Anonymous asked: I consider myself a feminist, but because of my religion, a lot of people say that I can't be. Being around people who's shoulders/breasts/stomach/genitals/thighs/knees aren't covered makes me uncomfortable (both male and female) because in my religion it isn't proper. But, I don't tell people who dress like this what to do or how to dress. I never try to dictate their life. It just makes me uncomfortable. Is that wrong? Can I not also be a feminist and be faithful to my religion?

Religion does not dictate whether you’re a feminist. A lot of people put precursors on feminism like “you can’t follow gender rules” or things like that. It’s wrong. As long as you defend equal political, economic, and social rights for women you’re a feminist. What people don’t understand is there’s a difference between “I want to live my life this way” and “I want to make everyone live their life this way” I see this a lot when talking about various religions and whether they are “feminist” or when talking about pro-choice/pro-life. Like, you can personally never want to have an abortion. You may believe that the fetus has a spirit or it’s killing or whatever but you think it’s wrong to make abortion illegal and that people should have the right to choose. Although you’re personally pro life you’re really pro choice because you believe in choice. Just like you might have certain religious beliefs but don’t want to enforce them on other people.

There’s also millions of different kinds of feminism. Some not so great (cough, radfem cough), so don’t feel like you HAVE to classify as feminist. A lot of people don’t call themselves feminists either because the movement tends to be discriminatory towards them (like in the case of people of color or trans* people, especially trans women) or they don’t want to associate themselves with a group that would be discriminatory. Remember, every movement has its flaws.

-FYSE