Thelma & Louise with respect to femenism
I don't believe that the film or characters Thelma & Louise were a betrayal to feminism, nor was their journey as a whole. These women don't need to be perfect to empower women as a group, and they shouldn't need to do anything so very special to do good for feminism in general. Society must acknowledge gender equality for feminism to make a powerful statement, and what these women did are things that any woman or man could do. Though they were running from problems, getting into trouble, or even coming close to getting assaulted, these are things that can happen to ANY person, and have happened to both men and women through history - both in cinematic history and in reality.
Women and men aren't the same, they should simply be treated with equality. In this film, the women are treated by authorities as typical men would be treated, and as typical women should be treated doing the same thing. They experienced some things that typical men might not experience, such as when someone was trying to rape Thelma. Usually this won't happen to a guy, but it has before. The man obviously wasn't respectful of any sort of equality - and that injustice happens very often - Thelma and Louise, nor the makers of the film are being anti-feminist, they are being real. Thelma and Louise put themselves on par with actions usually thought of by men, that women historically (and factually) haven't been as prone to do. After getting more experience with a violent life on the road, the two women become much more comfortable with their actions.
I don't believe this film betrayed feminism in the least. Though they made some stupid decisions and were mistreated by others, those are things that happen frequently in life, for men or women. Feminism doesn't strive for perfection among women, it strives for equality - something that Thelma & Louise displayed through the film.