Just why, bitch?

[Esquilax]

I think these moderate feminists have to accept the fact that some crazy people have stolen the label 'feminist' for themselves and to the common person it is associated more with radical feminism.

Here's the thing, though: I'm not sure that label is all down to the radical feminists. I freely grant that they are the extremely vocal minority, but one has to admit that it's also wonderfully convenient for those that oppose the feminist message- or just don't want to deal with it- to have an obviously crazy minority that they can pretend represent the entire group.

This is an extreme being played up by both sides of the issue, and merely abandoning the term feminist to the radicals isn't going to change that, because the association is going to follow with the premise, and not the word. It's the same way that "freethinker," and "secularist," and even "evolutionist," is synonymous with atheist; those terms describe somewhat similar things, and so they've been attached with atheism despite being different words. The only thing we'd gain from fleeing from the term is the image that there's something to flee from, and possibly the idea that we're being dishonest by dressing up our views as something else.

Second, if feminism is supposed to be about the equality of men and women, why call it feminism?

Because female equality- in all senses, not just the ones that are convenient for women- automatically redresses many of the unequal issues that males face, like the issues men face in custody and divorce cases, gender segregated drafts, and numerous others.