pejorative
A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a ...
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American conservative political commentator who was the host of '' The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nationally syndicated on AM and FM r ...
.
Origin and usage
''Feminazi'' is a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsfeminist'' and ''
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
''. According to ''The Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang'', it refers (pejoratively) to "a committed feminist or a strong-willed woman". The American conservative radio talk show host
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American conservative political commentator who was the host of '' The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nationally syndicated on AM and FM r ...
, who popularized the term, credited the university professor Thomas Hazlett with coining it. Limbaugh began to use the term in 1991.
Limbaugh, who was vocally critical of the
feminist movement
The feminist movement (also known as the women's movement, or feminism) refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality between men and women. Such ...
, stated that the term ''feminazi'' refers to "
radical feminists
Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a radical re-ordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts, while recognizing that women's experiences are also affected by other ...
" 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.
The term is used to characterize feminist perspectives as extreme in order to discredit feminist arguments, portraying feminists as bossy, misandric, and hating
femininity
Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as socially constructed, and there is also some evidence that some behaviors considered f ...
. It has been used in mainstream American discourse to erroneously portray women as hyper-vigilant to perceived
sexism
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers pri ...
.
In Australia, the term gained wider use following the 1995 publication of the book ''
The First Stone
''The First Stone: Some questions about sex and power'' is a controversial non-fiction book by Helen Garner about a 1992 sexual harassment scandal at Ormond College, one of the residential colleges of the University of Melbourne, which the aut ...
'', and has been used in popular media to characterize feminists as threatening, "vindictive", and "puritanical".
Reactions
Limbaugh stated 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
Jackson T. Katz (born May 7, 1960) is an American educator, filmmaker, and author. He has created a gender violence prevention and education program entitled 'Mentors in Violence Prevention', which is used by U.S. military and various sporting or ...
argues that "no such feminists exist", and that ''feminazi'' is a "clever term of propaganda" that is intended and used to " ullyinto complicit silence women who might otherwise challenge men's violence". In his book '' Angry White Men'', the sociologist Michael Kimmel says the term is used to attack feminist campaigns for
equal pay
Equal pay for equal work is the concept of labour rights that individuals in the same workplace be given equal pay. It is most commonly used in the context of sexual discrimination, in relation to the gender pay gap. Equal pay relates to the full ...
and safety from
rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...
Nazi genocide
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
.
According to Helen Lewis, deputy editor of the ''
New Statesman
The ''New Statesman'' is a British Political magazine, political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney Webb, Sidney and Beatrice ...
'', "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
Laura Bates (born 27 August 1986, Oxford) is an English feminist writer. She founded the Everyday Sexism Project website in April 2012. Her first book, ''Everyday Sexism'', was published in 2014.
Biography
Bates' parents are Diane Elizabet ...
, the founder of the
Everyday Sexism Project
The Everyday Sexism Project is a website founded on 16 April 2012 by Laura Bates, a British feminist writer. The aim of the site is to document examples of sexism from around the world. Entries may be submitted directly to the site, or by email or ...
, 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".
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 stateall views that more closely resemble Rush Limbaugh's".
According to '' The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English'', Limbaugh used the term "to marginalize any feminist as a hardline, uncompromising manhater", and ''The New York Times'' has described it as "one of imbaugh'sfavorite epithets for supporters of women's rights".
Toril Moi
Toril Moi (born 28 November 1953 in Farsund, Norway) is James B. Duke Professor of Literature and Romance Studies and Professor of English, Philosophy and Theatre Studies at Duke University. Moi is also the Director of the Center for Philosophy, ...
writes that Limbaugh's terminology reflects commonplace ideas that feminists "hate men", are "dogmatic, inflexible, and intolerant", and constitute "an extremist, power-hungry minority". The activist
Gloria Steinem
Gloria Marie Steinem (; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Steinem was a c ...
Limbaugh's words prompted a shift in the public perception of feminism across the American political spectrum starting in the mid-1990s, according to
Toril Moi
Toril Moi (born 28 November 1953 in Farsund, Norway) is James B. Duke Professor of Literature and Romance Studies and Professor of English, Philosophy and Theatre Studies at Duke University. Moi is also the Director of the Center for Philosophy, ...
, who writes that 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.
In the 2010s, there were prominent efforts to re-claim the word ''feminism'' from the stereotype of the feminazi. These included a performance at
2014 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2014 MTV Video Music Awards were held on August 24, 2014 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. It was the 31st annual MTV Video Music Awards. Beyoncé and Iggy Azalea led the nominees with eight nominations each, while Eminem followed them ...
in which Beyoncé displayed a large lighted sign of the word ''feminist'', together with a definition of feminism by
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ( ; born 15 September 1977) is a Nigerian writer whose works include novels, short stories and nonfiction. She was described in ''The Times Literary Supplement'' as "the most prominent" of a "procession of criticall ...
and Feministing reintroduced support for feminism into mainstream journalism.
See also
*
Antifeminism
Antifeminism, also spelled anti-feminism, is opposition to some or all forms of feminism. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, antifeminists opposed particular policy proposals for women's rights, such as the right to vote, educat ...