Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

Why I’m pleased that Dominic Raab isn’t a feminist

Dominic Raab is not a feminist. That is the confession the Tory leadership hopeful makes in an interview in this week’s SpectatorScreams, gasps and 240 character rants have swept the internet since. Who in their right mind would reject the notion of treating men and women equally?

Of course, Raab didn’t do that. He describes himself as “someone who is passionate about equality and wants a fairer society.” What Raab rejects is the term itself: feminism. And Raab is not alone. In fact, his position represents the vast majority of women in the UK.

Most women don’t identify as feminists. Young women, older women, and especially women in lower income brackets actively reject the term. In a study carried out by the Fawcett Society last year, only 18 per cent of women aged 18-25 identified as feminist; and support went down from there. Just 9.2 per cent of women surveyed overall opted for the label.

Other studies are slightly more generous to the ideology. A 2018 YouGov poll found that 34 per cent of women called themselves feminist, placing over 65 per cent of women in the Raab camp. 

It is not radical, misogynistic, or remotely out of place to reject the term feminism. It’s the default position. This will shock and terrify woke Twitter I’m sure, but can they really claim dismay? When you consider the path the ideology has taken in recent years, it’s no surprise that men and women alike have rejected the loaded term.

Modern feminism in places like the UK and US seems more interested in promoting sex strikes than it does with female genital mutilation or violence against women. Feminist crowds applauded David Schwimmer for reverting to the Victorian era by offering a female film critic a chaperone for a meeting in a hotel.

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