Some of my loyal readers may note that I have not written a full-length rant in ages. Much of this has to do with the fact that although I feel strongly about a number of things, most of my annoyance can be summed up neatly in a five-sentence paragraph, hence the creation of my daily updates. The topics that I feel strongly about, such as Monica Lewinsky and Gwyneth Paltrow (hey, I never claimed to be deep) of course have received their well-deserved spot in my list of rants. But there has been a topic that has troubled my thoughts for the past week or so that now deserves the attention and glory given Monica and Gwyneth....

Feminism.

If you're anything like me (scary thought), you might have thought militant feminism was passe, a concept that went out with hairy armpits and crocheted bell-bottoms. I'm all for girl power, really I am, but...jeez, get over it. Some of the websites I visit on a semi-regular basis treat feminism like it's a new religon, something just discovered and which must be defended and treated like something holy. If you dare speak up about the ridiculousness of these people's fanaticism, you are met with scathing criticim and hateful replies. Hey, I don't argue with the fact that women in the twentieth century have had to battle patriarchal standards that were daunting, to say the least. I am all too familiar with the "glass ceiling" that still exists in corporate America. All I'm saying is, by defending the rights of women to equal treatment, many of these girls (excuse me, women) are setting their cause back even further.

Take for example a common perception of feminism. "Femi-nazi" is a term that comes up almost daily on Rush Limbaugh's pathetic excuse for a radio program. While this can be dismissed as further proof that Rush is INDEED a big fat idiot, it also indicates a, shall we say, alternative view of feminism, one that is perpetuated by the feminist fanatics that usually are more vocal than their more conservative bretherns.

Let me break it down for you like this. I think we can all agree that political correctness is a truly lame concept. Black people are "african-americans", people of Japanese descent are "asian-americans", etc. etc. We've sanitized people who may look different from the majority of white America, in an attempt to keep from offending anybody. Well, when you have different terms to describe different groups of people, you usually end up pushing them even further away from mainstream society than they ever were before. The same phenomenon can be found with feminism.

Feminism irks me in the same way Cosmo does. I may have breasts, but I am also a person. Despite whatever differences may exist between the sexes, I do happen to enjoy things that appeal to men as well, such as beer and The Simpsons. I don't enjoy spending my time reading about "10 Ways to Keep Your Man". I don't enjoy popular culture that caters to an ideal of what I as a woman should be. Likewise, I don't enjoy feminists who try to make me feel like a traitor for not being a militant, loud-mouthed idiot.

Of course I believe women and men should be treated equally. Of course I realize that this doesn't happen nine times out of ten in today's society. I even will admit that women getting the shaft as often as the do is even more subtle than most forms of racism, because we're dealing with thousands of years of history of women having no real political or economic power (with a few exceptions, of course). But I don't think the way to change things is by putting a label on it and attacking people who don't agree with everything you say. Calling history "herstory" and spelling "women" as "womyn" trivializes what is in theory a great idea but in practice annoying.

(After re-reading what I had to say, I realized I may come across as one of those girls who recoils at being called a feminist. Really, that's not my intent. I guess I just agree with Camille Paglia more than I originally thought.)