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To the OP, I read this as you have disdain for feminists (I doubt women are identifying themselves to you as such)... and find women generally to be different from feminists.
What is your definition of a feminist?
What is your definition of a non-feminist?
To the OP, I read this as you have disdain for feminists (I doubt women are identifying themselves to you as such)... and find women generally to be different from feminists.
What is your definition of a feminist?
What is your definition of a non-feminist?
No.
First of all, I already mentioned that I have a good image of feminists, because the people I have encountered using the term were mostly very open-minded and pleasant people (in contrast to some of the experiences others are mentioning here). But the point of the post wasn't about me nor any ulterior motive but to see social attitudes/experiences towards this one label/identity.
The point of the poll was to see what other peoples' associations with the word and people who use it, are -- positive or negative. The good or bad stereotypes I've listed aren't my judgements that I thought of myself but what I gathered from other people's labeling.
I wanted to know social attitudes on the street (or in this case, an online forum), rather than a formal definition setting (ie. this poll is more like asking someone "on the street" do you find feminist as a positive or negative label) precisely because I came across inconsistent usage of the term (some people using it to describe egalitarian-thinking people, others to describe misandrists, others to describe say, hip college students etc.).
The women aren't identifying as feminist "to me", as in going up to me and saying "pleased to meet you. I'm Sally and I'm a feminist". -- I'm literally talking about those I met that really do identify with the word (eg. someone as a college student that very strongly identifie(d) with the feminist label/idea).
I'm actually surprised that feminism has a mostly negative image on this forum -- I thought it would be more evenly split.
I actually will identify as a feminist, if asked, because I want to "take the word back" so to speak. The word has really negative connotations, especially on the internet, which I don't think it deserves. Frankly, I don't believe what I think is very strident: that male should not be the default setting of society, and gender equality opens up the options for both men and women.
I am proud of being a feminist. It's part of my identity. Whilst I realise it has negative connotations I don't view it as such.
When I was a young girl we had very limited choices. At school girls did cooking and sewing, they weren't allowed to woodwork or metalwork like the boys. Yes, I am old enough to have lived through this discrimination. Feminism allowed girls to have the choices we have today and I will not apologise for my beliefs.
The younger generation has had equality thanks to the women of the past. When things become normal we take them for granted.
I actually will identify as a feminist, if asked, because I want to "take the word back" so to speak. The word has really negative connotations, especially on the internet, which I don't think it deserves. Frankly, I don't believe what I think is very strident: that male should not be the default setting of society, and gender equality opens up the options for both men and women.
When did feminism start becoming associated with negative connotations (is this only online or in the 2000s?).
Is it just a limited group or social circle where this backlash spread?
I still remember "This is what a feminist looks like" T-shirts as worn as a message, and in the mid-2000s, I still knew college student friends who were not afraid to put feminist slogans on pins on their backpacks, even though I associate it with earlier times in the 80s and 90s (I'm not old enough to have experienced the time when the Reclaim/Take Back the Night protests occurred, which is probably the late 70s, but I was still aware of their presence growing up).
I find some anti-male sentiment within the feminist community but it's generally from just mean old lesbian women. I work with quite a few lesbians who really like men, so it isn't really the lesbian community in itself who are anti-male. The other group who can be vehemently anti-male is the ivory leaguers sitting in their stupid academic towers writing crapola.
All in all however most feminists I know like men. As other posters have stated, it is about equality, not about women being better or more important then men.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Djuna
I find some anti-male sentiment within the feminist community but it's generally from just mean old lesbian women. I work with quite a few lesbians who really like men, so it isn't really the lesbian community in itself who are anti-male. The other group who can be vehemently anti-male is the ivory leaguers sitting in their stupid academic towers writing crapola.
All in all however most feminists I know like men. As other posters have stated, it is about equality, not about women being better or more important then men.
I agree the real 'man-haters' are kind of an exaggerated simplification of the more radical feminists, just as say Christians are sometimes stereotyped as being crazy Ned Flanders types or those who speak in tongues and constantly warn people that the 'end is nigh.'
Most genuine feminists - and I am sure you mostly are - do not have anything against individual men. There IS a trend in the mainstream academia to put a lot of blame on male patriachy, but is it the same as hating them? Also the tendency to attribute a lot of things to women being oppressed. Fortunately more intelligent feminists realise that women as well as men are responsible for this, and are about empowering women, rather than constantly playing the victim.
i respect feminism in a sort of academic sense, as it relates to the treatment of women in third world or muslim countries. i take that seriously, rare as it is.
the only feminists i encounter personally are in the united states, where women are favored (slightly) by law. So in that light, I see female feminists as just self-centered, or having lost touch with reality. I usually think something like, "Wow, this person really does believe their own bullsh*t..."
I see male feminists as disgraceful.. like a sort of weenie sycophant who is either (a) Doing this in a futile effort to get laid, or (b) Psychologically damaged in some way.
This mostly negative image, 'bitter bit*h,' and 'femnazi' type terms -- all have negative connotations and are used mostly by men because they feel their ego or status or whatever is being threatened...I notice how one of the first things they always do is degrade you with these types of labels if they feel threatened.
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