Do we need a new word for feminism?

A SYTYCB entry

In 2011, actress Melissa Leo became the first person in broadcast history to use the F-bomb during the Academy Awards. She blurted it out shortly after a character created by notable feminist Aaron Sorkin described a swear word as a term he doesn’t use in front of women while a curious internet user asked his online community whether or not it is illegal to swear in front of women and children in public. (Answer: No, but more importantly, would those groups still be allowed off the Titanic first?) Although Leo’s acceptance speech helped dispel the belief that women are too chaste for such words, she recently declared her rejection of another F-word: feminism.

A few months earlier, an artist whose practice explores depictions of women clarified that she is not a feminist but rather, pro-female. These individuals join a long list of people who have distanced themselves from feminism despite acting in a manner that helps advance the feminist project (of perfecting anger and showing the world that all men are inherently evil. That is the feminist project, right?) These women should compel us to ask: Do we need a new word for feminism? Does the term perhaps come with too much historical baggage? Can we reduce the animosity felt toward feminists by cloaking ourselves in friendlier terminology? If so, here are a few of my suggestions:

Female prejudice fighters
Vaginators
Hilary Clinton’s army (the feminist muggle version of Dumbledore’s Army)
Wequalizers
Womanists
Pussy Huggers
Tina Fey

After Shonda Rhimes, the writer and creator of Grey’s Anatomy, coined the term vajayjay as a euphemism for vagina, Philadelphia Daily News columnist Michael Smerconish expressed his approval by writing: “’ Unlike the starkly clinical vagina, I see a vajayjay as a happy and inviting place, with a warm and fuzzy connotation… Vagina’ screams textbook. ‘Vajayjay’ says Facebook.” Maybe it is time to do for feminism what vajayjay did for vaginas. Think about the possibilities. We could start trending on twitter. We could undo the damage that was done when Sarah Palin called herself a feminist while simultaneously opposing abortion. Previous feminist-deniers like Lady Gaga and Beyonce could come to our parties! We would no longer fear having to come out to potential partners. WE COULD BE POPULAR. Amid these perks, we could covertly continue to oppose things like victim blaming, slut-shaming, domestic violence, and the gender wage gap. On the flip side, Feministing would need a new name, as would Feminist Ryan Gosling, which seems like a lot of work. Perhaps we’ll stick with feminism. But maybe we need to hire a better PR person.