Trust your gut

Female intuition is one of the most powerful aspects of women's natures, yet we're taught to reject it

There are a number of words I’ve tried to remove from my common vocabulary: patriarchy, misogyny, oppression, sexism… Even feminism… This is because these words have become overused — stretched beyond meaning, applied in vague ways without explanation. Used as bandaids to avoid the effort of explaining. “It’s the patriarchy” is not a response to anything. It explains nothing.

It is also annoying.

“Feminism” is almost worse. Coopted by a third wave that believes “Sex work is work,” “Transwomen are women,” and “Sluts say yes!” — an iteration of “feminism” that believes everyone must be included except women who know what “female” means — the term has become a joke.

Men without much knowledge of the various waves and centuries-old history of the women’s movement have picked up on this, announcing that “feminism” is to blame from everything from the current attack on women’s spaces and sex-based rights to the “destruction of the family” (perhaps a form of family, to be fair, wherein women don’t count as persons and can be beaten or raped with impunity).

Men are miserable because of “feminism,” women are miserable because of “feminism,” young women are cutting off their breasts and young men are taking estrogen and wearing skirts and knee socks because of “feminism.”

These men are painting with broad strokes in part because modern feminism is an easy target, but also because, like almost everyone, they want an easy answer and someone to blame. Problems and solutions tend to be awfully complex, and it’s more fun to make a definitive statement and watch the likes roll in.

To be fair, I too can barely stand the word “feminism” anymore. I certainly don’t want it as an identity, dictating my politics and beliefs or who I “get in bed” with. I reserve the right to be a free thinker, and if that forces me out of the feminist club, so be it. I don’t care about labels, I care about truth, ethics, integrity, and freedom.

All that said, as anyone paying attention will ascertain, I remain committed to fighting for women’s rights and sovereignty. I want to encourage actual female empowerment — not the kind Emily Ratajkowski claims comes from commodifying and objectifying your body or the kind the gay male owner of Miss Universe grants us by identifying himself as a woman, then selling us back such a massive mindfuck it leaves the brain sore — the kind wherein women regain their most powerful gift: female intuition. The kind wherein women gain actual confidence through age, experience, skill, integrity, strength, and trust in self. The kind that gives us power and autonomy over our own bodies.