Which Western feminist icon are you?
I’m Emma Goldman:
“You are Emma Goldman! You are the mama of Anarchist/Communist feminism and you inspired millions to embrace the labor movement. Without ever directly saying so, you directed efforts toward saving wymyn and children from exploitation. Oh yeah, you were also a total sexpot!”
57 Responses to “Which Western feminist icon are you?”
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Not Your sweetie says:
Me too. Great minds….
March 9th, 2009 at 7:13 am EST -
bluelyon says:
I’m Angela Davis. Who knew?
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purplefinn says:
No wrath, please – I’m Gloria Steinem. “The McDonald’s of Liberal Feminism” The quiz is outdated though. I chose an answer that doesn’t fit with Gloria. However, while I disagree with Gloria’s support of Obama, I haven’t thrown her under the bus.
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samanthasmom says:
Simone de Beauvoir
It fits.
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Karen says:
I’m Angela Davis, much to my surprise.
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m Andrea says:
“You are Catharine MacKinnon! You are one amazing smarty-pants! You’re hell on wheels and you know it, but you also know that because you’re the “pretty” radical feminist, you get off easier in public. You combine law, philsophy, and feminist theory. You truly are a triple threat!”
I’m sure the lack was due to space limitations, but it left out the flaming sword of doom and the buddha belly of mirth.
The quiz also missed the option “I feel wymym are empowerfuled by prostitution, and would make better feminists if we embraced our meatsock nature”. The icon could be Christina Hoff Sommers or Camille Paglia.
oh come on Violet, unlock that other thread. Lisa finally provided examples and I just now read a conflict management thingie. “What constitutes civility” would make for an interesting discussion, as would “what constitutes emotional maturity”… or dare I suggest just a definition of bullying? (I think I found a reason to dust off my bloggy!)
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Lori says:
I got Gloria Steinem probably because I’m happily married to a man who has read at least as much feminist literature as I have, and who is comfortable working with authoritative women.
Grrrr…. I’d rather be deBeauvoir but I could never put up with you know who.
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Sis says:
The quiz also missed the option “I feel wymym are empowerfuled by prostitution, and would make better feminists if we embraced our meatsock nature”. The icon could be Christina Hoff Sommers or Camille Paglia.
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hahahaaahahaha!
Before I learned the photo on the TNA blog was a stock shot, I thought it was the TNA women. Of course, I tried to guess who was who based on their posting personality. I decided the sassiest looking, most attitudiness one was Dr. Vi.
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Branjor says:
I’m Audre Lorde (!). Funny, I would have thought that I’m more Mary Daly.
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yttik says:
You are Andrea Dworkin! A few radical feminists love you, but most of the world thinks of you as the definition of “feminazi.”
Bahahaha! Oh I truly wish, really I do. She’s a rather difficult icon to live up to, but I shall give it my best.
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Sis says:
I wonder what women said that defined them as “communist”. Canadians are often called that by Americans because we support the idea of universal health care, and gun registration. I never think of those things as being ‘communist’. Communist to me would be, the government gets to take my land. Oh wait, that’s an oil company.
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Tomecat says:
You are Angela Davis! You were the THIRD WOMYN IN HISTORY to appear on the FBI’s Most Wanted List. You are a communinist, black power-lovin’ lady who shook up the United States when you refused to lie down quietly to oppression. You WENT TO JAIL! Wow. You kick so much more ass than Foxxy Brown.
I had no idea, but I love the description! It’s a lot to live up to, but I’ll give it a shot.
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bob coley jr says:
Gloria Anzaldua… who knew?
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Sis says:
The other thread turned so ugly it made me sick to my stomach. I wonder which feminist that makes me.
I think I’ll go away for awhile. Or longer.
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Sasha, CA says:
Well, it turns out I’m bell hooks:
You were one of the first black wymyn to discuss in public spaces the differences between being a black womyn and being a black man or a white womyn. You are the mother of intersectionality and you couldn’t care less about identity politics. Thanks for making feminism accessible and calling the white, middle class wymyn on their bullshit!
Hmm . . .
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Honora too says:
Lori and Purplefinn- welcome to the club. Gloria we are. I had a hard time picking, especially the third question. It isn’t ‘radical’ being a heterosexual, happily married feminist, but it works for me. (I’m having some success, my 16year old daughter came home from the library with Hillary’s autobiography.)
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sister of ye says:
I’m Kathleen Hanna. And I’m such an unhip old fogey I don’t even know who Kathleen Hanna is! Must be something latent.
Time to google, I guess.
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Val says:
To my surprise, I was… Frida Kahlo?!?
