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{{short description|Pejorative term for feminists}}
'''Feminazi''' (also spelled '''femi-Nazi''' or '''femme-nazi''') is a ], ] term used predominantly in the ] and ] by political ]s to characterize and belittle ]s who are perceived to be intolerant of conservative views.<ref></ref><ref>http://mediamatters.org/items/200409170006 Media Matters]</ref><ref name="TheWayp193">Rush H. Limbaugh, ''The Way Things Ought to Be'', Pocket Books, 1992
{{italic title}}
:''“I prefer to call the most obnoxious feminists what they really are: feminazis. Tom Hazlett, a good friend who is an esteemed and highly regarded professor of economics at the University of California at Davis, coined the term to describe any female who is intolerant of any point of view that challenges militant feminism. I often use it to describe women who are obsessed with perpetuating a modern-day holocaust: abortion. There are 1.5 million abortions a year...”''</ref> The word itself is a ] of the nouns '']'' and '']''. The term does not relate to the ''National Socialist Women's Organization'' or any other organization of women who served ].
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{distinguish|Nazi feminism}}
'''''Feminazi''''' (also spelled '''''femi-nazi''''' and '''''Femi-Nazi'''''{{r|Horan 2019}}) is a ] term for ]s that was popularized by ] American radio talk show host ].


==Origins and usage==
==Origin==
''Feminazi'' is a ] of the nouns '']'' and '']''.{{r|Horan 2019|Merriam-Webster}} According to ''The Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang'', it refers (pejoratively) to "a committed feminist or a strong-willed woman".{{r|Barrett 2006}} The earliest attested use, according to the ''],'' is a 1989 article in the '']'' about an ] that used the slogan "Feminazis Go Home".{{r|Horan 2019}} The term was later popularized by American conservative radio talk show host ] in the early 1990s.{{r|Horan 2019|Lacy 2010|Moi 2006|Kimmel 2013}} Limbaugh credited the coining of the term to university professor ].{{r|Moi 2006|Limbaugh 1992}}
The term was popularized by conservative ] host ], who credited his friend ], a professor of law and economics at George Mason University, with coining the term.<ref name="TheWayp193"/> Limbaugh originally claimed that the word “feminazi” not only referred to an extreme feminist but a woman whose goal was that there should be as many abortions as possible, saying at one point that there were fewer than twenty-five true feminazis in the U.S.<ref name="TheWayp296">Rush H. Limbaugh, ''The Way Things Ought to Be'', Pocket Books, 1992
:''“Feminazi: Widely misunderstood by most to simply mean ‘feminist’. Not so, boobala . A Feminazi is a feminist to whom the most important thing in life is ensuring that as many abortions as possible occur. There are fewer than twenty-five known Feminazis in the United States…”''</ref>


Limbaugh, who was vocally critical of the ],{{r|Jamieson 2008}} stated that the term ''feminazi'' refers to "]" whose goal is "to see that there are as many abortions as possible",{{r|Barrett 2006|Moi 2006}} a small group of "militants"{{r|Jamieson 2008}} whom he characterized as having a "quest for power" and a "belief that men aren't necessary".{{r|Moi 2006}} Limbaugh distinguished these women from "well-intentioned but misguided people who call themselves 'feminists{{' "}}.{{r|Jamieson 2008}} However, the term came to be widely used for feminism as a whole.{{r|Levit 1998}} According to '']'', Limbaugh used the term "to marginalize any feminist as a hardline, uncompromising manhater".{{r|Dalzell 2015}} ''The New York Times'' has described it as "one of favorite epithets for supporters of women's rights".{{r|Seelye 1994}}
==Context==
The term feminazi has developed various ]. In colloquial usage, “Feminazi” has even been used as a derogatory way to refer to a ], regardless of whether or not the lesbian identifies herself as a feminist. <ref>http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3693/is_199906/ai_n8832106/pg_2</ref><ref>http://www.gabnet.com/lit/deich3e.htm</ref>


The term ''feminazi'' is used to characterize feminist perspectives as extreme in order to discredit feminist arguments{{r|Rodriguez-Darias 2018}} and to stigmatize women's views or behavior as "radical", "extreme", and "tyrannical".{{r|Horan 2019}} It has been used in mainstream American discourse to erroneously portray women as hyper-vigilant to perceived ].{{r|Brake 2007}} Literary critic ] writes that the term reflects commonplace ideas that feminists "hate men", are "dogmatic, inflexible, and intolerant", and constitute "an extremist, power-hungry minority".{{r|Moi 2006}} In his book '']'', the sociologist Michael Kimmel says the term is used to attack feminist campaigns for ] and safety from ] and ] by associating them with ].{{r|Kimmel 2013}}
Among some extreme pro-life conservatives, the term equates feminist advocacy for ] and ] legislation with promoting a ].


