Angry Feminist Stereotype

When you think of the word feminist, the image that often comes to mind of many people is this man-hating, irrationally angry asexual woman. Through propaganda and mass media, this stereotype has aided in creating a culture where “true” women are defined with respect to a male-created model of what is feminine, like passivity, softness, modesty, domesticity, infantilization, and incompetence. This has led to those standing up against this image to be deemed as abnormal, dramatic, too emotional. Feminists who stand up for equal rights are misunderstood as people who hate men and want to take away men’s rights, which leads to a whole misconception of what feminism stands for which is simply equal rights for women and men.

This misconceived image has been dated back to the origins of women’s rights movements. Early suffragettes were seen as victims of penis envy, who wanted to be men so badly and therefore created a movement that would destroy all men. Anti-feminist propaganda reinforced these ideas to the general public, reinforcing the idea that feminists are ugly, hate men, hate marriage, etc.

Ideas shown in anti-feminist propaganda have evolved into the same ideas being applied in modern feminism. The same types of imagery come up today, lumping all feminists into a category of being asexual, having short hair, not shaving, etc. Throughout history, feminists were focused on liberating women from the discrimination evident in the workplace, education, domestic life, and society at large, but their goals have become distorted by the public due to misconceptions. Counter-revolutionary propaganda has forced feminists to live up to their “radical” name, polarizing the movement and leading people away from a movement focused on social change. The angry feminist stereotype is a key example of how people are uneducated on what feminism stands for. By making a movement for social change so polarized, society has disfigured what feminism stands for. Educating people about feminism and making them understand the misrepresentation of feminists throughout history and today can lead to a better and equal world.