Advocacy project for English 632, Writing for the Electronic Media, Northern Illinois University.

1. The Movement that Dare Not Speak Its Name?
Why Feminism is Misunderstood

2. On November 12, 2014, TIME magazine’s blog published a
reader poll.
The purpose?
To find out which words readers thought should be banned in
2015.

3. The words and phrases became nominees, says TIME blogger Katie
Steinmetz, because of the reactions evoked:
“If you hear that word one more time, you will definitely cringe.
You may exhale pointedly. And you might even seek out the nearest the
pair of chopsticks and thrust them through your own eardrums like
straws through plastic lids.
What word is this? You tell us.”
Source:
http://time.com/3576870/worst-words-poll-2014/

4. Proposed words and phrases were largely overused
“netspeak” such as:
 “I can’t even”
 “Om nom nom”
 “Sorry not sorry”

5. Also on the list?
“Feminism.”

6. TIME’s reasoning?
“…nothing against feminism itself, but when did it
become a thing that every celebrity had to state their
position on…like some politician declaring a party?
Let’s stick to the issues and quit throwing this label
around like ticker tape at a Susan B. Anthony parade.”

7. Response to the poll was swift.

8. “I keep trying to imagine a universe in which too many public
figures declaring themselves feminists would be a bad thing.
This would have to be a universe where ‘the issues,’ as the poll
vaguely mentions, no longer exist.
…But we don’t live in that universe. We are nowhere close. To
include ‘feminist’ in this poll was irresponsible and lazy. It
was a provocation without substance, designed to amuse.”
—Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist, 11/14/2014
Source:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ban-the-word-feminist-i-can-think-of-a-few-others-to-get-
rid-of/2014/11/14/e2f970e4-6b86-11e4-a31c-77759fc1eacc_story.html

9. On November 15, 2014, TIME issued an apology in the form of
an editor’s note from Nancy Gibbs, saying, in part:
“While we meant to invite debate about some ways the word
was used this year, that nuance was lost, and we regret that
its inclusion has become a distraction from the important
debate over equality and justice.”
It is unclear how talk of banning something was intended to
“invite debate.”

10. Before the editor’s note was published and shortly after
the TIME poll was put up, “feminism” was in the lead by
a vast majority with a 49 percent vote, largely due to a
mass voting effort by the image-based bulletin board site
4Chan.
Source:
http://www.dailydot.com/news/4chan-wants-to-ban-word-feminist/

11. 4Chan has a history of Internet trolling such as:
 Pranking TIME polls since 2009.
 Creating a fictional Fourth Wave of feminism “which
emphasizes the attractiveness and sexualization of
skinny and fit female bodies.”
Sources:
http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/weirdwebculture/f/what-is-an-internet-troll.htm
http://www.dailydot.com/news/4chan-wants-to-ban-word-feminist/
http://www.dailydot.com/news/4chan-fourth-wave-feminism/

12. Elsewhere on the Internet, the website Women Against Feminism gained steam
on the social media site Tumblr around July, 2013.
It features nearly universally white, Western, 20-something women taking selfies
with signs claiming to “not need feminism” because they currently enjoy rights
(which feminism fought for) and hold mistaken notions about what feminism
means.
Source:
http://www.dailydot.com/lifestyle/women-against-feminism-tumblr/

13. How did we get here?
How do we define feminism?
How does the public perceive it?

14. In August, 2014, the U.K. online market research firm
YouGov conducted a survey of Americans, posing the
question:
“Are you a feminist?”
The responses were:
Yes – 25%
No – 75%
Source:
http://today.yougov.com/news/2014/08/01/feminism-today-what-does-it-mean/

15. However…

16. When YouGov then asked:
“The dictionary defines a feminist as ‘someone who
believes in the social, political, and economic equality of
women.’
Are you a feminist?”
The responses were:
Yes – 60%
No – 40%

17. That 12 word definition caused enough of a perception
shift to change 45 percent of the respondents’ answers.
Clearly, words matter.
That opinions were swayed so easily means a large cross
section of respondents held skewed perceptions that
they were not very attached to.

18. Historical Perspective
Modern feminism as we know it has come in phases
commonly called waves.

19. Feminism’s “first wave” occurred in the late 19th and early
20th Centuries. Their major victory was getting women
the right to vote in the U.S. in 1920.

