Jessa Crispin’s fiery new manifesto, Why I’m Not A Feminist, has arrived at a complicated time for women’s rights. On the one hand, feminism is everywhere. The word is emblazoned across overpriced t-shirts, heading up ad campaigns, and tumbling out of the mouth of every media-savvy mega-star and politician. On the other hand, Donald Trump is president. The self-proclaimed “pussy grabber” has risen to the top despite flagrantly pledging to roll back women’s rights and healthcare access. At a time when “feminism” is so prominent – when the word is being “reclaimed” by any (and all) public figures – why would this be happening? 

For Crispin, the movement’s broad accessibility has proven to be more of a hindrance than a help. The former Bookslut editor argues that feminism’s fourth wave – marked by its ubiquitousness and “empowering” individualism – has become hollow, diluted and distanced from its radical beginnings. In her new book, Why I’m Not A Feminist, she attempts to explain more. “Somewhere along the way toward female liberation, it was decided that the most effective method was for feminism to become universal”, she writes in the opening pages. “They forgot that for something to be universally accepted, it must become as banal, as non-threatening and ineffective as possible.”

Read an exclusive extract of Why I’m Not A Feminist below:

“In order to withstand the pressure of a culture constantly telling us that women are only meat, only sex, only property, we create this idea of our specialness. We as women are naturally more compassionate, more loving, more authentic than men. This idea shores us up against the constant degradation caused simply by living in this particular time and place.

Sometimes we as women are special in our compassion. For people to be able to survive on the margins, they often must be. They must form alliances, they must look out for one another. They must develop some characteristics and attributes because they have to create networks of solidarity and mutual care to withstand the experience of marginalisation. Those characteristics are developed by facing hardship and opposition. We also have to find ways of convincing our oppressors not to hurt us, not to kill us, to bother keeping us around at all. That can make us clever.

“In fact, the idea that women are naturally more empathetic and nurturing originates with men. They used it as an excuse to keep us at home, tending to the children. They used it as an excuse to dismiss us intellectually. Don’t try to be smart, sweetheart, it’s not your strong suit” – Jessa Crispin

But these attributes are not innate. In fact, the idea that women are naturally more empathetic and nurturing originates with men. They used it as an excuse to keep us at home, tending to the children. They used it as an excuse to dismiss us intellectually. Don’t try to be smart, sweetheart, it’s not your strong suit. And yet we adopted this belief because it suits us to believe it about ourselves. It makes us special. What should make us feel special instead is our method of survival. If we believe these skills are born into us we will lose them once they are no longer needed. We can still use the lie as a cover, as a way to avoid questioning or reckoning. “Oh, I’m a woman, so of course I’m going to be a better listener, more emotionally attuned, I am definitely not going to abandon these principles and work in my own self interest given the first opportunity, just like everyone else.”

Currently, I see this as women line up behind female politicians, their support thrown behind them almost solely because they share a gender. Despite a long history of supporting military intervention, I watch women talk about these politicians’ natural diplomacy and how they’ll keep us out of war. Despite a long history of gutting social services, I watch women talk about these politicians’ understanding and attention to poor women and children. Despite a long history of money grabbing and corruption, I watch women talk about these politicians’ sense of fairness and economic justice. If the genders were reversed, that support would be withdrawn. There would be no assumption that these politicians would act more ethically and compassionately than their male counterparts unless these women had convinced themselves that these qualities are inherent in all women.

We tell ourselves this story to withstand our culture, yes. But certain stories stop being helpful. They change from being tools to being weapons. The idea that women are naturally kinder is a tool that has morphed in just this way.”

Why I’m Not a Feminist is available now on Melville House