March is Women's History Month! In honor of all the amazing women who have come before me, I am writing a series of posts all about feminism. I don't know how many parts there will be yet because there is so much to talk about, so please bear with me.
Before we get into feminism's history, misconceptions, intersectionality, etc., we have to talk about what it means and where the word itself came from.
Even after 182 years of the word's conception, many people are still asking, "What is feminism?"--which is understandable since the goals and motivations of the movement have evolved tremendously. For this piece, I will only be talking about the definitions and origins of "feminism" as a word.
I ran a Google Trends analysis for the phrase "what is feminism," and it is clear (by the blurry screen grab of a graph below) that the search phrase has been steadily rising over the last ten years.
Even after 182 years of the word's conception, many people are still asking, "What is feminism?"--which is understandable since the goals and motivations of the movement have evolved tremendously. For this piece, I will only be talking about the definitions and origins of "feminism" as a word.
I ran a Google Trends analysis for the phrase "what is feminism," and it is clear (by the blurry screen grab of a graph below) that the search phrase has been steadily rising over the last ten years.
"femin-" refers to female
"-ism" refers to a belief or worldview
"-ism" refers to a belief or worldview
feminism, n.
~ the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes
~ the belief in social, economic, and political equality of the sexes
~ a range of political movements, ideologies, and social movements that share a common goal: to define, establish, and achieve political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes - this includes seeking to establish educational and professional opportunities for women that are equal to those for men
~ a movement that seeks equality for people of any gender, founded on the belief that people should be able to pursue any opportunity and demonstrate any characteristic regardless of gender
~ the belief in social, economic, and political equality of the sexes
~ a range of political movements, ideologies, and social movements that share a common goal: to define, establish, and achieve political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes - this includes seeking to establish educational and professional opportunities for women that are equal to those for men
~ a movement that seeks equality for people of any gender, founded on the belief that people should be able to pursue any opportunity and demonstrate any characteristic regardless of gender
Did you know the term feminism was coined by a man?
"Feminism" and "feminist" come from the French words féminisme and féministe, which were coined in 1837 by French philosopher, socialist thinker, and founder of utopian socialism, Charles Fourier. In his lifetime, his views were considered to be radical. Here is the gist of his ideology:
*Sadly, Fourier was extremely antisemitic, advocating for Jews (a group that he associated with trade) to be forced to work on farms or to be sent to Palestine. Although he claimed to want a utopian society in which "all" humans were liberated and worked cooperatively, he clearly did not mean every single human. Very disappointing, but not unheard of for the time period.
There were plenty of female-led discussions and movements surrounding the issue of women's rights before the 19th and 20th centuries. They are often labeled as protofeminist, since they operated in a time period in which the concept of feminism was unknown.
The term feminism wasn't used in English until the 1890s, during the Women's Suffrage Movement. From that point on, feminism has become a widely-used term across the globe.
This concludes Part I, unless you want to scroll down to see helpful definitions of other terms relating to feminism.
My next post in this series will dive deeper into modern feminism, discussing its history, including the various waves and types. Thanks for reading!
"Feminism" and "feminist" come from the French words féminisme and féministe, which were coined in 1837 by French philosopher, socialist thinker, and founder of utopian socialism, Charles Fourier. In his lifetime, his views were considered to be radical. Here is the gist of his ideology:
- poverty, not inequality, is the cause of all social disorder
- workers deserve higher wages
- trade is the source of all evil*
- job employment should be based upon skill & aptitude rather than gender
- women are individuals, not half of a couple
- traditional marriage could be detrimental to a woman's human rights (he never married because of this belief)
- the sexuality and sexual preferences of men and women may change throughout their lives (he supported homosexuality before the term existed)
- all sexual expressions should be enjoyed as long as there is no abuse
*Sadly, Fourier was extremely antisemitic, advocating for Jews (a group that he associated with trade) to be forced to work on farms or to be sent to Palestine. Although he claimed to want a utopian society in which "all" humans were liberated and worked cooperatively, he clearly did not mean every single human. Very disappointing, but not unheard of for the time period.
There were plenty of female-led discussions and movements surrounding the issue of women's rights before the 19th and 20th centuries. They are often labeled as protofeminist, since they operated in a time period in which the concept of feminism was unknown.
The term feminism wasn't used in English until the 1890s, during the Women's Suffrage Movement. From that point on, feminism has become a widely-used term across the globe.
This concludes Part I, unless you want to scroll down to see helpful definitions of other terms relating to feminism.
My next post in this series will dive deeper into modern feminism, discussing its history, including the various waves and types. Thanks for reading!
Other important terms:
patriarchy - hierarchical society in which men hold more power
sexism - the idea that women are inferior to men
misogyny - hatred of women
TERF - acronym for "trans exclusionary radical feminists," referring to transphobic "feminists"
SWERF - acronym for "sex worker exclusionary radical feminists," referring to feminists who say prostitution oppresses women
non-binary - umbrella term for people who don't identify as female, male, woman, or man
male gaze - a way of looking at the world through a masculine lens that views women as sexual objects
bropropriating - stealing an idea from a woman and putting it into the world as your own
mansplaining - when a man explains something to a woman in a condescending way when he either 1) doesn't know anything about it or 2) knows far less than the woman he is talking to
feminazi - a derogatory term for feminists
Sources:
Goldstein, L. (1982). Early Feminist Themes in French Utopian Socialism: The St.-Simonians and Fourier. Journal of the History of Ideas, 43(1), 91-108. doi:10.2307/2709162
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Feminism
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1820fourier.asp
USA Today
Goldstein, L. (1982). Early Feminist Themes in French Utopian Socialism: The St.-Simonians and Fourier. Journal of the History of Ideas, 43(1), 91-108. doi:10.2307/2709162
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Feminism
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1820fourier.asp
USA Today