Feminism

So, observation: two of my female blogging buddies have gone out of their way in their blogs to point out that they ARE NOT feminists. On the same note, I've noticed more and more women regularly publicly proclaiming their outright dislike for feminists.

Now, I can understand if one personally doesn't identify with the feminist movement or that one wouldn't self describe as a feminist. However, it seems as though there's some dirty perception of feminists.

Now, I AM a feminist. I try not to impose my feminism on others (sometimes).

However, it frustrates me at the notion that there's something dirty about being a feminist - as if I protest showering and let all forms of hair grow out of control (I don't). Or, that maybe I am a feminist by default as a defense mechanism because no man would want me (I don't perceive myself this way). Or, that I'm a man-hater (women annoy me equally as much).

I think what annoys me is that there is some notion that women shouldn't be feminists because men don't like feminists. This is probably true for a select group of men. For me, if a man doesn't like girls who are feminists, it's kind of like if he doesn't like girls with brown hair - he's clearly then the wrong guy for me.

So I'll end this with an open-ended question: what is the reason for distancing oneself from feminism?