I think the distinction Doug Ritter makes is very important:

The focus of Equipped To Survive™ is survival preparedness, preparing to get through a short-term emergency to return to civilization, either via rescue or by normalization of the situation as the emergency conditions cease ... Bottom line, on Equipped To Survive™ we focus on survival preparedness, not survivalism.
- from the What Do You Mean, "Not A 'Survivalist' Site?" article

Realistically, I think the boat has sailed on terms like survivalist and prepper; you can't really escape the negative baggage they have so, to me anyway, it makes sense to me to simply steer clear of them.