I'm thankful for the work that feminists like Gloria Steinem have done. I am a feminist, but the geography for women today is vastly different than it was in the '60s.

Militant feminists are pro-choice because it's their ultimate avenue of power over men. And believe me, to them it is a question of power. It is their attempt to impose their will on the rest of society, particularly on men.

Because, in fact, women, feminists, do read my poetry, and they read it often with the power of their political interpretation. I don't care; that's what poetry is supposed to do.

Take motherhood: nobody ever thought of putting it on a moral pedestal until some brash feminists pointed out, about a century ago, that the pay is lousy and the career ladder nonexistent.

Reproductive rights are about body and medical autonomy: our collective and deeply personal right to choose what we want to do to/with our bodies. Trans people and feminists should be building natural alliances here.

Do feminists have a sense of humor? Yes.

It's easier to sit there and say you don't like feminists because they don't have a sense of humor.

It's an amusing idea to some, this feminism thing - this audacious notion that women should be able to move through the world as freely, and enjoy the same inalienable rights and bodily autonomy, as men. At least, that's the impression given when feminism and feminists are all too often the targets of lazy humor.

To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets.

The failure of academic feminists to recognize difference as a crucial strength is a failure to reach beyond the first patriarchal lesson. In our world, divide and conquer must become define and empower.

I think we're at a point in history where, generally, people consider themselves to be feminists in the sense that we believe in the equality of the sexes.

We always had a lot of admiration for feminists who were out there trying to change things for the better for women, who were trying to find equality in the workplace and at home.

Earlier feminists were almost universally pro-choice and have dominated political debate until now. Having access to abortion was viewed as the only way women could have full equality with men, who, until recently, couldn't get pregnant.

I think being a feminist is to each her own. It's kind of like asking someone what being a woman means to them. We should all be feminists. We should all want equality.

Some feminists have this party-line attitude, and they can be very extremist. The most enlightened characters in my film are women.

I'm thankful for the work that feminists like Gloria Steinem have done. I am a feminist but the geography for women today is vastly different than it was in the '60s.

Because religion has such a compelling hold on the deep psyches of so many people feminists cannot afford to leave it in the hands of the fathers.

What the feminists want of me is something they haven't examined because it comes from religion. They want me to bear witness.

Militant feminists are pro-choice because it's their ultimate avenue of power over men. And believe me to them it is a question of power. It is their attempt to impose their will on the rest of society particularly on men.

Because in fact women feminists do read my poetry and they read it often with the power of their political interpretation. I don't care that's what poetry is supposed to do.

Take motherhood: nobody ever thought of putting it on a moral pedestal until some brash feminists pointed out about a century ago that the pay is lousy and the career ladder nonexistent.

Do feminists have a sense of humor? Yes.

It's easier to sit there and say you don't like feminists because they don't have a sense of humor.

Whatever feminists may say about their only advocating choices everyone knows the truth: Feminism regards work outside the home as more elevating honorable and personally productive than full-time mothering and making a home.