Am I a bad feminist? (Handmaid's Tale author Margaret Atwood)

Globe and Mail ^ | January 14, 2018 | Margaret Atwood

[EdnaMode]

It seems that I am a "Bad Feminist." I can add that to the other things I've been accused of since 1972, such as climbing to fame up a pyramid of decapitated men's heads (a leftie journal), of being a dominatrix bent on the subjugation of men (a rightie one, complete with an illustration of me in leather boots and a whip) and of being an awful person who can annihilate – with her magic White Witch powers – anyone critical of her at Toronto dinner tables. I'm so scary! And now, it seems, I am conducting a War on Women, like the misogynistic, rape-enabling Bad Feminist that I am.

What would a Good Feminist look like, in the eyes of my accusers?

My fundamental position is that women are human beings, with the full range of saintly and demonic behaviours this entails, including criminal ones. They're not angels, incapable of wrongdoing. If they were, we wouldn't need a legal system.

Nor do I believe that women are children, incapable of agency or of making moral decisions. If they were, we're back to the 19th century, and women should not own property, have credit cards, have access to higher education, control their own reproduction or vote. There are powerful groups in North America pushing this agenda, but they are not usually considered feminists.

[nickcarraway]

Atwood poem:

You fit into me

you fit into me
like a hook into an eye a fish hook an open eye

Are feminists supposed to write poems about knitting?

She also wrote short stories. The most anthologized was called Rape Fantasies from the 70's. It was pretty decent. Most literary stories don't have twist endings anymore.