"Manly" Feminism?

I am fascinated by the repetitions in the consensus or "stereotypical" view of feminism this journal assignment elicited. Though few said they believed the image was a true one, it is amazing how much power this image has come to hold. Does anyone really know anyone who fits this stereotype? Could this image be a reason women might hesitate to speak up about rights these days?

What images, attitudes and adjectives show up the most? You tell me.

• "When you say feminist, you have to accept that the first image popping into someone's head is a hairy-legged, man-hating vigilante."
• "the most politically visible feminists, are very aggressive and extremist in their actions. Many of them are very easily offended, very anti-men, and hostile."
• "the stereotypical feminist. The deranged bra burning lunatic."
• "stereotyped as these crazy man haters who bitch and moan and don't shave their legs."
• "today though, there are the extreme feminists that show so much aggression in getting what they want. They are offended easily and dislike men and their "evil" ways (lesbian? i think not)"
• "dike women who are all always advocating for women's rights and arguing about how they think everything is not fair. But we all know that this is not the true definition of a feminist"
• "Feminists today are viewed mostly as lesbian, a woman who is angry with the man's world, perhaps because she has been slighted by it. Feminism has unwittingly been subconciously affiliated with the gay and lesbian culture, which in and of itself is another major social controversy."
• "common caricature (sp?) of feminists as standoffish, bull-dyke type women yelling about how unfair life is"
• "strong feminists that hate men for being men"
• "radical, men haters that will fight to the death for women’s rights"
• "synonymous with complaining"

Then there were a handful of milder, positive (and more heterosexual-sounding) descriptions like this:

• "My idea of modern feminism may seem naively idealistic. Feminism brings to mind the civil rights movement of the sixties, in which minorities discovered their voices and fought for the rights they deserved. Women were doing the same in the sixties. Women came to realize that having a career wasn't such a bad thing, that they could be careerwomen and mother. This leads to the idea that a woman is capable of doing anything a man can. My mom has always emphasized the importance of fighting for my goals, no matter what anyone says. I would consider her a feminist in her own right. Yet, because of the negative stereotypes associated with feminism, women are hesitant to take on the label of 'feminist.'"

Could it be that women showing "manly" traits such as aggression, strength, assertiveness, and even "hairy legs" contribute to the aversion people feel toward feminism?

I'm just sayin'....

Rodent My Rodent...

Are you prepared for Ferretblogging?

Who are you calling a Feminist?

In this post, Ann Althouse recently called for feminists to critique sexism in the blog world, prompting this post by Echidne. While in my experience few students will raise their hands if you ask them if they are "feminists," the principle of equality between the sexes that "feminists" work for seems widely accepted.

This question is for my students: why do you think people hesitate to accept the label feminist? What is your impression of modern feminism? Anyone willing to accept the label? To start thinking about virtual rhetoric and online communities, the assignment for Paper Four, read the comments at Atrios's blog and at Kevin Drum's as well. How is this online political community reacting to or policing such speech? Is this an example of dysfunction or a healthy airing out of an issue of concern to many?

The comments are from the generally obstreperous Little Green Footballs site, but here is a sample.

Cowtipping debunked

If you grew up in Wisconsin, you definitely heard people bragging about having tipped over sleeping cows as part of a drunken night's fun. Science, however, has revealed this to be malarkey, whatever malarkey is...

Posted because I was excited to know what the hypoteneuse of a cow was!

**Late Update: "Malarkey," informed sources tell me, is a form of "bunkum." Nuff said!

Friday Poodleblogging

The red one is Milly. She is the kind of poodledog who is not ACTUALLY a poodle. The black one is Doodle (the Poodle), half chimp, half giant fruitbat, half giantkiller, half abject coward. Yes that's four halves. Thus poodles.

Blog posts for Friday

OK--so the deal for Friday's blog post is, spend no more than about 45-60 minutes on it, but you MAY use info others have linked to in the class to complete it, since linking and commenting are the life's blood of the blog world. This means reading and commenting on each other's blogs is something I want you to do. This will be easier soon, since Regina is compiling everyone's blog address and is going to tell us how to insert them on our blogrolls (the list of links). For now use the links on blackboard to find your classmates' sites.

First, read the piece on finding common ground I sent this morning by email. Then read the Althouse piece in hard copy and mark up everything you didn't understand, looking up stuff in Wikipedia and Google and Google news and on the right- and left-leaning political blogs like instapundit.com, nationalreview.com and dailykos.com, eschaton.blogspot.com. Then hopefully you will have a better idea who she is and where she fits in the political spectrum. There are also already letters to the editor about her piece, which is another way to get context.

Is she a political hack? (Someone who just parrots the party line?) Or an ethical and independent thinker? Or somewhere in between? Is she hated by anyone? What kind of readers read her blog? What are her credentials? etc.

Then figure out the op-ed. What is her argumentative purpose, who is her specific audience for this article, what common ground does she find with her opponents, and what strategies, observations, appeals, words, in the article itself, does she deploy to convince them?

Bonus extra hard question: Can you figure out where conservatives and liberals differ on the legal and constitutional issues she discusses?