After interviewing several people around LSE campus for our latest #askLSE, I deemed it important to define precisely what feminism is. At its most basic, feminism is “the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes” (Oxford dictionary). Today, it has come to encompass a wide array of movements promoting women’s rights. Nonetheless, the definition remains controversial.

So what is feminism today? How is it understood? From the video, each interviewee seemed to have their own definition. I am not quite sure myself.

Going back to the roots, it appears feminism emerged in the 19^th century, promoted by women such as Simone Veil, most famous for enabling the legalisation of abortion in France (1974). The early activists fought for women to be respected, for women to have options, opportunities, to choose a life for themselves, to be set free from the patriarchal figure of the father or the husband ruling over women’s lives. To be able to live their own life. That fight is one I wish to be a part of, especially because these conditions have yet to be attained for women around the world.

However, to my mind, feminism is not about having women and men be considered in the same way, or for both genders to be perceived as one and the same. That is essentially unattainable, because women ARE different from men. Another French feminist, also called Simone (de Beauvoir), set the pace for future feminist movements through her most famous essay, Le Deuxième Sexe (1949), which argues that gender is a social construct. Was I born a woman? Did I become a woman through a socialising process? To be honest, I have no answer to provide, nor have I ever been concerned with that issue. Nonetheless, I highly doubt that being given pink clothes or Barbies has conditioned me, or any girl, to believe their destiny was to become the perfect housewife with many many children. And I still find myself lucky to be a woman, with all that it entails, even the disadvantages.

For instance, I understand Femen’s message, showing their breasts all around, but what I cannot really grasp is why breasts are so important to begin with? No one cares about breasts. Or, at least, no one should care. Feminist made breasts a feminist issue. If Femens want to use it as a weapon, fine. But if Emma Watson wants to pose rather naked, why should feminists criticise her? Quite paradoxical, this breast issue. I seem to understand even less what being a feminist means. I guess feminists sometimes pick the wrong fight, and create societal debates around issues that do not really matter to women altogether. Arguing against the objectification of women, and simultaneously claiming the right of women to dispose freely of their body is incompatible. Some women will always confuse the two. Some women will contribute to the objectification of our gender themselves, simply by posting pictures of themselves, of their bodies, more as objects than people. Rather than accusing men of seeing women in that way, maybe the fight should rather address the devastating influence of social networks (and particularly Instagram) on young girls, which makes them believe that being a woman is all about the image, the body.

I do not wish to diminish the importance of feminism. Women’s conditions in some countries are disastrous. Within western societies, there are numerous feminist issues still worth fighting for. This year, the #MeToo movement has made a lot of noise, finally raising the often overlooked debate about sexual harassment. Salaries remain unequal, women are still secluded from certain jobs, especially the ruling ones (politics, CEOs) … But, increasingly, women are getting there, and to name them would betray them, because they did not necessarily reach their positions due to positive discrimination, or because they behave like men, or because they are extraordinary women. They got there because they decided to achieve their goals, regardless of their gender.

Of course, as a whole, such progress was largely enabled by feminist activism. But the purpose of feminism, to my mind, is to allow women not to be conscious that they are women in their everyday lives. In fact, feminism should allow women to achieve any aim they wish for, but not brag about their success. If, every time that a woman reaches a position usually occupied by men, most are astonished because she is a woman, and talk about her success, then the difference is only reinforced. Even worse, she may receive more attention than men doing the same thing because she is a woman, and thus the exception. Sometimes, putting people, or yourself, into a category, only widens the gaps that we all know exist, and not just between genders. Truth is, the less you talk about differences, the less you see them. That may actually be the best way to be a feminist.

Anyway, this debate should not have arisen at all. We may suffer from being women, but us girls all know we’re the better gender.