You’re right about the stigma. Hello, Rush Limbaugh and “feminazis”; I still shudder when I hear otherwise sensible people use that term. It’s all about branding, pretty much, and the words “liberal” and “feminist” have lost track of their ideological meanings and been obscured by some nasty connotations: man-haters, appeasers, etc.

Till I took a Womens’ Studies class in junior college, I would’ve never identified myself as a feminist. I didn’t want to risk attaching myself to what’s unfortunately become a really loaded word.