I'm not a feminist, but...

To the younger generation, or "millenials," the word feminist brings association of stuck-up, granola, hippie, sexist...b*tch. Katy Perry recently made a comment while accepting Billboard's Woman of the Year award, starting with "I'm not a feminist, but..."

An article recently explored the danger around constantly qualifying feminist ideas with "I'm not a feminist but..."

"I'm not a feminist, but I think men and women should be paid equally"

"I'm not a feminist, but women should have control over their own body""

"I'm not a feminist, but a woman should get to choose whether she wants to have an abortion"

This conversation which dodges answering what feminism really consists of creates a dangerous attitude which says that women must constantly avoid being pigeon-holed into a certain negative stereotype when talking about women's rights, and instead must act "cool/hot" in order to be taken seriously. 

Talking about problems such as sexual harassment, stereotypes, and violence against women gets harder when anger is taboo.

This article touches on these topics and includes a story from NPR about how "feminist" has turned into an undesirable, and what women do to avoid that while juggling feminist ideas.