History of Feminism

YoungDemCA

(5,714 posts) Fri Aug 1, 2014, 12:26 PM Aug 2014

WaPo: Is this what an anti-feminist movement looks like?

A Tumblr called Women Against Feminism has been gaining traction on social media and provoking a variety of responses. The campaign features women holding photos of themselves with text explaining why they don’t need feminism. Similar musings have popped up on Twitter and Facebook, where the Women Against Feminism page boasts more than 16,000 likes.

snip:

The Daily Beast zeroed in on the criticism in a post called “You Don’t Hate Feminism. You Just Don’t Understand It. Writer Emily Shire notes that “at it’s most core basic level, feminism is about equality between the sexes, not advancing one over the other.” Merriam-Webster certainly supports that definition, as does author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (as endorsed by Beyoncé).

Jessica Valenti, a prominent feminist writer and columnist for the Guardian, explored “the rise of the anti-feminist woman” in a column earlier this month:

"When men are against feminism, it’s frustrating, if ultimately predictable – groups with power have always been loathe to give it up. But when women come out against gender justice, it feels worse: no matter how fringe, the rise of the anti-feminist woman is not just baffling but a betrayal. Obviously “women” aren’t a monolith, and neither are the issues that they care about or believe in. But anti-feminist organizing is based on a deep hypocrisy and selfishness – an ideology built to assure conservative women that as long as they are doing just fine, other women will make do. And they’re putting up roadblocks to progress right in the middle of a renewed feminist awakening, with retrograde sexism that’s ultimately not too different than that of their male counterparts."

5 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

WaPo: Is this what an anti-feminist movement looks like? (Original Post) YoungDemCA Aug 2014 OP

DU Rec. Tuesday Afternoon Aug 2014 #1

This is nothing new. It's just Phyllis Schafly in a new apron. It is to be expected Squinch Aug 2014 #2

I have pondered this for many, many years. I saw the ERA fail back in the early 80s and I CTyankee Aug 2014 #3

Good grief! CrispyQ Aug 2014 #4

Yep, these people are simply advertising their idiocy. redqueen Aug 2014 #5

Tuesday Afternoon

(56,912 posts)

1. DU Rec.

Reply to YoungDemCA (Original post)

Fri Aug 1, 2014, 12:31 PM

Aug 2014

The emboldened sections alone really help my understand the dynamics of DU3.

Thank you for the article snip and the link.

Squinch

(52,250 posts)

2. This is nothing new. It's just Phyllis Schafly in a new apron. It is to be expected

Reply to YoungDemCA (Original post)

Fri Aug 1, 2014, 12:47 PM

Aug 2014

whenever feminism makes new inroads.

In those photos I see kids who probably think this stand will make them popular with boys. Give them a couple of years.

Which is not to say that anti-feminism is not dangerous. Look what Phyllis Schafly was able to do.

CTyankee

(64,725 posts)

3. I have pondered this for many, many years. I saw the ERA fail back in the early 80s and I

Reply to YoungDemCA (Original post)

Fri Aug 1, 2014, 01:02 PM

Aug 2014

could not believe it. But there were two major "reasons" that have been cited: fear of drafting our daughters and the idea that the 14th amendment was all that was needed to take care of sexist laws and institutions (here I will remind folks that the 14th amendment was tried in the effort to secure women's right to vote, but the 19th amendment was needed).

I became more active in the pro-choice movement and worked/marched right along other self proclaimed feminists. We were in a bubble. We thought all we needed to do is get the word out to other women and they'd immediately join our ranks.

Then I began hearing "I'm all for women's rights but..." statements and the complaints that feminists were too angry (and possibly too scary) from women who I assumed were too dependent on their husbands to make any "trouble." Boy, that was depressing...

But I have now put this in perspective: things ARE much better for women in this country today. And it was because of feminists. I feel positive for my granddaughters prospects because so many more women are aware of and comfortable with feminism, at least compared with what some women were feeling back 30 years ago.

We're not done, of course. Vigilance is still needed. Nobody can be smug. But we have a LOT more allies on our side.

CrispyQ

(37,882 posts)

4. Good grief!

Reply to YoungDemCA (Original post)

Fri Aug 1, 2014, 02:31 PM

Aug 2014

The very first one is "I don't need feminism because my boyfriend treats me right." Not sure I can read the rest.

on edit: The FB page is even worse.

redqueen

(115,164 posts)

5. Yep, these people are simply advertising their idiocy.

Reply to CrispyQ (Reply #4)

Fri Aug 1, 2014, 06:02 PM

Aug 2014

And I wonder how many of those facebook page's likes are from boys and men.

Reply to this discussion