Never really thought I had that artistic temperament, but maybe this random cyber-quiz knows me better than I know myself ;-) -
slythwolf says:
You are Catharine MacKinnon! You are one amazing smarty-pants! You’re hell on wheels and you know it, but you also know that because you’re the “pretty” radical feminist, you get off easier in public. You combine law, philsophy, and feminist theory. You truly are a triple threat!
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Luckynkl says:
You are Audre Lorde! You were one of the first wymyn to write love poems to other wymyn, long before it was safe OR cool. You put the “rad” in radical feminism, but somehow still managed to create a cult following in people who would never identify as radical themselves.
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Adrienne in CA says:
I started out Gloria Steinem, then went back and changed a few answers, still as close to my beliefs as the choices allow, and turned into Emma Goldman. I can also be Kathleen Hanna, so I guess I’m complex.
*****A -
anne says:
I’m Andrea Dworkin. I was her the last time I did it too. :)
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m Andrea says:
wah, I wanna be a feminazi.
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Luckynkl says:
I’m Audre Lorde (!). Funny, I would have thought that I’m more Mary Daly.
Mary Daly wasn’t one of the options. Probably cuz there’s only one Mary Daly. :P
I came up as Audre Lorde too. It didn’t surprise me at all. She’s one of the few on the list that didn’t have a thing for men. ;) I’m described as being a classic radical feminist so it goes without saying that the late Audre Lorde would be a mentor, as she indeed was.
I got hung up a bit on the abortion question when I had to decide between two equally applicable answers. Which were so similar that I thought they had just been simply re-worded. I chose one and came up as Audre Lorde. Then for the heck of it, I went back and took the quiz again, this time choosing the other answer. When I did, I came up as Catharine McKinnon. Which I thought mighty peculiar. Especially in context with my answers to the other questions. Perhaps whoever wrote the quiz is not aware that McKinnon isn’t a lesbian? But no worries. I’m not in the least bit offended to share the same page as Catharine McKinnon. :P In fact, I identify heavily with 5 of the women listed, as well as with some who aren’t listed.
All I can say is thank goodness I didn’t come up as Bell Hooks. I would’ve run screaming out into the night.
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julia says:
I’m bell hooks!
I’m my own shero – how did that happen? I also disagree with myself pretty strongly on my writing about Nicole Simpson and men and love.
This is very interesting, because I have read 8 of her books. I saw her in person and she surpassed my expectations – and this never happens.
I do think her writing on men and love (2003, don’t remember the title) is hardly feminist, and she does blame Nicole Simpson for not leaving O.J. Which makes me mad.
That said, I’m thrilled, and this made my day! :)
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Violet says:
I think I’ll go away for awhile. Or longer.
Don’t do that, Sis. I also was disgusted by the thread, which is why I just shut it down.
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AM says:
Catherine MacKinnon
Which caught me up short because she ain’t no dyke.
I don’t know who put this questionnaire together, surely the product of at least several fine minds, and a testament to the variety that is woman.
My total favorite line:
Eh … thanks for the kid. I’m sure you do some good work, but … I just don’t care. I’ve got my girls over here.
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ea says:
I got Andrea Dworkin. Have to read her stuff now and decide if I agree. If I had just looked at the list of names, I would have picked Angela Davis or Emma Goldman.
I changed a couple of answers and got Gloria Steinham. It bit upsetting, as I consider myself a Friedanist.
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Sasha, CA says:
she does blame Nicole Simpson for not leaving O.J.
But Nicole did leave OJ. In fact, she left him years before she was murdered, and the 911 calls we all heard with him ranting and raving in the background were largely recorded *after* she left. They had kids together so unfortunately she wasn’t able to avoid him completely. We all know that the most dangerous time in an abusive relationship is after the woman leaves, and the Simpson case is a classic example of that.
I was a little surprised that the Western feminist icon I’m supposedly most in sync with is bell hooks, and I wonder how much of that result is based on the first question about sexual orientation/living situation.
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orlando says:
I just kept trying until I got to be Simone de Beauvoir.
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Sis says:
Orlando. That’s just the way women do it. They keep trying to please someone.
I’m still trying to figure out what went on at the other thread, for me, and thinking, I (we?) need to examine it. I just reverted to fetal position for about 12 hours over it. I (we?) am so removed from what my response should be in an abusive situation, whether life or online. I just keep trying to get to Simone de Beauvoir.
But I don’t know how we could take it apart online, public, or if we should. I tried once before, privately. My reaction was pure terror, so it didn’t have a snowball in hell’s chance of success.
