Feminism is a profoundly moralistic movement.
It is a system of ideas that not only states or argues for certain items of knowledge, or facts, but gives guidelines as to how to live.
Although this may seem strange in our post-modern world where no one is supposed to tell us how we 'ought' to live, feminism is strongly directive as to what we ought to do. Feminism is a way of life, a way of making decisions, something that will influence life choices and affect the basic values on which individual lives and society is run. In other words, it is a highly moral ideology.
Its claims are also very high - about 'justice' and 'rights' and other such lofty concepts. It takes the high moral ground, battling 'oppression' and 'subjugation'. But a brief look at its moral statements demonstrates that the 'right' way to live can be very confusing indeed.
The different concepts of purity today
Jonathan Haidt is a moral psychologist who has been extremely helpful in explaining why people think about right and wrong …