Why are many young girls afraid to self-identify as feminists?

Question

Does this sound about right?

“Although scholars and media critics have suspected a disconnect between feminist self-identification and attitudes among the U.S. public, little is known empirically about this relationship. This article examines the relationships between feminist self-identification, sociodemographics, political orientation, and a range of gender-related attitudes using data from the 1996 General Society Survey. Results suggest that feminists are most likely to be highly educated, urban women who self-identify as liberals and Democrats. Feminist self-identification significantly relates to views about the impact of the women’s movement and to core causes of gender inequality.’
http://gas.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/19/4/480

AND:
“Why are some attitudinally consonant women willing to self-identify as feminist but others are not? Life experiences that expose the individual to other feminists and to feminist ideology may be especially critical. Results of several studies suggest that women who are exposed to feminism, either through college coursework or through their social networks, later claim stronger feminist identities than women who are not exposed”
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2294/is_11-12_50/ai_n6124149

The research findings demonstrate a strong positive correlation between high educational achievement and willingness to self-identify as ‘feminist’.

First two posters: you are suggesting some women have been successfully intimidated. That's how I read it. Any comments?

Anyone who bothers to check will see both articles were originally published in refereed academic journals. But then not everyone can distinguish between the credible, and the less than credible. Learning this all-important difference is something one learns in the course of pursing a university degree.

AGM - that's why I blocked you. You never have anything worthwhile to contribute and you literally waste space. Because you are a narcissist you insist on posting despite the block I have on you. Please respect the Yahoo block.

TERA - sorry to disappoint: "equalitarianism" is already taken. What about calling it Marxism? Shucks, that's gone too...

TERA - 'feminism' is fine. The term dates back to 1870 (France). It is entirely appropriate. 'Equalism' and 'Egalitarianism' is something else. See the Extended Bibliography on Distributive Justice
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/justice-distributive/bib.html
Notice too that the vast majority of these scholarly journals are philosophy journals - NOT social science journals. There is no science of any kind in evidence - only 'pie-in-the-sky' idealism (with a distinctive revolutionary feel). Redistribution of wealth? In Sweden, maybe but in America? When pigs fly...

Dracoriam:

You wrote "yes. i would say that some young girls have been successfully intimidated, by the lunatic ravings of BOTH the feminist extremists AND anti-feminist extremists."

Who are these 'feminist extremists' - and how have these 'extreme feminists intimidated the young women of today?

JS1 - Please expand on the allegation you made:

'Bashing men collectively for no reason."

Who is 'bashing' men here? Feminists aren't 'bashing' men. They are simply trying to better their lives. They are 'bashing' a patriarchial SYSTEM wherein men hold most of the power.

Father of Lies: it's neither 'shameful' nor 'embarrassing' - I just informed you that the women who do self-identify belong to the most highly educated segment of society.

Answer 1

Perhaps they have the wrong idea of what a feminist is

Answer 2

"Why are many young girls afraid to self-identify as feminists?"

Because feminism is not so simple anymore. The actions and statements made on behalf of feminism by the prominent members of the group are more often than not at complete odds with the dictionary definition.

Plus, Feminism is no longer required now that we live in a post Equal Rights first world. In fact, the ways in which mainstream feminists have changed their tone in order to try and tackle the remaining social issues (women's only of course) has also led to it's demise in overall support. It's become too radicalised, and most people are simply NOT on board with that.

Modern feminism is viewed in a justifiably bad light due to the actions and statements made by prominent feminists on it's behalf. Even self-proclaimed feminists spend far too much time trying to defend the man-haters or denying them by giving the dictionary definition of feminism rather than just leaving this corrupted ideology to the many misandrists that have infested the mainstream movement.

What we area left with is this. Few Identify As Feminists, But Most Believe In Equality Of Sexes.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16/feminism-poll_n_3094917.html

.

Answer 3

I identified as a feminist and agnostic when I was 19, haven't changed that view in 30 years. But I also was very quiet and introverted until my 30's, when I got more confident, didn't care what most people thought anymore, and instead of being a quiet feminist, I became an outspoken feminist. I grew up before abortion was legal, before the pill was widely distributed, when there were women's jobs and men's jobs, and you couldn't apply for the other gender's job. I remember when "only bad people were raped, incest and child molestation rarely if ever happened, and only poor people were batterers", or so it was said..... I would never want to have lived before feminists changed our society.

Answer 4

i don't know what young girls you have talked to but I'm thirteen and happy to tell anyone who asks I'm a feminist.

the reason most feminists are highly educated is because education is the equalizer you cant be truly repressed with a good well-rounded education

Answer 5

Well, I'm not going to call myself a feminist because I don't find women all that interesting. I do believe people have rights and all and I'm grateful that we can get jobs anywhere with equal pay (it's only fair), but I don't see the point in joining a women's club or being really into feminism because it gets kind of dull.