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Sasha, CA says:
So I changed my answer to question number one from “I am bisexual, but have had primary relationships with men . . .” (which is true) to “I am heterosexual, by most accounts” (which I guess is also true ’cause these days most people assume I’m heterosexual since I’m married to my soulmate who’s a guy), leaving my answers to the other questions exactly the same, and found that I morphed from bell hooks into Angela Davis which is cool ’cause she’s one of my heroes. I do think it’s a little strange though that picking the “I am heterosexual, by most accounts” answer to question number one would turn me into Angela Davis given that Davis is an out-of-the-closet lesbian. I don’t know about this quiz . . .
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Tabby Lavalamp says:
Does it make me a bad feminist because I couldn’t get past “womyn” and “wymyn” and had to stop taking the quiz before even seeing all the options in the second question? Spelling it differently doesn’t change the etymology of the word.
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Branjor says:
Sis said:
***I’m still trying to figure out what went on at the other thread, for me, and thinking, I (we?) need to examine it.***Well, for one thing there were different ideas about what the discussion was “supposed” to be. I was struck by something Lisa said in her very last comment – that we were supposed to be having an “intellectual discussion.” That is a major fallacy. When women are discussing the abuse of a woman by a man the discussion is anything but “intellectual”, nor should it be. “Intellectual” involves a distancing from the subject matter that is unrealistic to expect women to have when discussing woman abuse.
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m Andrea says:
I am truly sorry if I have caused anyone grief in that thread. Please don’t leave Sis, you are fabulous. (Didn’t see your comment until now.) That goes for Lisa as well.
Running away from conflict never resolves conflict, yanno. Surely there is a way to discuss with sensitivity unexamined expectations? It seems as if everyone was upset about a different thing. And yet, the implicit issues raised in that thread are common to feminist space and extend far beyond the individual people involved. So it’s entirely possible to have a productive discussion without dissecting specific people.
Mommy says we can cope with this. Thorry.
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Sis says:
I’m here. I’m ok now. I guess I have to use that ick word and say, I trigger. As for discussing? I just don’t like too much online. BB. I also remember trying to do this once, and it doesn’t work without a mod.
If some private board owner is willing to mod this, I’m up for it.
Where’s Sasha? ;)
It’s enough to say, some things which are done to us, we do to each other. We, I, you, have to stop.
We should not curb our anger. We should not be asked to. We just need to direct it where it belongs.
I am as guilty as the next person. There were some things said in that thread in a “way” that is unnecessary.
And note: this happens on some boards everytime a certain type of male poster shows up. I will never defend their right to be here over ANY woman’s right. That said, this isn’t my blog.
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madamab says:
I’m Angela Davis!
None of the sexual options worked with me. I’m happily married, with no kids. So I had to pick “Heterosexual, by most accounts,” even though it’s pretty obvious I like men. LOL
I was annoyed by the spelling of “women” too. It’s just the type of thing that turns people off from feminism, IMHO.
I wasn’t annoyed enough not to finish the quiz, though. :-)
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Val says:
Well I think the quiz is randomized – I re-took it, being careful to pick the EXACT SAME answers, & this time I was Catherine MacKinnon.
Fair ’nuff, but I still wanted to be Dworkin! -
julia says:
Good point, Sasha CA; what I could have said is she questions the benefits Nicole got by staying (married to a wealthy, famous man) in a way that sure seemed to me like blaming her for staying with him.
And I also think I may have gotten bell hooks for the same question! I knew, as of age 4, that I would never marry or have children. It’s hard for our phallic-loving society to categorize women like me, who are heterosexual but put ourselves and other women first.
The last thread bothered me a lot, I just stopped reading it. But I do think it’s worth talking about why we think we can treat each other with such disdain. Isn’t feminism about supporting each other?
I prefer to disagree by stating my point, not using the other woman’s name. This makes it a little less personal and calls attention to the idea instead of the person.
Just a thought.
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anne says:
I’m not sure if my last post got eaten (I seem to be having a little trouble posting here since the last thread) but I’ll repeat it and say I very much agree with this Branjor:
““Intellectual” involves a distancing from the subject matter that is unrealistic to expect women to have when discussing woman abuse.”
This is where I am certainly struggling. I don’t understand why it is OK to point out public sexism in no uncertain terms, but not to do the same to sexism right in front of us.
Mary Daly says that women should cultivate our rage and disgust. I’d been doing that a long time before I read her but it certainly helped clarify a few things for me when I came across that piece of advice.
