In that same year, nearly 19 million American women between the ages of 18 and 34 did not vote. This bothered Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, a thirty-something political consultant in Washington State. It bothered her enough that she decided to find out why. The result of her research is a new book from Seal Press -- "The F-Word: Feminism in Jeopardy: Women, Politics and the Future."

I caught up with Kristin at a coffee shop on Seattle's Eastside to talk about politics, power, and culture.

Susan: How did you get the idea for this particular book?

Kristin: I was assigned an article for Bust Magazine about the "Smack Down Your Vote" campaign that the World Wresting Federation was doing in 2002. As I started researching the issues it quickly became clear that there is often a disconnection between being "political" and being "electoral," which includes voting, running for office, and legislative issue advocacy. In fact, when I asked young women, "Are you political?" the answer was usually "Yes". But when I asked them "Do you vote?" the answer was often "No."

Susan: So they think of themselves as politically involved, even if they never vote?

Kristin: Yes, and coming from an electoral background myself it was really astonishing at first.

Susan: What's going on?

Kristin: The top reasons young women said they didn't vote were that they didn't think their vote counted; they didn't think candidates were talking about their issues; and they also weren't sure how to get information about candidates. Many young women also noted that seeing more women in politics would make a difference.

There's a circle of disengagement here. Politicians don't talk about issues that are important to young people because young people don't vote. Young people don't vote because politicians don't talk about their issues.

As one young state legislator said to me, "Somebody has to blink and it might as well be those of us in the younger generation."

Susan: I've always thought of politicians as really boring celebrities. Some people might say, "Well, look: if you really want me to vote, make this more interesting!"

Kristin: It's really on us as citizens to make it exciting. We all pay taxes. If you look at the kinds of decisions that are made by city, state and county elected officials, it's everything from the roads we drive on, to the quality of the air we breathe, to access to job training, to domestic violence response times.

Those decisions are made by elected officials and without our participation those decisions go on without us whether we like them or not.

Susan: So what happened in 2004? Did young women vote?

Kristin: The good news is that efforts to engage young women in 2004 paid off with increased voter participation. But, there is still work to be done. Even with the increased youth voter turnout in 2004, 53% of 18 to 24 year old women didn't bother to cast a ballot. By comparison the turnout for folks over 50 years old this presidential election was more than 60%. We still have a problem.

Susan: Do you think that changing our voting structure would encourage more political participation? Should we get rid of the Electoral College?

Kristin: I think we should consider changing our election system and it would be great to get rid of the Electoral College. We have a very archaic form of democracy. Most of the newer democracies have some form of proportional representation or some other way to deal with more than two parties.

Susan: A lot of young women are creating cultural change. Why do you think this generation values cultural change over political change?

Kristin: The impact of cultural pressures is so intense. Each person receives more than 3,000 advertisements per day in America, including things like logos and billboards. When you have that kind of cultural pressure, it makes sense to hit back in a cultural way. Cultural action is a very valid way to push back. I simply advocate adding in electoral politics as well. It's not either/or -- it's both/and.

Susan: You noted that there's a tremendous antipathy towards labels among the young women in your survey.

Kristin: Yes. 68% of the young women I surveyed said that they don't want to be boxed in by labels that define things like their sexuality, race, ethnicity, political party, etc. The word "feminist" actually chafed the most.

It's important to acknowledge the individuality of each person. But if we take absolute individuality too far, then we lose the ability to come together as a social movement. In our democracy, issues are addressed when you have a significant number of people putting pressure on the system together.

Susan: Do you think that we can reclaim the word feminist? Or do we need a new word with less baggage?

Kristin: I'd like to see the word taken back. I tell my kids that Feminism is fair play for boys and girls. That's hard to argue against.

Studies have shown that the word feminist is no longer connected to policy ideals and has become a caricature. I think it's still an important word and we have an opportunity to turn it around to empower. I'd hate to see the word changed. I'd rather have it used again and used well.

Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner is a freelance journalist, a political consultant, and the president of the Washington Environmental Alliance for Voter Education. She graduated from Evergreen State College in 1991 and worked for many years as the political director for the Washington Conservation Voters. She's married and has an 8-year old son and 5-year old daughter. The F-Word is her first book. More info available at her website: thef-word.org.