So this week for my blog post I wanted to do something fun and relative to the course. However, I struggled to find anything worthy of writing about. I flipped through numerous news websites and found no fresh or exciting feminist news. After my failing attempts to find something juicy in the news I figured I would touch on the thought about feminists as a category and the stereotypes that are given to feminists. Keyana wrote back in January about “Positive Stereotypes,” and she questioned if there was such thing as a positive stereotype. She concluded that she did not believe positive stereotypes existed.
My post is going to build off the idea of stereotyping and specify on the topic of the “feminist.” I researched what the most common stereotypes of a feminist were and I found only negative responses and extremely pessimistic stereotypes. On one website I found a list of top ten stereotypes that society gives feminists. I found these same stereotypes on several different websites so I want to list them below:
10. Feminists hate men
9. Feminists hate the idea of family
8. Feminists are masculine and unattractive
7. Feminists hate God
6. Feminists don't shave
5. Feminists are all pro-choice
4. Feminists can't be stay at home moms
3. Feminist whine about everything
2. Men are not feminists
1. All people who label themselves as feminist believe in the exact same things.
What do you guys think of these stereotypes? Do you think that this is societies way of lashing back against the various waves of feminism?? The list is extremely harsh. As harsh as I find the list I still have to admit that these stereotypes are not unusual. I remember my first advisor here at Rhodes was helping me pick classes and when I decided to take the intro course to gender and sexuality studies course made some comments that were unintentionally stereotyping of the “feminist.” The advisor was a male and as we were walking to his office he offered to hold the door and said he should do it now before I take the GSS course and won’t let men open the door for me. I really loved this advisor, but do you think this unintentional comment was out of line? Do you think society feeds in to these stereotypes so much that we hardly even catch comments like that or dare to call the individual out on their stereotypical claim? Let me know what you guys think! If you have any specific responses to the various “feminist” stereotypes post a comment!
I do believe that stereotypes of feminist are a huge problem and they continually deter women from pursuing a greater understanding of the way they are oppresssed, but I think there needs to be a closer critical look at the reasons behind these stereotypes. First, I have to call you out on your proclamation againt the assumption that all feminist don't shave. I understand that not all feminists shave, but I also know that a lot of feminists actually don't shave. As someone who has taken a stance against the act of shaving, I am very offended and confused that after everything we have read you are so quick to dismiss hairy women as gross. I am not gross and I would hope that with the knowledge that we have gathered we could all understand that presenting our bodies in ways that are not expected of us is one way to combat oppression. If we just jump into calling other women gross because they don't shave we are not only oppressing them , we are allowing others to oppress them for the same reason. With this in mind, I think we should definitely be critical of stereotypes but also step back and realize when we being oppressive in our judgement of stereotypes.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ariel's assessment. Anyone who has ever seen a production of Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues" can see how the process of shaving is, in many ways, a consequence of the "male gaze." I, for one, am not exactly sure what can be learned through an analysis of these stereotypes. Liz, I'd be interested to know how you narrowed it down to this list. Regardless, anyone who is ignorant enough to make these assumptions about Feminists (or any wide spread generalization about a group of people) probably isn't worth arguing with or acknowledging. I find that these codified assumptions about Feminists are analogous to other social groups that have been characterized by an essential description lacking nuance. Only the dominant group, white males, is allowed variation. Also, I can imagine that shaving really sucks. I hate shaving my face which is much less sensitive than many parts of the body females are "forced" to shave. It is also a political statement as well. This should not be lost on those who witness the "no-shave" phenomenon. Rather than dubbing it gross, it should be celebrated. Plus, shaving the lower half results in the figure of a prepubescent female-bodied person. Kind of creepy to acknowledge that most heterosexual identified male-bodied people say that they prefer that kind of thing. I'd argue that the youth obsession in this case may be crossing some legal boundaries. I don't mean in anyway to alienate or criticize those who shave. Not in the least bit. I just think it is important to ask the question "why do I shave?"
