By: Paige Fry, Editor-in-Chief and Katelyn Liston, Reporter
Feminism is a movement that began in the 1920s when women wanted to obtain the right to vote. The movement lost force after women obtained this right, but now it’s back with an even more demanding pursuit for equality. Along with this rise in feminism, misandry, the hatred of men, is also rising. Misandrists are commonly referred to as “feminazis,” which is a misused slang term that compares feminists to Nazis. The term may be inaccurate, but it describes the driving will of misandrists pretty accurately.
Senior Tori Stratis says, “to me ‘feminazi’ shouldn’t be a word to describe a girl who’s passionate about feminism. When people think ‘feminazi’ they’re really thinking of misandry. Feminism is about equality; girls shouldn’t have to grow up in a world where they fear being cat called or being raped/assaulted walking down the street, or where a boy has to be afraid of being called a girl because it threatens their masculinity.”
The official definition of feminism is “the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.” In simpler terms, feminism is a movement that focuses on the equalization of genders and gender role elimination. Feminists are an extremely crucial part of history and without them, women probably wouldn’t have gained the right to vote as soon as they had, nor would they have started working in formerly male-dominated careers. Without feminism, women would, without a doubt, be in a much different position than they are currently in.
Feminism stands to improve social justice, but misandrists are turning a good-hearted movement into a clan of “man hating” women. This is due to the fact that misandrists fail to educate themselves on the movement; they claim to be above men and want the destruction of all male beings, instead of simply promoting gender equality.
The lack of proper research by misandrists leads them to produce overly radical opinions and confusion of the beliefs of all groups supportive of women. This produces feminist stereotypes, which leads to people being discouraged from the movement as well as make anyone who calls themselves a feminist looked down upon. These stereotypes include: all feminists are lesbians, never shave, refuse to wear bras, are man-haters, uneducated, single, angry, and sex-adverse succubus, all because misandrists don’t know how to properly label their system of beliefs.
Funny thing is, only misandrists conform to these negative feminist stereotypes. They also claim that men are useless and women are without a doubt the superior gender. They overdramatize female power, disregard the goal of equalizing the genders, claim women can do everything men can do—which isn’t necessarily true, since men clearly have a different biological composition than women— and more.
Junior Chanse Overall says, “I think [misandrists are] a legitimate part of the movement, but a minority. The feminazi [aspect of] the movement I think will drive itself out because the good of the [feminist] movement will snuff it out.”
Feminism has been around for centuries and will continue to be until women and men are viewed as absolutely equal. Until then, no one should be ashamed to admit they’re a feminist, but before participating in the movement one is advised to educate themselves thoroughly on its concepts. Misandrists are the only “she-women, man-haters,” while feminists will forever support the basic idea of equality between all genders.