Being male, it's almost impossible to say that I'm a feminist without sounding like a white knight, even if I'm not looking for sex, but it's just part of my morals. (Longpost Warning)

I do identify as one, although I probably care less about other people's approval. In real life, I think most people think it's a good thing or just don't care (at least in my college life.) Online, if it's a person who is somewhat informed on the topic, mentioning the Feminists I admire (Camille Paglia, for instance,) lets them know I'm not a Sarkesiaan worshiper. That said, unlike other people who admire this line of Feminism, I'm not one of those people who needs their dose of alt-right or Sargon of Akkad videos to develop their views. And honestly, a lot of their videos are them complaining about non-issues (i.e. random articles they disagree with, petitions few people signed, Tweets, etc.) If that person doesn't know what I'm talking about, I try to show them what I mean by saying that I like that movement. If they still refuse to believe I'm not what they'd like me to be (a bad stereotype,) I leave them alone. In the best of cases, those people will just be ignorant about this particular topic and that'd be the end of that. In other cases, they'll insist and crucify you over nothing. But believe me, anyone who thinks that you'd need to identify as anything at all to get laid, has a very shallow understanding of social human interaction. It's hilarious how anyone would seriously think it's that hard to get laid. If you were asked how you flirt with women, wouldn't a response like "through arguments/articles" sound a tiny bit odd?

Now, a question that often gets asked, "why aren't you an Egalitarian/Humanist?" First off, that isn't a movement, it's closer to a school of thought. Feminism is a movement. Now, even though labeling yourself with any of these terms certainly means something, a label doesn't speak for you. If you have sexist views, doesn't matter if you call yourself a Feminist or a Humanist, those views are still your own. It's silly to think that by labeling yourself as something, you're magically pardoned/to blame. I chose this label because of the historical impact, the richness in varied ideologies (which is also why "feminist" doesn't mean much until you demonstrate what kind of Feminist you are) and the force that other labels lack. With this I don't mean to say that "Humanist" or other terms are any less valuable, it's completely fine if you identify as just a Humanist. However, with the popularity of the term, and the fact that many of these people who identify as Humanist but then do absolutely nothing relevant to Humanism, combined with the fact that organizations like the UN or the CNDH (the national Humanist organization in my country) are such a failure, make me less passionate about the label. With all that said, you don't need to identify as absolutely anything to support women's rights, men's rights, animal rights or whatever it is. Identifying as something is a very personal choice, and make no mistake, you will never agree with everyone in your own movement, so there's really no point in assuming based off the label you use other than "this person is interested in this general topic," it is what you make out of it. For instance, I love film. When an actress oozes with glamour, elegance, presence, and she makes those attributes her own, there's no label more accurately powerful I can think of than "Feminist."

/r/SeriousConversation Thread