You don't need to have a degree in gender studies to be a feminist, you don't need to be a woman to be a feminist and my contacts with non-women's movement feminists brings me in touch with a great bunch of inclusive people who are not anti-trans.  They might not 'get' the issues but that doesn't mean they are hostile. Many people active in the women's movement I've met are reasonable too.

And then we get a small number of hideously vocal and hugely intimidating extremists who have no grounding in reality.  They are in any situation, any group, any scenario.  If they are the ones you bump into first then it will taint your view, understandably.  But it is important to remember that most are not like that.

poemless:

a belief in human equality regardless of gender seems, I don't know, a fundamental pillar of feminism

I'd say so.


Ad astra per aspera