Feminism in America

4/25/2014

Fear of Feminism and Male Involvement in the Pro-Feminist Movement

The feminist movement has made many great strides over the past few decades. However, many people who support the ideas of the movement do not necessarily identify with the label. There is much speculation as to why this is and one of the main points is that people fear the backlash that may come with claiming to be a feminist. Also, a somewhat new topic in recent decades has been the growing population of men who support women’s equality. Although, sometimes it is hard for them to express their support, some pro-feminist men have organized groups and tried to develop new ways of thinking to show their support of women’s equality and encourage other men to join in the movement for women’s equality.

The first topic to tackle here is the fact that while many people support the ideas and goals of feminism, the term feminism brings upon a problematic response from some so many people are skeptical to call themselves feminists. Many young women today are still affected by the demonization of feminism that really began during the Reagan and Bush administrations (WVFV 655). Feminists were made to seem as radical groups during this period that could potentially threaten the everyday living of Americans. Many women live in a so called fear of feminism, which Hogeland states in her article as more of a fear of politics and the backlash that could come of it (WVFV 656). In this quote Hogeland is trying to say that many young women who support feminist ideas and the feminist movement may be afraid to come out and claim that they are feminist because they fear the backlash that will come of it from the many people who are uneducated on the topic and look at feminists in a negative manner because they don’t really understand what feminism is all about. The article by Hogeland states that, “Fear of feminism is also the fear of complexity, fear of thinking, fear of ideas – we live, after all, in a...