The term is used as an insult across ] and ]. "Feminazis" are often described as dangerous, strident, man-hating, prudish, humorless, and overly sensitive.{{r|Horan 2019}} Linguist ] writes that there is a marked increase in the use of the term in mainstream media whenever a female public figure makes headlines.{{r|Horan 2019}} Usage in the United Kingdom peaked in 2015 along with reporting on barrister Charlotte Proudman, who had criticized a male colleague for commenting on her appearance online.{{r|Horan 2019}} In Australia, the term gained wider use following the 1995 publication of the book '']'', and has been used in popular media to characterize feminists as threatening, "vindictive", and "puritanical".{{r|Schaffer 1998}}
Among some ] and ] groups, the term is used to refer to feminists they believe villify men. These men's groups ague that radical feminism establishes a two-class society in which a privileged group (women) target and discriminate against another group (men). <ref>http://www.fathersforlife.org/culture/ideology.htm</ref> Radical feminist or feminazi agendas which blame all social ills on men or 'patriarchy' can be likened to NAZI propaganda that blamed all social ills on jews or judaism.


==Reactions==
Father's rights advocates have complained for decades about the fundamental injustice of the family courts and laws such as ] which discriminate against men much like ] discriminated against blacks and ] ] discriminated against Jews. Men's rights advocates such as and analyze similarities between feminism and nazism as key to explaining discrimination of men in the family court, and the destruction of the traditional family.
The meaning and appropriateness of the term ''feminazi'' have frequently been discussed in the media. Horan attributes use of ''feminazi'' as an insult to "a wider phenomenon of gendered criticism, bullying and trolling aimed women in the public eye".{{r|Horan 2019}} According to ], deputy editor of the '']'', "the idea of conflating a liberation movement with Nazism is just deeply ignorant. It’s self-undermining, because it’s so over the top."{{r|Williams 2015}} ], the founder of the ], has said that "It’s a desperate attempt to demonise us, and it’s frustrating, because if it wasn’t such an offensive word, you could actually start to embrace it and own it".{{r|Williams 2015}}


Activist ] writes, "I've never met anyone who fits that description , though lavishes it on me among many others".{{r|Steinem 1995}}
==Response==
Steinem has suggested a boycott of Limbaugh for his use of the term, stating, "] against the strong feminist movement in Germany, padlocked the family planning clinics, and declared abortion a crime against the state{{emdash}}all views that more closely resemble Rush Limbaugh's".{{r|Feminist.com 1996|Kaufman 2011}}
The term has garnered much criticism over the years. Some<ref name="steinem"> (second question down)</ref><ref></ref> consider conservatives’ use of the term “feminazi” to refer to feminists ] because German feminists and other political dissenters were among the victims of ] ] and Nazi work camps.<ref></ref> ] said in an interview, “Hitler came to power against the strong feminist movement in Germany, padlocked the family planning clinics, and declared abortion a crime against the state--all views that more closely resemble Rush Limbaugh’s.”<ref name="steinem"/> Many prominent German feminists like ], ] and ] were forced to flee Nazi Germany. In fact, Nazi philosophy is documented as being in clear opposition to ].<ref>]</ref>


Moi writes that Limbaugh's words prompted a shift in the public perception of feminism across the American political spectrum starting in the mid-1990s; Americans came to see feminists as dogmatic and power-hungry women who hate men and who are incapable of challenging their own assumptions; though the term ''feminazi'' may have been created to describe a small group of particular feminists, it calcified into a stereotype of all feminists or all women. Moi writes that feminism became "the F-word," a label that women hesitated to claim for themselves lest they be seen as "feminazis", even among those who agreed with the goals of feminism.{{r|Moi 2006}}
] have argued the term is a way to dismiss all feminism and any group run by or for women as being extreme or man-hating. (An example of this can be seen when ] referred to the National Center for Women and Policing as feminazis - ''Rush Limbaugh Show (broadcast 22 June 2005)''.) As a way to co-opt or de-fuse these derogatory connotations, some feminists have employed the term in a satirical way. posts ironical photos and humorous writing on a website as a way to undermine the stereotype.