Simply put, in the eyes of many feminism means that you are a man hater and dislike men and their personalities. It seems like a lot of people now are just angry at men, women, whatever. there's nothing there really to fight about except petty differences. Bashing men collectively for no reason is annoying. It's like blaming them for something when they haven't done anything but be born male. The young girls are more interested in getting boyfriends than pushing them away by making them think they are doing something wrong to all women (which is kind of what a lot of women put off whether they mean to or not. I've seen it and my boyfriend has seen it). A lot of the "feminists" I've seen just seem to argue with men and I like men (they are funny) so I find it kind of dull.

Answer 6

I also agree that there is a wide misunderstanding of the meaning of what a feminist stands for. Some people seem to think that it is an F...word and try to stay away from being associated with the term. The majority of these people are not educated in what feminism stands for. A woman should not be afraid to call herself a feminist. I believe that lack of education and social stigma's make some women shy away from finding out what feminism is all about. It does not have to be male bashing or living your life hating another gender. It is standing up for women's rights and equality. Why are kids not taught in school about feminist movements and women throughout history that have led crusade's for women's rights? This could influence the younger generation to learn what feminism stands for and what it doesn't. Through education and societal change girls can learn that self identification as a feminist is something they can be proud of.

Answer 7

Very interesting studies, thanks for posting them.

Quite a few of the women I know who call themselves feminists are liberal, democrats, and/or were involved in other activist groups as well, so it makes sense that people who are informed about what feminism really is (vs what the media and right-wingers say it is) and people who believe that collective action makes a difference would be willing to call themselves feminists.

Even if you know what feminism is, it's difficult for many Americans to call themselves something unpopular, if they don't know others who are confident and proud of being who they are. It would make sense that the younger you are, the more difficult it would be to "buck" the system, without support. There's a lot of social pressure in US society to "be like everyone else" and to "fear or respect authority". I think being like everyone else is boring and I've never respected authority either, until proven they deserve respect.

Answer 8

some of the extreme feminists make the movement look really bad, and therefore there is a lot of backlash from people who think that ALL feminists are like those extremists (those that can't seem to differentiate between women as individuals, it seems)... you've seen what the anti-feminist "trolls" do. some people are actually like that in real life
(when i say anti-feminist trolls i do not mean the ones that are respectfully anti feminist, i mean the *actual trolls* that are also anti-feminist. just to clear that up)

edit: your question asks about "young girls", so yes. i would say that some young girls have been successfully intimidated, by the lunatic ravings of BOTH the feminist extremists AND anti-feminist extremists.

Answer 9

I do whole-heartedly agree that those who self-proclaim to be feminists seem to have a greater degree of self-confidence and that may be due to higher education...but not always. I think that some women are afraid to say they are feminists because of the fear of being negatively stereotyped by men (and women) who really don't understand what the word actually means. If you ask almost any woman if she believes she should be seen as an equal to a man, she'll say yes far more often than not....and by definition, this makes her a feminist. However, if you ask women if they consider themselves "feminists", many will hesitate to answer and quite a few will say "no", even though they actually do believe in the idea of equality. I think it's because some women are afraid of being labelled wrongly as extremists or radicals, because society views these ideas as "trouble-making". We're so wanting to be accepted on the basis of our own merit, and that's great...but in the process I think sometimes we forget that as a whole we could really be helping each other further our collective cause. We're afraid of being singled out and labeled in a negative way- we're esp. sensitive to this because we are, already, dealing with discrimination on pretty much a daily basis. Who wants to make it worse for themselves? I think it would help if we got rid of the word "feminist", which has come to be equated with "male-bashing" (thanks to the few who do this!) and stick to the idea of equality. Maybe we should call feminism "equalitarianism".....? Might be a less-threatening word?

EDIT: Asker, you referred to Marxism....? Not the word I would use to describe this. "Equalitarianism" really is a better word: it's fitting. And taken by whom? Why can't we use it?

Answer 10

because it has a negative connotation to it. Like anti-men, macho, mean, bi*ches etc. You get the point. When i tell people i am a feminist they give me that doubtful look like, no you are not a mean bitter bi*ch because that is what they equate feminism to.

PS: I am not using the b word as a curse word, it's just what assertive women are called in society today

Answer 11

As others have already said, feminism has become equated with man-hating in the popular imagination. The reality of what a feminist is has little to do with this but people are not educated as to what it really means to be a feminist.