Online feminism needs to be more inclusive, but who do online feminists think are being excluded? Only people who already agree with their narrow view of what women need.
One organization, known as DebateOut, claims to be an unbiased debate platform, but only it posts articles offering one view. In a post titled “Online feminism: Who are we excluding?”, the organization tried to point to a few groups who are apparently excluded in the feminist movement.
They fretted that LGBT advocates and women of color are being excuded, quoting a “queer activist,” another queer activist, a woman of color (who didn’t really talk about being excluded) and a “transsexual media advocate.”
Nothing these women said was necessarily unhelpful or wrong, but it’s pretty hard to argue that these groups are being excluded from feminism. People identifying in these groups may not all jump into feminism, but they’re not excluded.
Who is actually excluded from feminism? Women who have differing opinions about what women actually need, or who don’t think a lack of abortion access or free birth control are the worst things in the world women face.
Pro-life women, for example, are routinely marginalized by feminists who equate “pro-woman” with “pro-abortion.” And not just pro-abortion in instances of rape, incest or life of the mother — we’re talking about casting off any woman who talks about a second- or third-trimester abortion ban even though the vast majority of Americans agree with such a ban.
If the feminist movement wants to be more inclusive, maybe it could start by listening to and accepting disagreements among other women who also strive for the equality and the success of women — even those voices who believe legal abortion isn’t the key to women’s success or that women can be successful without government help.
