Feminism remains a pretty simple concept, despite repeated --
and enormously effective -- efforts to dress it up in greasepaint
and turn its proponents into gargoyles.  As Rebecca West wrote
sardonically in 1913, "I myself have never been able to find out
precisely what feminism is:  I only know that people call me a
feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me
from a doormat [or a prostitute]."
    -- Susan Faludi