My feminism

My feminism is intersectional, or as close as I can come to that. It requires me to always learn more about the experiences and struggles of others. My feminism is not immutable, it’s more of a process.
My feminism is based on the fact that there are more than two genders and the belief that all of them should be respected.
Feminism is not only for or about women and girls to me. The goal is to not have any restricting gender roles or injustice based on them anymore.
Men can show their emotions and ask for help, women can do whatever they want with their bodies and careers, and non-binary and trans* people can just be without having to explain and defend their identity over and over again.
All the discussions and fights to get there should be had and fought together or separately, whatever makes sense in each case, but never against each other (e.g. “A lot of women don’t earn enough money to survive.” “THERE ARE MEN WHO DON’T HAVE ANY MONEY TOO.” like, those are different topics for different discussions).
Though I think feminism helps all genders, there are some more privileged groups who have to give up their privileges and that is what makes it seem like something gets taken from them (looking at you, cis men). Not having more opportunities than others anymore is not oppression, that’s equality. And if you’re trying to hold up a system based on oppression because you profit from it, it doesn’t help that that’s “how it always was”, you’re part of the problem.
My feminism is explicitly against any shape or form of discrimination and oppression, like racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, etc.
But I also acknowledge that mistakes without any hostility behind them can happen out of nescience, I mean I make mistakes like that too.
So I am happy to discuss and educate or get educated.
I can always only talk from my point of view, which makes it difficult when talking about racism, for example. At the same time, I try to be a good ally so I call racism out when I see it, but of course that’s only when I define whatever happens as racism. I read about how people who experience racism towards them don’t want or have the energy to stand up or be the teachers all the time, so us white folks should do the work. It’s not the responsibility of people of color to teach us how to be better, it’s our responsibility to try and educate ourselves.
So I try to stand up while at the same time knowing that my perspective is shaped by my privileges and stepping back when necessary, which can be a bit hard to see through and balance sometimes.
I believe in listening to people who are affected by something and I believe in learning, so maybe in two years I will think some things in this text are problematic, who knows.
If you think anything is problematic, definitely let me know 🙂