michele - I could not agree with you more.

I was the only person in my womens studies class that raised their hand when asked "who in here considers themselves a feminist?" and automatically I could tell the thoughts of students in the room staring me down..."lesbian"..."man hater" etc...

I love throwing men for a loop with that one. I'll ask them "do you believe gay people should have equal rights?" and they'll answer yes. I'll ask "do you believe everyone has the right to equal pay based on their qualifications?" and they'll say yes. And I'll tell them "you just told me you were a feminist". Then I explain that feminism is simply believing that everyone should be treated equally disregarding sex, race, sexual orientation etc...

I feel that a lot of it is that baby boomers still control a lot of businesses and organizations around the world. Nothing against my parents' generation but the men from that generation are who control these things. And they typically were not all for equal rights (especially the men at the top).

So now feminism and equal rights stand to threaten the hold that the white middle class man has on America (and the rest of the world). They have to spread this type of thinking to keep others from "converting". Feminist is almost a dirty word in this country. I have actually had men tell me TO MY FACE that they don't believe a woman should be paid the same as a man because we are prone to just leave because of getting pregnant!

To which I compared that the socialism that everyone hates. I said well what's my motivation then? You hate socialism because you say there is no motivation to work hard. If I get paid less than a man no matter how hard I work I may as well stay home and get welfare. You use this logic of a woman not being allowed to get paid the same as a man....but then look at women on welfare or WIC as a leach on society? Basically, that logic tells me that you think women are slaves and should do what you want when you want for the pay you want. Sorry....but I don't work like that

I also told him that, while everyone else can call me Jess....he has to call me Doctor HAHA!