Feminism: Connotations In The United States

The textbook definition of feminism is “a doctrine that advocates equal rights for women” (WordNet, 2010). While this is correct, there is much more to it than that.

It 's unfortunate that when some people hear the term feminism, they automatically place that as a negative word and it becomes something they don 't want to be associated with. It is unfortunate that people will try to avoid it however, people will still embrace the feminist politics. As feminist scholar Susan A. Mann (2012) describes, when people refuse to identify as a feminist they create the "I 'm-not-a feminist-but" syndrome. This refers to when people understand the importance of struggles with gender issues, such that include the wage gap or domestic violence, but they will still reject the notion that it may actually mean they are a feminist if they are fighting for that cause. Feminism has a simple definition, it means that women seek gender equality through political, social, and economic gain.

word in a positive way, and think of it as a woman standing up for her gender’s rights. Other people can think of it in a negative way, as a woman who is too high strung and opinionated. The word feminist is actually a female who has opinions on the way her sex is treated. Modern feminism will be discussed, along with using some examples such as Susan B. Anthony.

Initially, the word feminist weighed heavy on my tongue, foreign and full of skepticism because at sixteen I had a fallacious view of the girls who wore the title like a homecoming crown. My APUSH class proved me wrong. The girls at my table taught me that feminism was far more than unshaven armpits and misandry as society so often reduced it to; instead I learned it to be about empowerment, the uplift of women to rightful equality. That was a value my mother instilled in me from early childhood --- that I, a woman, am invariably equal to a man so the incredulity

“Feminist: adjective, advocating social, political, legal, and economic rights for women - equal to those of men” (Dictionary.com). It is no secret that the true definition of a “feminist” has been tossed around and distorted throughout the years. There are several existing views on who feminists are today. Some think that feminists have devolved since the days of the women’s suffrage movements and that they are now simply “men-haters” that want to attain higher social and economic statuses than men. Others believe that women are still supporting and fighting for their rights and equality. The article, “The “F” Word: How the Media Frame Feminism” by Debra Baker Beck, takes the stance that through the years, the term “feminism” has been wrongly consumed by negative connotations because of people who misunderstand the intent of feminism. She strives to establish a more placid perspective of feminists in the media. In Cathy Young’s article “Feminists Treat Men Badly. It’s Bad For Feminism” the blame for the skewed definition of feminists is placed on modern feminists and their tendency to “mock and berate men” (Young, N.p.). The debate is over whether or not modern feminists are faithfully supporting their roots of fighting for equality or if they have strayed to shaming or hating men instead.

The definition of “Feminism” is the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men, or in other words, “Feminism is the radical notion that women are people too,” (Cheris Kramarae).Women have gone through periods of worship, to periods of worthlessness, to somewhere in between. Women, a vital component to humanity, are starting to be valued again.

Feminism is a living word. There can never truly be a one set definition for the word as the term has often shifted meanings to correspond to the time period. Feminists fight for the rights that men have under the United States Constitution and to have the right to not be discriminated against. Any action against any woman, intentional or not, goes against the principles that many women and men stand for.

Contrary to society’s beliefs the feminist movement is not about women being superior to men but for the two sexes to be equal socially, politically, and economically. Feminist want to uplift women and encourage them to find themselves outside of being a mother or a wife while also praising

Feminist. Wow, that’s a word with some stigma right? It’s a powerful word with a lot of both negative and positive views. But what does feminism really mean? How about the social, political, and economical equality of the sexes?

Feminism is defined as “the advocacy of women’s right on the grounds of political, social, or economic equality to men.” Inspired by other, similar movements, women began their own push for equal rights and helped to improve the lives of many other Americans around them. However, feminism is more than the basic dictionary definition. Feminism is a movement that has greatly changed and has a different meaning to people of every race, age, background, and even gender.

As a result of the previously stated misconception, the belief that men should not be feminists is often seen in society. A feminist is someone who believes in equality between the sexes--men included. Having been wrongly informed about the definition of feminism, some men feel as if it would be wrong for them to be called a “feminist” because of what the term suggests. It would prove difficult for a man to share his beliefs concerning equality if he was under the impression that feminists fight for the idea

A feminist is defined as someone who believes in the social, economic and political equality of all genders. But in todays society there are new understandings of feminism, some believe a feminist is a woman who lives for herself, someone who hates all men, doesn't shave their legs or do any personal grooming. Why is there such a misrpresentation of feminism, author and columnist Roxanne Gay brings this question into light in her article entitled "The Bad Feminst Manifesto". In her essay Gay reponds to the notion that a femist is a person that acts and displays certan chracteristics. In her piece she mentions "I got into my head that a feminist was a certain kind of women. I bought into grossly inaccurate myths about who feminist are – militant, perfect in their politics and person, man-hating, humorless". Gay discusses the preconcieved idea of how a feminist should be and how ridicuous the notion is of a "perfect feminist".In this essay I will be discussing the misrepresentation of feminism in society today and between feminist themselves.

A New York Times poll displays that the amount of Americans who identify themselves as feminist has dropped to 18% (cite nytimes). Many rightfully view modern feminism as irrelevant. Informed individuals see that women have many privileges over men. In addition, modern feminist views are mildly oppressive to men and do not wish to form equal opportunities, but to add advantages to women over men. Feminism as a movement originated in the 1960s, and it continues to be a movement to this day, even though women in our country are equals. The movement is complete and is now being morphed into a corrupt and morally depraved movement that should be scrapped entirely in its third wave.

Society had a way of degrading goodok concepts by giving them false images and terrible stereotypes. When people think of feminist they tend to imagine an ugly woman that probably looks like a man. Or maybe that some of them are all the same. Or that they hate men. Neither of these statements are true. In fact, there many different kinds of feminism but they all, like any other political group, have rules and boundaries. These basic rules are to be equal to men. Also, most of them don't actually hate men, many of them just aspire to be equal to men... Not dominate them. Most feminist are actually married with children. Another terrible misconception is that they're just plain ugly and that's why they're feminist. Truth with of the matter is that all (because every female is) beautiful; for example the pop star Katy

Many times in life men do not think that women can do the same things that they can; whether it’s picking up boxes or being president. There will always be that “macho man” thought of the man being stronger than the woman. In many jobs women might do the exact same thing that men do except men are getting paid more than women even if it is an insignificant amount, it happens in many places and even though many people disapprove of it there are still jobs like that out there. And there are still employers who think that a woman should not be in the work force if so home. Many feminist have been working to solve this problem and there are still people who are working to solve and change many more of these problems, and even though in some places it doesn’t seem like it, feminism and feminists