Who Needs Feminism?

As promised in my first blog, I wanted to cover the Who Needs Feminism movement for both my readers and myself.

I first learned of this movement from a commercial I saw on television. Some of the statements seem extremely random which is the charm of the movement. Feminism means different things to different people. I will be extremely honest and say I ignored the commercial until one day I stumbled across another "I need feminism because..." poster on Tumblr.

The Who Needs Feminism movement was started by 16 women at Duke University taking a Women in the Public Sphere course. One of their goals is to debunk the myth that feminism/feminist movements are no longer needed. With thousands of people chiming in, one of their goals is already complete. Their website states that, "the goal of our project is to decrease negative associations with the word [feminism] that would keep anyone from identifying with the movement."

This movement catches my attention for various reasons. The most simplest of reasons is the raw feel of the project. Holding signs, you see people from all different walks of life. Men, women, people masked or hooded, people with piercings, tattoos, nicely dressed people, all kinds of people. Some hold signs in professionally taken photos while other take pictures on blurry camera phones. It reminds us that these people are real and these statements are real. It gives you a chance to connect with a person who you do not know through a statement that you hold in common or drastically oppose.

Another reason I find this movement to be dynamic is the use of social media to keep it fueled and reach various people in diverse areas. WNF uses Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook and accepts submissions on all three. Rather than tell the viewer what their idea of what feminism is, they allow the viewer/submitter to share their experiences in a caption. Feminism is fluid, not stagnant. I am interested in seeing how I can compare and contrast this movement from early feminist movements. I also want to keep tabs on who covers the movement and in what ways.

Lastly, the movement is submitter driven. This keeps the viewer engaged and active in what is going on rather than passively following the movement.

You can visit the movement's Tumblr blog/website at the following link: http://whoneedsfeminism.tumblr.com/

As an attempt to engage my readers, why do you need feminism? How do you feel about the movement? Would you participate and submit an entry for them to post?