In the age of celebrity feminism and performative male feminists, the idea that feminism is about “equality for all genders” has become increasingly fashionable. And yet, to me, nothing says misogyny like defining feminism as equality for all—as if focusing a movement, or policy, or activism on women alone is taboo. Or too risky. The knee-jerk, “all lives matter” refusal to center women in this latest iteration of feminism is, I believe, a significant cause of the stalled gender revolution. We cannot address or end the systemic oppression of women if we refuse to center women in that fight. And that means reconsidering what we mean when we talk about equality and power.

Feminism as a politics is a movement among people, but as an ethics it begins as a movement within the self. I think this is where we have to begin: within the self. Social pressure and conformity are not qualities of independent thinking but dangerous omens of fascism and cultural decline. Instead of taking the definition of feminism as truth, we need to question what it is and what feminism means in this new century. We need to question the meaning of empowerment, and seek power rather than work to corrode it in others. We need to question equality, and whether we shouldn’t replace this desired ideal with that of freedom. We need to question the impulse to decenter women. We need to imagine what feminism looks like in action, in policy, and in society. And, then, we need to develop the strategies to achieve those ends.

Because the future of women’s existence depends on it.