Anti-Feminists on Par with Racists?

by Racialicious special correspondent Latoya Peterson

Statement:

“To say you’re not a feminist is virtually the same thing as saying you’re a racist.”

I read that and almost choked on my strawberry penny candy.

The fabulous bloggers over at Shameless picked up on this quote in Good Magazine’s interview with Christie Hefner. Hefner is chairman and CEO of Playboy Enterprises – daughter of Hugh – and oversees Playboy’s business ventures as well as supporting activism on various issues.

Shameless explains why they found the article interesting:

The “can porn be feminist?” question is not a new one, but the reason I bring up this article and Christie Hefner (who adamantly refers to herself as both a feminist and an activist) is because of a single (very controversial) quote in the article that rattled me more than a little bit, and that is relevant considering our recent discussion on what it means to call yourself a feminist:

“To say you’re not a feminist is virtually the same thing as saying you’re a racist.”

Woah. Really? Thoughts?

Provocative quote.

Can those similarities be drawn? Should those similarities be drawn?