I'm not a feminist, but..." Part 2

Considering the statement of the North Carolina essay writer (see entry of March 10, 2004): Such thinking is rendered even more peculiar when comparisons are made:

Do you ever hear an African American person say "I'm not for civil rights, but I believe in equal rights for African Americans " (can you even imagine an African American person thinking he had to say he believed in civil rights?!)?

Or a gay person saying "I'm not for gay rights, but I believe in equal rights for gay people?" (Well, we do have to wonder about those Log Cabin Republicans, don't we?)

It is only women who think they have to explain that they are in favor of ending discrimination against their own group, and who then have to further explain that they're not, you know, really serious about it. As for women who say they are not feminists, what do they possibly think they will gain as people by not favoring equal social, economic and political rights? What are they doing to their daughters, not to mention their sons? I doubt that there has ever before been such a large group of deeply oppressed people who either failed to acknowledge their oppression, or decided to embrace it.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning said it best: "If a woman ignores these wrongs, then may women as a sex continue to suffer them; there is no help for any of us--let us be dumb and die."