Tom at TrueTalk wonders if women under forty call themselves “feminists” anymore.

For my own part, I certainly think women and men should have equal rights, but I don’t label myself a feminist. To my generation (I was born in 1984), the word signals radicalism and activism. If many more women openly called themselves feminists in the ’60s and ’70s, I guess either feminism was more mainstream back then, or radicalism itself was more acceptable.

Today, if a woman under forty tells me she’s a feminist, it’s usually because she has An Agenda, and I’m about to get an earful. It doesn’t matter whether she approves of whatever I just said or the behavior I just described in someone else—there’s gonna be a speech.

Agendas aren’t bad in and of themselves, but I don’t want to be associated with that kind of in-your-face crusade, so I avoid calling myself a feminist. Being a feminist may be a legitimate point of pride for some people, but it’s just not me.

I’ve found, actually, that it’s more acceptable for young men to call themselves feminists these days than for young women to do so. A man who labels himself that way COULD be a speechifying activist, but he could also be a modern, progressive, considerate, non-crusading guy. I’ve met a few of the latter kind. Heh, maybe this is another injustice for the crusaders to rail against. I’m not all that worked up about it.

I know most of my five readers are under forty. Do y’all (male or female) call yourselves feminists?