When someone says that women who are beaten by men aren’t victims am I, someone who was punched by her boyfriend in the jaw twenty years ago and find it still clicks even now when I open it, supposed to ignore that? Am I as someone whose mother fled when my father became violently abusive supposed to ignore my rage and disgust at that claim, remembering as I do the reign of terror he enacted against us after we were no longer completely under his control? Surely it is the people who are making the awful sexist comments and blaming women for men’s violence who need to be apologising.
I guess I should say those questions are real not rhetorical, because I’m really at a loss when I’m told that my anger and response to sexism is a big problem. If there is another way, could someone help me with it.
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Sis says:
I had a post eaten too, which should have appeared before anne’s; with which I wholeheartedly agree except for the “your anger is a big problem” part. Not by me anne. Do not curb your anger. If you can find it in the other thread, read yttk.
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anne says:
You have to write your post again Sis. I want to know what you were thinking. I think it’s important to hear.
(Not that I’m being demanding or anything!)
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Sis says:
It’s in now anne.
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Violet says:
I don’t know about eaten comments; I’ve checked the filters and there’s nothing hung up.
I closed the other thread because it had become absurd and I didn’t have the time to moderate it. I still don’t. Besides, I tend to get impatient with blog threads that become about themselves, which seems to be the fate of every contentious blog thread. There must be a law about that: the longer a thread goes on, the probability of its becoming entirely self-referential approaches one.
Lisa’s first comment in that thread startled me as much as it startled everyone else. Seemed to me she was blaming women. But she followed up by saying she wasn’t, and from there it just became an impasse. People reacted to her comment, and the more they tried to explain their feelings the more she felt she was being bullied. Didn’t seem to me there was any communication possible.
Personally I didn’t see any bullying going on; I saw women understandably exasperated. But whatever. Blog comments are not the most precise form of communication. And once people’s feelings are inflamed it’s hard to get clarity.
As for Odysseus, he has been banned.
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yttik says:
All of these feminists in this quiz had their spats, their disagreements. I got to be Andrea Dworkin, which was delightful, but she was also called a right winger for having such a strong anti-pornography position and at one point she was misinterpreted and accused of being pro-incest. We talked about some of the controversy around Bell Hooks. What I like the best about her is she said that the struggle for civil rights was really a struggle for the black male patriarchy. Uh hmm. Yep, that sure rang true for me in the last election. Yay, racially diverse patriarchy. Oh goody.
My point being that there will always be disagreements and no one feminist is ever going to be perfect. The problem is women are taught from day one to be hyper critical of each other and that’s something we have to constantly resist.I try hard not be judgmental of other women, but it sure isn’t easy. I think I’ve still got my Kim Gandy dart board hanging up.
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Anna Belle says:
I want to second hoping sis stays. I love your voice, lady. Don’t let other drive you away. You’re important, and we need you.
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Anna Belle says:
LMAO@ Banjor’s swipe at Audre Lorde.
Shorter Lorde: Feminizm–U R Doing it Wrong.
Short Anna Belle’s Response: Shut the crap up, idiot.
We’re studying her in my politics and poetry class, and I am hating the crap out of her. What a mess she created! I hate it when people miss the meta, and end up criticizing what they themselves are doing. We have a word for that: hypocrisy.
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Sis says:
No no. I just meant go away until I’d figured somethings out. Which I did. I think what happened on that thread, even with the topic of this thread is fascinating. Wow we are such a dynamic and wonderful bunch of women.
But it all blows to shit almost EVERY time a man comes on. Women blow up, or go away.
Can you imagine Ody going onto a black rights blog and telling them where they had it wrong? No. Men never get it with women. And I resent it when some women rush to defend them. Really. I do. So I wish women who feel compelled to do that would think about whether it’s really going to move anything along.
And I’m Nellie McClung:
“Get the job done and let them howl.”
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Violet says:
You know, I realize that shutting down the thread when I did made it appear that I was endorsing Lisa’s last comment. Actually I wasn’t. I was in agreement with the people saying that they had every right to be angry and pissed off, and that it was infuriating to have someone look at Chris Brown and say, “why did his mother raise him to be like that? How can we stop women from raising men like that?”
It seemed to me that there was something going on with that thread that was outside my radar range — the references to bullying in the blogosphere, etc. — which is one reason I felt unable to cope with it. So I banned Odysseus the Asshole and just shut down the thread.
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Sis says:
I may be wrong, but I think some women come here from TNA and seeing some of the same posters, aren’t prepared for the different tone. I personally find it helpful to have both styles of blog. Gad I’m so impressed with what Amy et al are achieving there. But we who have been around the block need a place to rock feminism. You’re it Vi.
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anne says:
The impression I got was that Lisa and Odysseus were a double act. Maybe I’m misjudging Lisa, but I couldn’t work out why she was defending him unless they were allies from elsewhere. They certainly seemed to be on the same page.
