Why I don't agree with the term 'feminazi'

posted on Sunday, May 11, 2008 12:10 AM

A lot of people in the men's movement refers to feminists, all feminists, as "feminazis". Where does this term come from and what does it mean?

The word feminazi was first used by Rush Limbaugh who is an American conservative radio talk show host. [1]

What does it mean? Well it is a denigratory term to refer to some or all feminists. You could say that it applies only to radical feminists, but it is not a mainstream term so you can use it as you wish. A particularly hateful masculist who I banned uses it to refer to all feminists, even someone like Wendy McElroy who is a person who agrees with most men's and fathers issues.

Now, why don't I like the term? Well first of all it's lame.

For some reason the Nazis has become the catch-all insult on the internet to call people you don't like.. You smoke cigarettes - you're a Nazi. You don't like the Beatles - you're a Nazi. It's childish and lame, it is simply an insulting term to belittle a movement you don't like, there's no meaning behind it.

But why the association with the Nazis? Because the Nazis are the archetypal representation of evil in our society. There are still people today who directly suffered from the war and holocaust. So by calling feminists feminazis the aim is to associate them with evil.

And this is the reason I don't like the term. When religious nuts say that Hitler did the things he did because he was possessed by evil then we close off our minds to understanding why Hitler could do the things he did. I try not to use the term "evil" because it is essentially a cop out - we say that there is that concept that encapsulates the bad behaviour. We are humans and we have the capacity for good and bad, and we need to understand the way that Hitler committed the atrocities he did, we need to understand how our minds work and can do things like the holocaust.

If we refer to feminists as "feminazis" then we are doing the exact same thing. We are simply dismissing the beliefs of feminists as just being "evil" and not spending the requisite amount of time understanding why they believe what they believe. An activist of any stripe is not evil, because they believe in something and are willing to act for their beliefs. I don't think feminists are bad people, but they adhere to bad ideas and a bad belief system, and incredibly bad things can come from this, such as the things I criticise in my other videos. But these bad things don't come from feminists being bad, but rather from their ideas being bad. And it's the ideas that we need to attack, not the person.

Sources
[1] Feminazi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminazi
category: Gender Issues Youtube Videos

Comments


# re: Why I don't agree with the term 'feminazi'
Posted by Engendertruth on 5/11/2008 8:54 PM
Gravatar Hello, I have been watching your videos and your site for a while, but I most liked your remarks here. I am also in the search for truth, I have a website called Engendertruth.com and I also dislike the use of this term. I write in a similar fashion about how not all feminists are evil in a blog post of mine. It is good to see someone else writing and blogging on the same lines. I agree, feminists are not inherently bad, their ideas are. You cannot change a person, but most intelligent people can adjust their ideas when shown a viable alternative to what they currently think. A lot of it is about perspective. Which you have. I am glad you make the effort to think about these issues in a balanced and rational way. You are making a difference. Keep up the good work. :) Emmah@ Engendertruth.com
# re: Why I don't agree with the term 'feminazi'
Posted by Engendertruth on 5/11/2008 8:54 PM
Gravatar heh... I should really start paying my editors better, eh? Hehe. Above where I write "I have a website called engendertruth.com" there is a connecting sentence there I missed. Of course the term I was referring to is feminazis, not engendertruth. (Is leaving quietly now...out the backdoor) ;)
# re: Why I don't agree with the term 'feminazi'
Posted by ArgusEyes on 5/11/2008 8:54 PM
Gravatar Thank you Emmah. It is nice to get comments that are not of the form "you suck" etc.
# re: Why I don't agree with the term 'feminazi'
Posted by john on 11/16/2008 9:37 PM
Gravatar Is it just me or do the logos next to the comments look like swatstikas?
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The path to true gender equality

What is equality? We in the men’s rights movement believe in equality of opportunity, that as long as the playing field is level then the outcomes should not matter. The feminists tend to believe that equality of outcome is what matters, that the columns under men and women must match for there to be no more sexism. So what really matters at the end of the day is what you are comparing. Rights or outcomes? This is the foundation of our debate.