ReplyDeleteI just want to clear up my statement. It was not meant to offend, not at all. I was mostly taken aback by the attack on women by individuals claiming that this is a stereotype that is often associated with feminists. It bothers me that overall these stereotypes are placed to all feminists. I think you both make perfect points against my ill-thought out blog post.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I don't think your post is ill-thought. I think these stereotypes about feminist really do exist and are harmful to the progress of empowering women. I just wanted to point out the problems that arise when we unknowingly oppress other women that hopefully have similar goals. From the other side of the issue of shaving, I know there has been times that I have been aggresive towards women that do shave, and I now realize that it is harmful to those individuals and to myself. So, I'm sorry I got worked up, but it is definitely something to take a closer look at.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, the stereotypes are incredibly harmful to the progress of empowering women! I really hope that you are not offended by my post though, the last thing I want to do is tare down the women that I am trying to build up and show support for.
ReplyDeleteAt first I was a little shocked that your advisor said that to you, but once I thought about it, it isn't surprising at all. People have very negative connotations with the idea of feminism because it is challenging what we consider the norm. I'm sure your advisor did not mean any harm by it but little comments like that help to continue negative stereotypes. More broadly, whether stereotypes are negative or positive, they over-generalize and lead people to make assumptions about others, which can be harmful. I think it is especially problematic for feminists because if men do not take feminists seriously, little progress can be made. Feminists come from every walk of life and that needs to be celebrated.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I'd like to share a similarly inappropriate and unproffessional experience I had with a teacher who shall not be named in a department which shall not be named. Long story short, he was concerned that I was unpleased with the course he was teaching because it did not focus enough on issues of gender and sexuality. He noticed that I seemed most interested in the course when we were discussing issues of gender (these moments were few and far inbetween). I told him the course wasn't a GSST course, so I understood the lack of analysis. He said, "Good, because you know those feminists in grad school were crazy."
ReplyDeleteSo, anyway, I think that these feminists stereotypes are exactly what you alluded to Liz--Backlashes. After every progress gained by a social movement, there is a backlash against that movement. In the late 1800's/early 1900's after blacks are freed from slavery, there is a backlash, a significant increase in lynchings and the racism of reconstruction (black codes). After the success of the first wave of feminism around the same time, women gain the right to vote, a little later on during WW2, women start working in mass numbers. What happens then? A backlash. The men come home, they take the jobs and send the women back into the domestic sphere, and then what follows? The 50's! Where psychological sexism in the magazines, and all over the media touts the ideal housewife, kitchen appliances, and the nuclear family. (A similar thing happened in the 80's after the 2nd wave) So, I all of these stereotypes are similar backlashes, attempts to cut and fuel of feminist efforts.
I'd agree with Keyana that the stereotyping is a reactionary move against perceived threats to a given power structure, including be male-dominated sex/gender systems. By stereotyping feminists, men attempt to shame and devalue a potential threat to their conception of the social order.
ReplyDeleteAnd while we're sharing stories: A friend and I were in a conversation with a certain male senior, and the friend and I happened to mention that we were both in gender studies classes (he's in the Intro). My friend proudly exclaimed that he was a feminist, and this senior looked at him disparagingly and said "no you're not... We killed those witches a long time ago."
As to what he meant by that, exactly, I have no idea, but it illustrates the marginalization of feminist thought by many men.
Many of these posts highlight a tendency to reinforce the false dichotomy between men and women. After all the work we have done, it makes sense to problematize the essence of man and woman. Men may be more likely to stereotype feminists but women are just as capable of doing so as well, and they do it! to my chagrin. To Michelle, if Lorde is correct, women do not need any help or recognition from men to have political success. If men won't listen, FORGET THEM. Pandering only undermines political aspirations, and in the end only helps to reinforce the hierarchies already in place. So, my point is, just be careful, everyone, before generalizing about any sex, gender, sexuality, socioeconomic class, ect. Stereotypes are detrimental no matter who they are designed to represent.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting blog post and conversation. And of course I wrote a huge comment on here and when I clicked publish it disappeared -_-. Anyway, I feel like the stereotypes that liz listed about feminist women is pretty accurate. I've heard those terms a lot when people are categorizing outspoken women, oh and especially when they call a professional woman a 'bitch'. So I definitely think society has a lot to do with the definition of what a feminist woman is. I do really think the advisor was out of line, because he shouldn't be throwing around comments about something you believe in, he should be pushing you to fulfill your academic goals. One of the stereotypes that caught my attention was that men can't be feminist, and I don't really understand why this is the case. If anyone can shed some light on that, that would be greatly appreciated!
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