Also in Lisa’s last comment as far as I could see some of what she was quoting as bullying didn’t even appear on the thread. I looked for a “Fuck you” and a “You are nothing to me” and I couldn’t find them. So that seemed a bit peculiar.
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Violet says:
I looked for a “Fuck you” and a “You are nothing to me” and I couldn’t find them.
Me either. You see what I mean about feeling out of the loop.
By the way, Lisa’s been a commenter here for awhile and I like her just fine. Don’t mean to imply otherwise.
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Sis says:
No I couldn’t find those comments either, so in my confusion I decided Vi must have deleted them.
Alpacas? Molly? Hell, even Raoul.
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m Andrea says:
That thread is worth reading again, with all the comments having been fished out of moderation.
I’m accused of being a bully on a fairly regularly basis, and it’s always by folks who are trying to change the subject of the conversation from a man’s behavior to their feelings. Frankly, I doubt if they have any conscious awareness that they are using their feelings as a manipulation tactic. I suspect that their patterned response to anything which makes them uncomfortable is ingrained from a variety of sources.
When teachers talk about bullying, they only say “bullying is bad because it hurts Johnny’s feelings”. So the kids grow up having internalized the idea that anything which hurts their feelings is automatically wrong. The teachers apparently don’t emphasize that the real reason bullying is bad is because it violates a right to which the person is entitled.
I’ve started emailing the state school boards about this because poor logic is epidemic. Amazingly enough, most US state school system’s official definition of bullying is described by other, undefined terms. Parsed out, the definition is – you guessed it – “anything which hurts their feelings”.
The problem goes far beyond one internet thread. Imagine, anything at all which makes them cry is automatically invalid… That is how they are taught to process and evaluate human rights issues.
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Sis says:
Some there were defending men, and getting justified flak. I was responding to the tone you were using. I find that mockery “thorry” to be so triggering. If you think that’s entirely my fault, then you need to do somemore thinking.
I’m right now building a source bank on bullying, and I am finding there as much on the harm it does to the bullier as to the bullied, in fact the focus seems to be shifting (as per the discussion on lefty boards re Brown) although I recognize there is a problem there for the bully, I’m not ready to put my focus on the bully, male or female. From a very abusive growing up, with someone who used ridicule and humiliation constantly, I finally freed myself enough to say I understand you’re hurting, but you don’t have any right to take it out on me, and since you can’t stop, I will just axe you out of my life.
In real, and online. If that means I have to go away to protect myself, I will. It’s way past hurt “fweelings”.
So I’m speaking for myself, but I think that’s a strategy women have to use. First, remove yourself. Then name it.
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m Andrea says:
If we are all to accept the argument “anything which affects me in a negative manner must be altered to accommodate me” as a valid principle, then a reasonable person must remember that in order to be fair to everyone, that principle must be applied to all.
Unfortunately, that argument only leads to emotional manipulation, as anyone can claim to be triggered by anything. I am triggered by the colors and font sizes on Violet’s website, so if that principle is valid then Violet needs to change those website elements. I’m also triggered when folks refuse to address me with “My goddess what can I do for you today?” I hope everyone rectifies this quickly…
That potential for emotional manipulation renders the argument invalid, and is why we need a different principle to help us determine fairness — one in which interpersonal relationships and conflicts are examined within the context of human rights. And as soon as we remember to discuss individual rights to which every person is entitled, and we remember to define our criteria for allocation and distribution of those rights, it becomes obvious that the right “to live without criticism or hurt feelings” is not a right to which any human is entitled.
So. The answer to our dilemma comes down to “what constitutes civility” and “what constitutes abuse”. If I get to be Catherine MacKinnon proceeding down the merry road of logic, I’d say quickly in the interests of brevity you’re out of luck in about four steps.
I of course am only interested in bullying you. I couldn’t possibly be refusing to play your internal script.
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simply wondered says:
‘Grrrr…. I’d rather be deBeauvoir but I could never put up with you know who.’
the french, yeah?
i got to be some bloke with a tache who i never heard of. poetic justice i suppose. what does a man expect doing that quiz? i just thought the woman vi got looked so cool. *sighs*
and i have a bloody moustache. pah – what about the menz? no i mean… ah well.
i still find it odd when men say they are feminists.
i don’t have a moustache. you know that, right? let’s focus on what really matters.and i’m glad people have stopped shouting at each other on the other thread. it always feels odd when that happens here because vi makes it feel like home and everyone hates shouting when they’re home. even when it’s stuff that people can quite validly shout about.
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