== See also ==
Many cultural theorists believe the term feminazi is one way in which ]s attempt to minimize and marginalize the work of ] (] initiatives, ] and ] law, ]s , promotion of ], and legislation that helps protect women from violence).<ref>http://mediamatters.org/items/200508160001?offset=20&show=1</ref> Young feminists have observed that social conservatives, like Rush Limbaugh and men's rights groups, frequently use the term feminazi to ] the entire feminist movement, particularly among the generation of people who did not experience the “].”<ref>http://www.gurl.com/findout/label/pages/0,,694923,00.html</ref>
* {{anl|Antifeminism}}
* {{anl|Nasty woman}}
* {{anl|Reductio ad Hitlerum|''Reductio ad Hitlerum''}}
* {{anl|Snowflake (slang)}}
* {{anl|Social justice warrior}}
* {{anl|Straw feminism}}


== References ==
] (who should not be confused with ]s with whom they are often in opposition) have proposed their own term, “gender feminist”, to replace the term “feminazi”.<ref>http://www.ifeminists.net/introduction/editorials/2001/1218.html</ref>


{{reflist|30em|refs=
==Feminazi in popular culture==
* A similar term ''Femnazi'' was coined earlier as the name of the ] female ] of the fictional planet, Femnaz, in a ] story from a ] issue of '']'' written by ] co-creator ].


<ref name="Barrett 2006">{{cite book |editor-last=Barrett |editor-first=Grant |title=The Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang |date=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-530447-3 |page=105 |url=https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary0000unse_d4d1/page/105/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access=registration}}</ref>
* In an April ] episode of '']'', ] used the word ''femistapo'' in his “The Word” segment. ''Femistapo'' is a portmanteau word combining ] and ]. It is a parody of the word ''feminazi''.


<ref name="Brake 2007">{{Cite journal |last=Brake |first=Deborah L. |date=2007 |title=Perceiving Subtle Sexism: Mapping the Social-Psychological Forces and Legal Narratives that Obscure Gender Bias |journal=Columbia Journal of Gender and Law |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=72, 73 n. 24 |oclc=494260125 |quote=The dominant story in mainstream culture is that women and minorities are hyper-vigilant in perceiving bias, to the point of mistakenly perceiving sexism and racism when it does not really exist. Mainstream culture is replete with derogatory references to 'feminazi' women who blame everything on gender he widespread cultural assumption of hyper-vigilance is largely a myth. |ssrn=1169582}}</ref>
* In an episode of ], ] refers to ] as a “]”, a portmanteau word combining “feminist” and “]”.


<ref name="Dalzell 2015">{{cite book |editor1-last=Dalzell |editor1-first=Tom |editor2-last=Victor |editor2-first=Terry |title=The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-37251-6 |edition=2nd}}</ref>
==See also==
* ]


<ref name="Feminist.com 1996">{{cite web |title=Ask Gloria: Excerpts from Q&A's with Gloria Steinem |url=http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/interviews/steinem1.htm |website=Feminist.com |date=October–November 1996}}</ref>
==References==

<!-- this 'empty' section displays references defined elsewhere -->
<ref name="Horan 2019">{{cite journal |last1=Horan |first1=Geraldine |title=Feminazi, breastfeeding nazi, grammar nazi. A critical analysis of nazi insults in contemporary media discourses |journal=Mediazioni |date=2019 |volume=24 |url=https://mediazioni.sitlec.unibo.it/images/stories/PDF_folder/document-pdf/24-2019/dossier-scortesia/horan_def.pdf |issn=1974-4382}}</ref>
{{reflist}}

<ref name="Jamieson 2008">{{cite book |last1=Jamieson |first1=Kathleen H. |last2=Cappella |first2=Joseph N. |title=Echo Chamber: Rush Limbaugh and the Conservative Media Establishment |date=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-974086-4 |pages=102–103 |url=https://archive.org/details/echochamberrushl00jami_0/page/103/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access=registration}}</ref>

