Carla Buzasi’s definition of feminism is quite clear: “ it’s about equal rights for men and women. It’s that simple”. This no-nonsense formula is, however, subject to her desire for debate. She rejects the idea that the movement needs a single voice, saying “not every feminist has to agree with every other feminist: let’s have a debate, let’s have a conversation and see where we wind up at the end of that.” This focus on discussion made her the ideal host for the “What Does Feminism Mean Today?” collaboration between The Cambridge Union and The Huffington Post. The evening saw a panel debating with the audience what modern feminism is and if we still need it. For those who weren’t there, the answer was a resounding YES, or in the words of Clare Perry MP “hell yes”. 

The reasons why we need feminism are too legion to mention and picking a few to list is sure to leave many wildly important ones unmentioned. But in the face of rape culture, international discrimination against women and Page 3, why are people so scared to call themselves feminists? Buzasi blames confusion as to what the term means: “I think they genuinely believe that people will think that they hate men, they want to burn their bra and they want women to take over the world”.

What Buzasi clearly wants is a mass movement. This mainstream strand in her thinking becomes clear when she stresses that “we can have a joke and we can have a good time and we don’t need to make it really, really serious but there is a line that shouldn’t be crossed when it comes to attitudes towards women”. Her attitude is reminiscent of Caitlin Moran’s insistence that feminism is “everyone just being polite to each other”. Buzasi is certain that populist feminism is a force to be reckoned with, name checking Caitlin Moran and Lena Dunham as great women saying great things and rejecting the claim that populism dumbs down theory. She argues that “it becomes more acceptable to a larger swathe of society if you boil it down into its simplest terms”. She encourages engagement in public spaces and was enthusiastic about CUSU’s “I Need Feminism Because…” campaign, saying “I think we’ve got to be proud to talk about these topics, we’ve got to put ourselves out there”.

Buzasi’s background is in women’s magazines and perhaps controversially, she doesn’t buy into the idea that they damage women. “I think that most women are intelligent enough now to realise that the pictures they see in magazines are not totally realistic”.  She was, however, positive about the ‘Dove Campaign for Real Beauty’, saying “those brands are the ones that women connect with now because they have done their market research and they have crated campaigns and thought about what women want rather than take a male view of what women want and talked about that and I’d be much more likely to buy those products”

Campaigns such as ‘Real Beauty’ are no doubt positive, but they essentially reinforce that women should be beautiful. Is it not just making the goal posts slightly wider? Buzasi suggests that we need to think more carefully about why we praise women:  “I think we need to start celebrating intelligence, celebrating skills and that doesn’t need to be academic intelligence, it could be whether you’re a great sportswoman… It’s really important that we hold up those kinds of women as examples to a young generation, it’s not just about the really beautiful ones.”

Sexism is obviously not an exclusively British problem; indeed Buzasi is emphatic that it needs to be a “global issue”. She sees the world at large taking positive steps, referencing in particular the recent anti-domestic abuse campaign in Saudi Arabia as a “massive step forward”. She acknowledges that there is work to be done in those societies and makes clear the weight of responsibility she feels as a journalist to spread awareness, but also the responsibility of individuals and governments to do what they can. 

Whether Buzasi’s version of feminism is tenacious enough to stand up to the challenges of a society in which women aren’t allowed to drive is doubtful. Nevertheless, slick, cool and clear as it is, it’s certainly attractive to young British women.