Feminazi (alsoFemi-Nazi[1]) is apejorative term forfeminists that was popularized bypolitically conservative American radio talk show hostRush Limbaugh.
Feminazi is aportmanteau of the nounsfeminist andNazi.[1][2] According toThe Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang, it refers (pejoratively) to "a committed feminist or a strong-willed woman".[3] The earliest attested use, according to theOxford English Dictionary, is a 1989 article in theLos Angeles Times about ananti-abortion protest that used the slogan "Feminazis Go Home".[1] The term was later popularized by American conservative radio talk show hostRush Limbaugh in the early 1990s.[1][4][5][6] Limbaugh credited the coining of the term to university professorThomas Hazlett.[5][7]
Limbaugh, who was vocally critical of thefeminist movement,[8] stated that the termfeminazi refers to "radical feminists" whose goal is "to see that there are as many abortions as possible",[3][5] a small group of "militants"[8] whom he characterized as having a "quest for power" and a "belief that men aren't necessary".[5] Limbaugh distinguished these women from "well-intentioned but misguided people who call themselves 'feminists'".[8] However, the term came to be widely used for feminism as a whole.[9] According toThe New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, Limbaugh used the term "to marginalize any feminist as a hardline, uncompromising manhater".[10]The New York Times has described it as "one of [Limbaugh's] favorite epithets for supporters of women's rights".[11]
The termfeminazi is used to characterize feminist perspectives as extreme in order to discredit feminist arguments[12] and to stigmatize women's views or behavior as "radical", "extreme", and "tyrannical".[1] It has been used in mainstream American discourse to erroneously portray women as hyper-vigilant to perceivedsexism.[13] Literary criticToril Moi writes that the term reflects commonplace ideas that feminists "hate men", are "dogmatic, inflexible, and intolerant", and constitute "an extremist, power-hungry minority".[5] In his bookAngry White Men, the sociologist Michael Kimmel says the term is used to attack feminist campaigns forequal pay and safety fromrape anddomestic violence by associating them withNazi genocide.[6]
The term is used as an insult acrossmass media andsocial media. "Feminazis" are often described as dangerous, strident, man-hating, prudish, humorless, and overly sensitive.[1] LinguistGeraldine Horan writes that there is a marked increase in the use of the term in mainstream media whenever a female public figure makes headlines.[1] Usage in the United Kingdom peaked in 2015 along with reporting on barristerCharlotte Proudman, who had criticized a male colleague for commenting on her appearance online.[1] In Australia, the term gained wider use following the 1995 publication of the bookThe First Stone, and has been used in popular media to characterize feminists as threatening, "vindictive", and "puritanical".[14]
The meaning and appropriateness of the termfeminazi have frequently been discussed in the media. Horan attributes use offeminazi as an insult to "a wider phenomenon of gendered criticism, bullying and trolling aimed [at] women in the public eye".[1] According toHelen Lewis, deputy editor of theNew Statesman, "the idea of conflating a liberation movement with Nazism is just deeply ignorant. It’s self-undermining, because it’s so over the top."[15]Laura Bates, the founder of theEveryday Sexism Project, has said that "It’s a desperate attempt to demonise us, and it’s frustrating, because if it wasn’t such an offensive word, you could actually start to embrace it and own it".[15]
ActivistGloria Steinem writes, "I've never met anyone who fits that description [of wanting as many abortions as possible], though [Limbaugh] lavishes it on me among many others".[16]Steinem has suggested a boycott of Limbaugh for his use of the term, stating, "Hitler came to power against the strong feminist movement in Germany, padlocked the family planning clinics, and declared abortion a crime against the state—all views that more closely resemble Rush Limbaugh's".[17][18]
Moi writes that Limbaugh's words prompted a shift in the public perception of feminism across the American political spectrum starting in the mid-1990s; Americans came to see feminists as dogmatic and power-hungry women who hate men and who are incapable of challenging their own assumptions; though the termfeminazi may have been created to describe a small group of particular feminists, it calcified into a stereotype of all feminists or all women. Moi writes that feminism became "the F-word," a label that women hesitated to claim for themselves lest they be seen as "feminazis", even among those who agreed with the goals of feminism.[5]
If we wonder what 'militant feminism' is, we learn, at the end of the quotation, that 'militant women' are characterized by their 'quest for power' and their 'belief that men aren't necessary.'
Another recurring theme was the notion that the arguments set out in the articles and comments do not correspond to a feminist perspective, but rather to an extremist stance that is aimed at favouring women in a seeming sex war. Expressions such as 'feminazi' or 'misandry' were used to discredit and slander certain arguments in these discursive confrontations.
The dominant story in mainstream culture is that women and minorities are hyper-vigilant in perceiving bias, to the point of mistakenly perceiving sexism and racism when it does not really exist. Mainstream culture is replete with derogatory references to 'feminazi' women who blame everything on gender [...] [T]he widespread cultural assumption of hyper-vigilance is largely a myth.
[I]n the 1990s [feminism] is aligned with the vindictive, puritanical and punishing new generation of 'feminazis'. They are the ones who employ the sexual harassment laws that their older sisters helped to put in place which threaten to destroy the lives and careers of kindly old men [...] Although ubiquitous in the popular imaginary, they remain an elusive media construct.
We could really use him now, what with Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, Tip O'Neill and Jerry Falwell, Gary Hart and Donna Rice, the Moonies, the feminazis, the Naderite crusaders, and the television evangelists.