<ref name="Kaufman 2011">{{cite book |last1=Kaufman |first1=Michael |last2=Kimmel |first2=Michael |title=The Guy's Guide to Feminism |date=2011 |publisher=Seal Press |location=Berkeley, Calif. |isbn=978-1-58-005362-4 |page=42}}</ref>

<ref name="Kimmel 2013">{{cite book |last1=Kimmel |first1=Michael |title=Angry White Men: American Masculinity at the End of an Era |date=2013 |publisher=Nation Books |location=New York |isbn=978-1-56-858696-0 |pages=42–44}}</ref>

<ref name="Lacy 2010">{{cite book |last=Lacy |first=Tim |editor-last=Chapman |editor-first=Roger |title=Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints and Voices, Volume 1 |date=2010 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |location=Armonk, N.Y. |isbn=978-0-76-561761-3 |page=323 |chapter=Limbaugh, Rush |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/culturewarsencyc0000unse/page/323/mode/1up?view=theater |chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref>

<ref name="Levit 1998">{{cite book |last=Levit |first=Nancy |title=The Gender Line: Men, Women, and the Law |date=1998 |publisher=New York University Press |isbn=978-0-81-475295-1 |page=127 |url=https://archive.org/details/genderlinemenwom0000levi/page/127/mode/1up?view=theater& |url-access=registration}}</ref>

<ref name="Limbaugh 1992">{{cite book |last1=Limbaugh |first1=Rush H. |title=The Way Things Ought to Be |date=1992 |publisher=Pocket Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-67-175145-6 |page=193 |url=https://archive.org/details/waythingsoughtto00limb/page/193/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access=registration}}</ref>

<ref name="Merriam-Webster">{{cite web |title=feminazi |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/feminazi |website=Merriam-Webster}}</ref>

<ref name="Moi 2006">{{cite journal |last=Moi |first=Toril |date=October 2006 |title='I Am Not a Feminist, But...': How Feminism Became the F-Word |journal=Publications of the Modern Language Association of America (PMLA) |volume=121 |issue=5 |pages=1735–1741 |doi=10.1632/pmla.2006.121.5.1735 |issn=0030-8129 |jstor=25501655 |s2cid=145668385 |quote=If we wonder what 'militant feminism' is, we learn, at the end of the quotation, that 'militant women' are characterized by their 'quest for power' and their 'belief that men aren’t necessary.'}}</ref>

<ref name="Rodriguez-Darias 2018">{{cite journal |last1=Rodríguez-Darias |first1=Alberto Jonay |last2=Aguilera-Ávila |first2=Laura |date=2018 |title=Gender-based harassment in cyberspace. The case of Pikara magazine |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320576750 |journal=Women's Studies International Forum |volume=66 |pages=63–69 |doi=10.1016/j.wsif.2017.10.004 |issn=1879-243X |quote=Another recurring theme was the notion that the arguments set out in the articles and comments do not correspond to a feminist perspective, but rather to an extremist stance that is aimed at favouring women in a seeming sex war. Expressions such as 'feminazi' or 'misandry' were used to discredit and slander certain arguments in these discursive confrontations.}}</ref>

<!-- Not in use
<ref name="Rosenwald 2019">{{cite book |last=Rosenwald |first=Brian |date=2019 |title=Talk Radio's America: How an Industry Took Over a Political Party That Took Over the United States |pages=227–254 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Mass. |isbn=978-0-6741-8501-2 |chapter=The President That Talk Radio Made}}{{Page range too broad|date=March 2021}}</ref>
Not in use-->

<ref name="Schaffer 1998">{{cite journal |last1=Schaffer |first1=Kay |title=Scare words: 'Feminism', postmodern consumer culture and the media |journal=Continuum |date=1998 |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=321–334 |doi=10.1080/10304319809365775 |issn=1030-4312 |quote=n the 1990s is aligned with the vindictive, puritanical and punishing new generation of 'feminazis'. They are the ones who employ the sexual harassment laws that their older sisters helped to put in place which threaten to destroy the lives and careers of kindly old men Although ubiquitous in the popular imaginary, they remain an elusive media construct.}}</ref>

<ref name="Seelye 1994">{{cite news |last=Seelye |first=Katherine Q. |title=Republicans Get a Pep Talk From Rush Limbaugh |page=A16 |work=The New York Times |date=December 12, 1994 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/12/us/republicans-get-a-pep-talk-from-rush-limbaugh.html |url-access=limited}}</ref>

