Feminazi
Feminazi is a pejorative term for feminists, which was popularized by politically conservative American radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh.
Origin and usage
Feminazi is a portmanteau of the nouns feminist and Nazi.[1] According to The Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang, it refers (pejoratively) to "a committed feminist or a strong-willed woman".[2] The American conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who popularized the term,[3][4][5] credited the university professor Thomas Hazlett with coining it.[4][6]
Limbaugh, who has been vocally critical of the feminist movement,[7] stated that the term feminazi refers to "radical feminists" whose goal is "to see that there are as many abortions as possible",[2][4] a small group of "militants"[7] whom he characterizes as having a "quest for power" and a "belief that men aren't necessary".[4] Limbaugh distinguishes these women from "well-intentioned but misguided people who call themselves 'feminists'".[7] However, the term came to be widely used for feminism as a whole.[8]
According to The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, Limbaugh used the term "to marginalize any feminist as a hardline, uncompromising manhater",[9] and The New York Times has described it as "one of [Limbaugh's] favorite epithets for supporters of women's rights".[10] Toril Moi writes that Limbaugh's terminology reflects commonplace ideas that feminists "hate men", are "dogmatic, inflexible, and intolerant", and constitute "an extremist, power-hungry minority".[4] The activist Gloria Steinem writes, "I've never met anyone who fits that description [of wanting as many abortions as possible], though [Limbaugh] lavishes it on me among many others".[11]
The term is used to characterize feminist perspectives as extreme in order to discredit feminist arguments,[12] portraying feminists as bossy and hating men and femininity.[13][better source needed] It has been used in mainstream American discourse to erroneously portray women as hyper-vigilant to perceived sexism.[14] 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".[15]
Reactions
Limbaugh states that feminazis, as opposed to mainstream feminists, are those "who are happy about the large number of abortions we have" in the United States. The anti-violence educator Jackson Katz argues that "no such feminists exist", and that feminazi is a "clever term of propaganda" that is intended and used to "[bully] into complicit silence women who might otherwise challenge men's violence".[16] 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.[5]
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".[17]
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".[18][19]
See also
References
- ^ "feminazi". Merriam-Webster.
- ^ a b Barrett, Grant, ed. (2006). The Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang. Oxford University Press. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-19-530447-3.
- ^ Lacy, Tim (2010). "Limbaugh, Rush". In Chapman, Roger (ed.). Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints and Voices, Volume 1. M.E. Sharpe. p. 323. ISBN 978-0-76-561761-3.
- ^ a b c d e Moi, Toril (October 2006). "'I Am Not a Feminist, But...': How Feminism Became the F-Word". PMLA. 121 (5): 1735–1741. doi:10.1632/pmla.2006.121.5.1735. ISSN 0030-8129. JSTOR 25501655.
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.'
- ^ a b Kimmel, Michael (2013). Angry White Men: American Masculinity at the End of an Era. Nation Books. pp. 42–44. ISBN 978-1-56-858696-0.
- ^ Limbaugh, Rush H. (1992). The Way Things Ought to be. Pocket Books. p. 193. ISBN 978-0-67-175145-6.
- ^ a b c Jamieson, Kathleen H.; Cappella, Joseph N. (2008). Echo Chamber: Rush Limbaugh and the Conservative Media Establishment. Oxford University Press. pp. 102–103. ISBN 978-0-19-974086-4.
feminazi.
- ^ Levit, Nancy (1998). The Gender Line: Men, Women, and the Law. NYU Press. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-81-475295-1.
- ^ Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2015). The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2nd ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-37251-6.
- ^ Seelye, Katherine Q. (December 12, 1994). "Republicans Get a Pep Talk From Rush Limbaugh". The New York Times. p. A16.
- ^ Steinem, Gloria (1995). Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (2nd ed.). New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company. p. xv. ISBN 0-80-504202-4.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Bridges, Elizabeth (2015). "Reacting to 'The F-Word': How the Media Shapes Public Reactions to the Feminist Movement". 2015 Honors Council of Illinois Region Student Research Symposium, College of DuPage.
There is a misguided notion that feminists are loud, bossy women that hate men and all things feminine, causing the image of the 'feminazi' to be created.
- ^ 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 [...] [T]he widespread cultural assumption of hyper-vigilance is largely a myth.
- ^ Schaffer, Kay (1998). "Scare words: 'Feminism', postmodern consumer culture and the media". Continuum. 12 (3): 321–334. doi:10.1080/10304319809365775. ISSN 1030-4312.
[I]n the 1990s [feminism] 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.
- ^ Katz, Jackson (2006). The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and how All Men Can Help. Naperville, Ill.: Sourcebooks. p. 75. ISBN 978-1-40-225376-8.
- ^ Williams, Zoe (15 September 2015). "Feminazi: the go-to term for trolls out to silence women". The Guardian.
- ^ "Ask Gloria: Excerpts from Q&A's with Gloria Steinem". Feminist.com. October–November 1996.
- ^ Kaufman, Michael; Kimmel, Michael (2011). The Guy's Guide to Feminism. Da Capo Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-58-005362-4.
Further reading
- Dye, April (30 March 2006). "Angry Feminazis and Manhaters: How Women Develop Positive Feminist Identities in the Face of Stigma". Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Women in Psychology, Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor, MI.
- Ferree, Myra Max (2004). "Soft Repression: Ridicule, Stigma, and Silencing in Gender-based Movements". In Myers, Daniel J.; Cress, Daniel M. (eds.). Authority in Contention. Research in social movements, conflicts and change: an annual compilation of research. Vol. 25. Emerald Group Publishing. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-7623-1037-1. ISSN 0163-786X.
- Hazlett, Thomas Winslow (December 1987). "H.L. Mencken: The Soul Behind the Sass". Reason.
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.
- Jones, Jessica (March 1, 2019). "Spanish conservatives launch bus campaign against 'Feminazis' with image of lipstick-wearing Hitler". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235.
- Limbaugh, Rush H. (1992). "The Limbaugh Lexicon". The Way Things Ought to Be. Pocket Books. ISBN 978-0-67-175145-6.
{{cite book}}: External link in|chapterurl=|chapterurl=ignored (|chapter-url=suggested) (help) - Martirosyan, Lucy (August 3, 2016). "Check out this cumbia response to the word 'feminazi'". Public Radio International. Archived from the original on November 9, 2016.
- Rudman, Chelsea (12 March 2012). "'Feminazi': The History Of Limbaugh's Trademark Slur Against Women". Media Matters for America.
- Skutta, Peter (1997). "Linguistic politics and language usage in the debate on "Political Correctness"". hausarbeiten.de.
- Waisanen, Don (2013). "An Alternative Sense of Humor: The Problems With Crossing Comedy and Politics in Public Discourse". In Rountree, Clarke (ed.). Venomous Speech: Problems with American Political Discourse on the Right and Left. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. pp. 308–9. ISBN 978-0-31-339867-4.
{{cite book}}: External link in|chapterurl=|chapterurl=ignored (|chapter-url=suggested) (help) - Wilson, John K. (2011). The Most Dangerous Man in America: Rush Limbaugh's Assault on Reason. Macmillan. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-31-261214-6.
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External links
Media related to Feminazi at Wikimedia Commons- Google Trends for "feminazi"
