Over the years, I have found many parallels between feminism and Zionism. Both movements are daughters of the Enlightenment. Through emancipation, empowerment and self-determination, both movements have revolutionized the lives of two of the world’s longest and most oppressed peoples. Both have made remarkable and previously unimaginable strides in the 20th century, but remain unfinished into the 21st. And both have become “stained” words. Both feminism and Zionism have been so transformative in upending long established power structures and prejudices that they could not but have faced a virulent backlash. Nowhere has the backlash been more apparent than the words that denote these two revolutions. These words have become so “stained” that even those who support their underlying political purpose – whether it be equal rights and opportunities for women and men or political self-determination for the Jewish people in their ancient homeland – feel at times uncomfortable to publicly identify as a feminists or Zionists.