<ref name="Steinem 1995">{{cite book |last=Steinem |first=Gloria |title=Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions |date=1995 |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |location=New York |edition=2nd |isbn=978-0-8050-4202-3 |page=xv |url=https://archive.org/details/outrageousactse000stei/page/n16/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access=registration}}</ref>

<ref name="Williams 2015">{{cite news |last1=Williams |first1=Zoe |title=Feminazi: the go-to term for trolls out to silence women |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/15/feminazi-go-to-term-for-trolls-out-to-silence-women-charlotte-proudman |work=The Guardian |date=15 September 2015}}</ref>

}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite news |last=Baker |first=Bob |date=1991-01-20 |title=WHAT'S THE RUSH? : Radio Loudmouth Rush Limbaugh Harangues Feminazis, Environmental Wackos and Commie-Libs While His Ratings Soar |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-01-20-tm-836-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |url-access=limited}}
* {{cite journal |last=Bridges |first=Elizabeth |date=2015 |title=Reacting to 'The F-Word': How the Media Shapes Public Reactions to the Feminist Movement |journal=2015 Honors Council of Illinois Region Student Symposium |url=https://dc.cod.edu/hcir2015/sessions/2/8 |publisher=College of DuPage}}
* {{cite web |last1=Dye |first1=April |title=Angry Feminazis and Manhaters: How Women Develop Positive Feminist Identities in the Face of Stigma |url=http://citation.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/0/9/3/6/7/p93675_index.html |publisher=Paper presented at the annual meeting of the ], Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor, MI |date=30 March 2006 |access-date=4 March 2012 |archive-date=1 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101072041/http://citation.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/0/9/3/6/7/p93675_index.html |url-status=dead}}
* {{cite book |last=Ferree |first=Myra Max |editor1-first=Daniel J. |editor1-last=Myers |editor2-first=Daniel M. |editor2-last=Cress |title=Authority in Contention |page=90 |volume=25 |date=2004 |publisher=Emerald Group Publishing |isbn=978-0-7623-1037-1 |issn=0163-786X |chapter=Soft Repression: Ridicule, Stigma, and Silencing in Gender-based Movements |series=Research in social movements, conflicts and change: an annual compilation of research}}
* {{Cite magazine |last=Hazlett |first=Thomas Winslow |title=H.L. Mencken: The Soul Behind the Sass |date=December 1987 |magazine=] |url=https://reason.com/1987/12/01/h-l-mencken/ |quote=We could really use him now, what with Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, Tip O'Neill and Jerry Falwell, Gary Hart and Donna Rice, the Moonies, the feminazis, the Naderite crusaders, and the television evangelists.}}
* {{Cite news |last=Jones |first=Jessica |title=Spanish conservatives launch bus campaign against 'Feminazis' with image of lipstick-wearing Hitler |date=March 1, 2019 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/03/01/spanish-conservatives-launch-bus-campaign-against-feminazis/ |work=The Telegraph |issn=0307-1235 |url-access=subscription}}
* {{cite book |first=Rush H. |last=Limbaugh |chapter=The Limbaugh Lexicon |title=The Way Things Ought to Be |publisher=Pocket Books |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-67-175145-6 |page=296 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/waythingsoughtto00limb/page/294/mode/1up?view=theater |chapter-url-access=registration}}
* {{cite news |last=Martirosyan |first=Lucy |title=Check out this cumbia response to the word 'feminazi' |date=August 3, 2016 |url=http://www.pri.org/stories/2016-08-03/check-out-cumbia-response-word-feminazi |work=] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161109101711/https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-08-03/check-out-cumbia-response-word-feminazi |archive-date=November 9, 2016}}
* {{cite web |last1=Rudman |first1=Chelsea |title='Feminazi': The History Of Limbaugh's Trademark Slur Against Women |url=https://www.mediamatters.org/research/2012/03/12/feminazi-the-history-of-limbaughs-trademark-slu/186336 |publisher=] |date=12 March 2012}}
* {{cite book |last1=Skutta |first1=Peter |title=Linguistic politics and language usage in the debate on "Political Correctness" |website=hausarbeiten.de |date=1997 |isbn=978-3-638-07379-0 |url=https://m.hausarbeiten.de/document/94699}}
* {{cite book |last=Waisanen |first=Don |editor-last=Rountree |editor-first=Clarke |title=Venomous Speech: Problems with American Political Discourse on the Right and Left |date=2013 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, Calif. |isbn=978-0-31-339867-4 |pages=308–9 |chapter=An Alternative Sense of Humor: The Problems With Crossing Comedy and Politics in Public Discourse}}
* {{cite book |last=Wilson |first=John K. |date=2011 |title=The Most Dangerous Man in America: Rush Limbaugh's Assault on Reason |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-31-261214-6 |page=56}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|feminazi}}
{{Wikiquote|feminazi}}
* {{Commonscatinline}}


