An Anti-Feminist Society

After reading “The Post-Feminist Radical,” by Ted Gournelos, I began to ponder the word “feminism” in today’s culture. Society has moved on from being “feminists” and has gone into this post-feminist mindset as if everything is fixed, myself included. Therefore, I am not blaming women for this post-feminist society, but rather, I am attempting to call light onto this interesting topic. Through my research, I came across an article that states, “This new kind of sophisticated anti-feminism has become a recurring feature across the landscape of both popular and political culture. It upholds the principles of gender equality, while denigrating the figure of the feminist” (McRobbie 2011).

 Emma Watson to the United Nations | Skip to 1 minute 30 seconds

Our post-feminist that society upholds the principles of gender equality while belittling the concept of a feminist was brought to light in Emma Watson’s address to the UN. She stated, “My recent research has shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word. Women are choosing not to identify as feminists” (Watson 2014). Watson’s speech was a powerful one, especially for myself, whom was one of the women she was talking about – I chose to not identify as a feminist because society has made the term “too strong, too aggressive, isolating and anti-men.” Society has created this term that has been seen as equality and turned it into a “men-hating” and isolating term. Watson has done an incredible job for the feminist movement by shining light on this post-feminist society we have turned into and speaking to women, just like myself, on why we are choosing to not be feminists. Well done, Emma Watson.

Angela McRobbie (2011), Beyond Post-Feminism (Blackwell Publishing Ltd), 18.