Technically, I am a feminist and always have been. Tolerance,
   equality, such things are embedded in me at a young age, through
   tolerant Mom and grandmother, tolerant church, Boy Scouts,
   alternative high school, hippie college. I know my roots and
   what I took from them fit quite well into feminism.

   However, it's 2015 and people _do_ get hung up on words.
   Feminism may mean something in the insulated world of Academia
   but once its hollowed halls are left behind, the majority of the
   world just sees the "fe-".

   It has a public relations issue that gets worse and worse.
   Having a special definition that is not shared by the majority
   of the population can lead to a lot of unnecessary arguments and
   battles.

   Look at the use of Theory in Science. Yes, it has a long
   tradition. Easily fixed. In English alone, look at what
   conceptualizations the word "theory" brings to mind:

   code, doctrine, argument, concept, thesis, system, assumption,
   suspicion, proposal, scheme, approach, method, premise,
   philosophy, idea, plan, rationale, understanding, provision,
   ideology, position, speculation, impression, outlook, shot,
   hunch, foundation, supposition, surmise, presumption, guess,
   basis, theorem, postulate, conditions, conjecture, dogma, base,
   stab, presentiment, guesswork, feeling, grounds, suppose,
   systemization, codification, supposal, formularization,

   Which is it? If someone doesn't like it, it's Guesswork. If
   someone does like it, it's Rationale. I understand the
   Scientific use of the word; that's not the problem. The problem
   is the reuse of words when one is trying to be specific leads to
   unnecessary, unrelated issues in society. I found my answer:
   [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_theories
   I am not a feminist. I am a conflict theorist. I can work with
   that. *IF* there's a discussion of feminism, really, one should
   be more specific anyhow. It's no a single 'thing'. But Conflict
   theory bundles them all up together, along with Queer Theory,
   Men's Rights, etc.

References

   Visible links
   1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_theories