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Latest revision as of 22:05, 16 November 2024

Pejorative term for feminists

Not to be confused with Nazi feminism.

Feminazi (also spelled femi-nazi and Femi-Nazi) is a pejorative term for feminists that was popularized by politically conservative American radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

Origins and usage

Feminazi is a portmanteau of the nouns feminist and Nazi. According to The Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang, it refers (pejoratively) to "a committed feminist or a strong-willed woman". The earliest attested use, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is a 1989 article in the Los Angeles Times about an anti-abortion protest that used the slogan "Feminazis Go Home". The term was later popularized by American conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh in the early 1990s. Limbaugh credited the coining of the term to university professor Thomas Hazlett.

Limbaugh, who was vocally critical of the feminist movement, stated that the term feminazi refers to "radical feminists" whose goal is "to see that there are as many abortions as possible", a small group of "militants" whom he characterized as having a "quest for power" and a "belief that men aren't necessary". Limbaugh distinguished these women from "well-intentioned but misguided people who call themselves 'feminists'". However, the term came to be widely used for feminism as a whole. According to The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, Limbaugh used the term "to marginalize any feminist as a hardline, uncompromising manhater". The New York Times has described it as "one of favorite epithets for supporters of women's rights".

The term feminazi is used to characterize feminist perspectives as extreme in order to discredit feminist arguments and to stigmatize women's views or behavior as "radical", "extreme", and "tyrannical". It has been used in mainstream American discourse to erroneously portray women as hyper-vigilant to perceived sexism. Literary critic Toril Moi writes that the term reflects commonplace ideas that feminists "hate men", are "dogmatic, inflexible, and intolerant", and constitute "an extremist, power-hungry minority". In his book Angry White Men, the sociologist Michael Kimmel says the term is used to attack feminist campaigns for equal pay and safety from rape and domestic violence by associating them with Nazi genocide.

The term is used as an insult across mass media and social media. "Feminazis" are often described as dangerous, strident, man-hating, prudish, humorless, and overly sensitive. Linguist Geraldine Horan writes that there is a marked increase in the use of the term in mainstream media whenever a female public figure makes headlines. Usage in the United Kingdom peaked in 2015 along with reporting on barrister Charlotte Proudman, who had criticized a male colleague for commenting on her appearance online. In Australia, the term gained wider use following the 1995 publication of the book The First Stone, and has been used in popular media to characterize feminists as threatening, "vindictive", and "puritanical".

Reactions

The meaning and appropriateness of the term feminazi have frequently been discussed in the media. Horan attributes use of feminazi as an insult to "a wider phenomenon of gendered criticism, bullying and trolling aimed women in the public eye". According to Helen Lewis, deputy editor of the New Statesman, "the idea of conflating a liberation movement with Nazism is just deeply ignorant. It’s self-undermining, because it’s so over the top." Laura Bates, the founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, has said that "It’s a desperate attempt to demonise us, and it’s frustrating, because if it wasn’t such an offensive word, you could actually start to embrace it and own it".

Activist Gloria Steinem writes, "I've never met anyone who fits that description , though lavishes it on me among many others". Steinem has suggested a boycott of Limbaugh for his use of the term, stating, "Hitler came to power against the strong feminist movement in Germany, padlocked the family planning clinics, and declared abortion a crime against the state—all views that more closely resemble Rush Limbaugh's".

Moi writes that Limbaugh's words prompted a shift in the public perception of feminism across the American political spectrum starting in the mid-1990s; Americans came to see feminists as dogmatic and power-hungry women who hate men and who are incapable of challenging their own assumptions; though the term feminazi may have been created to describe a small group of particular feminists, it calcified into a stereotype of all feminists or all women. Moi writes that feminism became "the F-word," a label that women hesitated to claim for themselves lest they be seen as "feminazis", even among those who agreed with the goals of feminism.

