Thoughts on the Future of Feminism

Chloe (a self-described 22-year-old feminist) over at Feministing posted a really interesting and thought-provoking blog post today. I'd like to share a excerpt here, and hope you'll take a moment to read the post in its entirety:

We are grateful. We wouldn't be here - in college or online speaking our filthy free-thinking minds, or serving in the armed forces or choosing if and when we have kids, or enjoying almost any of the opportunities we enjoy today - if it weren't for the visionaries who came before us. We are grateful. Perhaps we don't say it enough, but we are.

But here's the thing about gratitude: It's a two-way street. If you want to be recognized and lauded and thanked for all the amazing work you did, how about a little gratitude in return? How about recognizing that young women are here, and we're feminist, and we're working our butts off and getting results? That means acknowledging that your pro-choice organizations run on the unpaid or barely-paid labor of interns and volunteers, many of whom are young women. It means not dismissing the internet as less profound than in-person activism, and recognizing that sites like Feministing are the consciousness raising groups of the 21st century. It means including the voices of young women - women under the age of 40 or even under the age of 30 - when you're running a panel called "Young Women, Feminism and the Future." It means giving credit for the work that young feminists are doing today, work that looks different to what you did in the 70s, 80s and 90s, that is broader and more intersectional, but no less valid or important.

Young feminists are grateful for the example set by the remarkable women who blazed the trails that we now walk. But we have our own work to do now, and we're doing it. And we deserve - no, we demand - a little credit.

What do you think about the blog post? Did it ring true for you, or do you disagree? We'd love to hear from you, so don't be shy.