and strong-ass women who blow the physical requirements out of the water.

Overall, men will pull ahead in jobs that emphasize physical labor - that's fine. The flip side is also true, with other jobs favoring the anatomy and physiology of women. Aviation comes to mind. Especially if we're still in the context of military, size and weight both need to be LOW. So same spiel - establish the requirements as the job demands and call it a day; weight and size limits will tend to favor women.

In either case, marking it as men-only or women-only is fucking stupid; but the demands of a specific career field leaning into anatomical and psychologic advantages of one sex vs the other is fine so long as the numbers reflect the actual demands.

*This does come with the need for and oversight, though, as the potential for abusing a system like that is high in order to accomplish sexist goals.

There's something to be said for the mental side as well. Speaking as a surgical tech, the best techs I've worked with have consistently been women. I couldn't begin to tell you why, and I'm backing this on the tiny field of view I've had into this field, but anecdotally, women are just better. I get a similar impression looking to the nurses and doctors, but I don't have the expertise to really judge either of those.

Tldr, utilize people's strengths, but don't be a sexist asshole about it.

For me, feminism is egalitarianism, plain and simple. Yes, I am a feminist, and an egalitarian.

I want to be, yeah. I suffer under patriarchy and want it to change. And I've tasted glimpses of places and times when women and men are safe and free and I want that for everyone all of the time.

But also I'm way too problematic to get to call myself part of the movement. I've got bad history and shitty ideas that I still need to resolve so my contributions to feminism are only things that I can do anonymously. If I notice anyone trying to figure me out irl, I obfuscate and let them settle on their first incorrect conclusion.

I wrote here my honest opinion only to be mocked. Fuck you all, I'm not going to answer this online ever again.

And no, I wasn't sexist.

The first wave was right. (equal legal rights)

The second wave had a good point. (reproductive rights and workplace discrimination)

The rest were just further attempted power grabs that don't even make the people they claim to represent happy. They tried to do what well meaning but ultimately misguided anti racism waves did by claiming gender shouldn't even be acknowledged aka "I don't even see the color." Which is it's own kind of bigotry.

Everyone should be allowed to fill the same role, but while a minority might be ecstatic in the corpo grinder, it made society worse for men and women more generally, and I don't see many women who enjoy being forced into the hunter gatherer role by the capitalists and the convenient femininists whose message they coopted to boost productivity by mandating ALL the poors make widgets for them if they want to subsist.

It hasn't been productive to raise women to believe it is essential that they defy gender norms as if it is their mission in life to do so. More than anyone else, modern feminists have culturally demeaned the role of being a wife and mother in society, which is ironic, since they seem dead set on making women fit the mold of the men they see as their oppressor.

Men and women are different, with different strengths and weaknesses and intrinsic desires. With overlap, there are things that make men happier and things that make women happier generally. We should have equality, but we've been trying to shoehorn both genders to be interchangable in any societal role en masse, and it's taken a massive toll on men and women in different ways.

Edit: Nevermind, everything is awesome, we did it!

I would say I am now. I wasnt a few years ago but after roe v wade being overturned, the subsequent shitshows, as well has government powercreep against rights I believe women should yield, turned me into a feminist. There are obviously issues that men face, but I believe women are most at risk of oppression under this current administration. Especially with how frequently the blatant fascist dog whistle of "traditional family values" is blown nowadays. Republicans are desperately trying to cram women back into the kitchen and domestic servitude.

Lots of good comments here pointing out problems with feminism, but one that I think hasn't been mentioned enough in this thread that's also directly relevant to the OP is the harmful idea that "if you believe in gender equality, then you're a feminist by definition".

While the term "feminist" does signify a person who, at least ostensibly, is in favor of equal rights among genders, using that term also, necessarily, implies belief in the core dogma that is inseparable from the term itself (patriarchy theory, etc.). This creates a false dichotomy in which people feel that in order to support equal rights they must also buy into feminist dogma, and that's not at all the case.

Luckily, though, feminism doesn't have a monopoly on gender equality, and it's important to let people know that fact, both because of how incredibly misleading "feminism just means gender equality" is and because there are more useful, more egalitarian frameworks through which to view the push for equality.

I'm an egalitarian. I believe women and women are, and should be treated, equal(ly).

The clue is in the name feminist. Feminism is about equality in the same way an advocate of masculinism is an advocate of equality.

I'm a male vegan anarchist and reject every form of mistreatment based on immutable qualities like species, ethnicity, sex etc. At the same time women in my life have consistently broken my trust, which has left me with some generalized cynical views about them. I also believe that the west is at a point where women often receive preferential treatment in sectors like education and hiring, so advocating for them while men are left behind doesn't make much sense to me. I do not consider myself a feminist.