See also

References

  1. ^ Horan, Geraldine (2019). "Feminazi, breastfeeding nazi, grammar nazi. A critical analysis of nazi insults in contemporary media discourses" (PDF). Mediazioni. 24. ISSN 1974-4382.
  2. "feminazi". Merriam-Webster.
  3. ^ Barrett, Grant, ed. (2006). The Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-19-530447-3.
  4. Lacy, Tim (2010). "Limbaugh, Rush". In Chapman, Roger (ed.). Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints and Voices, Volume 1. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe. p. 323. ISBN 978-0-76-561761-3.
  5. ^ Moi, Toril (October 2006). "'I Am Not a Feminist, But...': How Feminism Became the F-Word". Publications of the Modern Language Association of America (PMLA). 121 (5): 1735–1741. doi:10.1632/pmla.2006.121.5.1735. ISSN 0030-8129. JSTOR 25501655. S2CID 145668385. If we wonder what 'militant feminism' is, we learn, at the end of the quotation, that 'militant women' are characterized by their 'quest for power' and their 'belief that men aren't necessary.'
  6. ^ Kimmel, Michael (2013). Angry White Men: American Masculinity at the End of an Era. New York: Nation Books. pp. 42–44. ISBN 978-1-56-858696-0.
  7. Limbaugh, Rush H. (1992). The Way Things Ought to Be. New York: Pocket Books. p. 193. ISBN 978-0-67-175145-6.
  8. ^ Jamieson, Kathleen H.; Cappella, Joseph N. (2008). Echo Chamber: Rush Limbaugh and the Conservative Media Establishment. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 102–103. ISBN 978-0-19-974086-4.
  9. Levit, Nancy (1998). The Gender Line: Men, Women, and the Law. New York University Press. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-81-475295-1.
  10. Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2015). The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2nd ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-37251-6.
  11. Seelye, Katherine Q. (12 December 1994). "Republicans Get a Pep Talk From Rush Limbaugh". The New York Times. p. A16.
  12. Rodríguez-Darias, Alberto Jonay; Aguilera-Ávila, Laura (2018). "Gender-based harassment in cyberspace. The case of Pikara magazine". Women's Studies International Forum. 66: 63–69. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2017.10.004. ISSN 1879-243X. Another recurring theme was the notion that the arguments set out in the articles and comments do not correspond to a feminist perspective, but rather to an extremist stance that is aimed at favouring women in a seeming sex war. Expressions such as 'feminazi' or 'misandry' were used to discredit and slander certain arguments in these discursive confrontations.
  13. Brake, Deborah L. (2007). "Perceiving Subtle Sexism: Mapping the Social-Psychological Forces and Legal Narratives that Obscure Gender Bias". Columbia Journal of Gender and Law. 16 (3): 72, 73 n. 24. OCLC 494260125. SSRN 1169582. The dominant story in mainstream culture is that women and minorities are hyper-vigilant in perceiving bias, to the point of mistakenly perceiving sexism and racism when it does not really exist. Mainstream culture is replete with derogatory references to 'feminazi' women who blame everything on gender he widespread cultural assumption of hyper-vigilance is largely a myth.
  14. Schaffer, Kay (1998). "Scare words: 'Feminism', postmodern consumer culture and the media". Continuum. 12 (3): 321–334. doi:10.1080/10304319809365775. ISSN 1030-4312. n the 1990s is aligned with the vindictive, puritanical and punishing new generation of 'feminazis'. They are the ones who employ the sexual harassment laws that their older sisters helped to put in place which threaten to destroy the lives and careers of kindly old men Although ubiquitous in the popular imaginary, they remain an elusive media construct.
  15. ^ Williams, Zoe (15 September 2015). "Feminazi: the go-to term for trolls out to silence women". The Guardian.
  16. Steinem, Gloria (1995). Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (2nd ed.). New York: Henry Holt and Company. p. xv. ISBN 978-0-8050-4202-3.
  17. "Ask Gloria: Excerpts from Q&A's with Gloria Steinem". Feminist.com. October–November 1996.
  18. Kaufman, Michael; Kimmel, Michael (2011). The Guy's Guide to Feminism. Berkeley, Calif.: Seal Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-58-005362-4.

Further reading

External links

  • Media related to Feminazi at Wikimedia Commons
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