Activism/Feminism Thoughts

So, for today's class we are to define our activist space, describe it, and answer the question: What makes it activism?

To begin, it's best to offer our own definition of activism because the future of feminism is in trying to make scholarship/activism connect. According to Feminist.com activism is "doing something" about a political, economical, environmental, or social cause. This type of advocacy I might add, should also be in a manner that is legitimately meaningful, poignant, thought-provoking, and awareness-raising. The true objective should be to evoke some sort of change as an activist for a given cause.

The etymology of activist is:

"one who advocates a doctrine of direct action," 1915; from active (q.v.). Activism in this sense is first attested 1920; earlier (1907) it was used in ref. to a philosophical theory (dictionary.com)

My conceptualization of the idea of activism is in alignment with the above definitions, yet I also find that activism is dirty and fraught with lifetimes of hard work and life-risking. Moreover, in this sense, a word that is often associated with activist is militant... which is appropriate for many reasons. The word activism is often used synonymously with protest or dissent as well, but activism can stem from any number of political orientations and take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing businesses, rallies, street marches, strikes, both work stoppages and hunger strikes, or even guerrilla tactics.

I am still riding the fence about whether or not my research can be deemed as activism. I'll have to continue processing this =)