20. Feminism’s “second wave” began in the 1960s. Their
major victories include the 1967 Executive Order
extending Affirmative Action rights to women, the 1973
passage of Roe v. Wade legalizing abortion, and the
inclusion of more women of color.
Source:
http://www.civilrights.org/resources/civilrights101/affirmaction.html

21. The “third wave” began in 1992 with the publication of
Rebecca Walker’s Ms. magazine article “Becoming The Third
Wave” and the creation of The Third Wave Foundation (later
the Third Wave Fund), a philanthropic organization devoted
to working for gender, racial, social, and economic justice.
Source:
http://www.thirdwavefoundation.org/about-us/

22. Third wave feminism strives to be more inclusive, their literature
largely focused on personal narrative.
In Clare Snyder’s 2008 article, “What is Third Wave Feminism: A
New Direction Essay,” she calls out the editors of BUST, a third-
wave feminist magazine, for defending the choice of breast
augmentation. “[It’s] a position that legitimizes potentially
everything a woman chooses to do as feminist,” Snyder says.
Source:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/588436

23. A lot of the confusion in defining what feminism is arises from
tensions between “second wave” and “third wave” feminists.
Third wave feminist and Beauty Myth author Naomi Wolf calls
second wave feminism “victim feminism” that is “sexually
judgmental” and “self-righteous.”
“While this picture clearly paints a popular caricature of
second‐wave feminism, it also provides a convenient foil against
which third‐wave feminism can define itself,” says Clare Snyder in,
“What is Third Wave Feminism?”
Source:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/588436

24. “Second‐wave feminism still exists,” Snyder says, “and…a
woman’s understanding of what feminism means has
more to do with where and when she entered the
discourse than it does with the year of her birth.
It is more helpful to understand third‐wave feminism as
a particular approach rather than using it to label
women born within certain years or who occupy a
certain age group.”
Source:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/588436

25. Thus, differences amongst feminist ranks over which
approach is most effective contributes to common
misunderstandings of what feminism is, and what it
stands for.

26. Ultimately, feminists may take different approaches but share
the same goals of equality and justice for all women.

27. Why do we still need feminism?

28. Because the right to a legal abortion and a woman’s
autonomy over her own body is constantly under attack.
“Instead of trying to overturn Roe v. Wade, which both
sides see as politically unviable, [U.S. politicians] have
been working instead to chip away at reproductive rights
in a way that will render Roe's protections virtually
irrelevant.”
—Janet Reitman, Rolling Stone, 01/15/2014
Source:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-stealth-war-on-abortion-20140115#ixzz3Kl7C3Qim

29. Because all 50 United States have laws limiting abortion
coverage on health care plans.
Ten states have laws preventing abortion coverage on any
health care plan.
Source:
https://www.aclu.org/maps/bans-insurance-coverage-abortion

30. Because in some states, you can get a gun faster than you
can get a certain legal medical procedure for women.
Source:
http://www.vocativ.com/usa/justice-usa/missouri-abortion-waiting-period/

31. Because, if you are a woman, the religious rights of your
boss are more important than what is best for your
health.
Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/magazine/what-the-hobby-lobby-ruling-means-for-america.html

32. Because women make up less than 20 percent of the
U.S. Congress.
Source:
http://time.com/3326895/women-congress-twenty-percent/

33. Because women statistically earn 22 percent less than men.
• As of 2013, this statistic has barely budged in a decade.
• This is true in nearly every occupation.
• This gap also exists for childless women.
Source:
http://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/

34. Because in 2012, a woman (a minor, at that) can be
drugged, raped, left for dead in the snow, even have cell
phone camera footage of her attack—and have her case
dismissed in a court of law.
(After a two year battle, with social media awareness
help from the “hacktivist” group Anonymous, the
victim’s attacker received two years of probation and a
four month suspended jail term).
Sources:
http://www.xojane.com/it-happened-to-me/daisy-coleman-maryville-rape
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/09/daisy-coleman-rape-case_n_4569706.html

35. If you believe in the social, political, and economic
equality of women, what can you do?
Get educated:
http://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=top_venue
s&hl=en&vq=hum_feminismwomensstudies
Get involved:
http://www.feminist.org/
http://now.org/

36. If not for your sake, get involved for the sake of your
mother, wives, sisters, and daughters.