Feminazi

Feminazi is a pejorative term used to characterize feminists. Popularized by radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, it is used in North America by social conservatives to refer to feminists whom they perceive as intolerant of conservative views.Rush H. Limbaugh, "The Way Things Ought to Be", Pocket Books, 1992 [http://books.google.com/books?id=XDVMk6q_pm4C&q=%22Tom+Hazlett%22+%22coined+the+term%22&pgis=1%20 p.193] ]

Usage

Feminazi is a portmanteau of the nouns "feminist" and "Nazi". The on-line version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the term as used in a "usually disparaging" manner, to describe "an extreme or militant feminist". [ [http://www.m-w.org/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=feminazi Online dictionary] ]

Popularized by Rush Limbaugh

The term was popularized by conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, who credited his friend Tom Hazlett, a professor of law and economics at George Mason University, with coining the term.Rush H. Limbaugh, "The Way Things Ought to Be", Pocket Books, 1992 [http://books.google.com/books?id=XDVMk6q_pm4C&q=%22Tom+Hazlett%22+%22coined+the+term%22&pgis=1%20 p.193] :"“I prefer to call the most obnoxious feminists what they really are: feminazis. Tom Hazlett, a good friend who is an esteemed and highly regarded professor of economics at the University of California at Davis, coined the term to describe any female who is intolerant of any point of view that challenges militant feminism. I often use it to describe women who are obsessed with perpetuating a modern-day holocaust: abortion. There are 1.5 million abortions a year...”"] Limbaugh originally stated that the word “feminazi” refers to women whose goal is to allow as many abortions as possible, saying at one point that there were fewer than twenty-five true feminazis in the U.S.Rush H. Limbaugh, "The Way Things Ought to Be", Pocket Books, 1992 [http://books.google.com/books?id=XDVMk6q_pm4C&q=%22a+Feminazi+is+a+feminist+to+whom%22&pgis=1 p.296] :"“Feminazi: Widely misunderstood by most to simply mean ‘feminist’. Not so, boob ala [sic] . A Feminazi is a feminist to whom the most important thing in life is ensuring that as many abortions as possible occur. There are fewer than twenty-five known Feminazis in the United States…”"] Limbaugh has never offered the names of any specific group or individuals who believe "there should be as many abortions as possible."

In practice Limbaugh has used the term "feminazi" for much wider contexts. Limbaugh also used the term to refer to members of the National Center for Women and Policing, the Feminist Majority Foundation, and the National Organization for Women, which has over 500,000 members. [ [http://mediamatters.org/items/200405020008 Media Matters] "Meet the New Rush, Same as the Old Rush; A Media Matters for America Analysis of The Rush Limbaugh Show"] [ [http://mediamatters.org/items/200601060006 Media Matters] "Repeating "feminazi" comment, Limbaugh reprises familiar theme"] [ [http://mediamatters.org/items/200705230007 Media Matters] "Limbaugh lashed out at Media Matters and NBC, having declined invitation from Today to respond"] On April 26, 2004, commenting on the April 25 March for Women's Lives, Limbaugh said, “Some funny comments from the feminazis at the pro-abortion rally in Washington yesterday. Not many. It didn't take long for us to put together our montage, but we'll let you hear it when we come back.” [ [http://mediamatters.org/items/200405020008 Media Matters] "Meet the New Rush, Same as the Old Rush; A Media Matters for America Analysis of The Rush Limbaugh Show"] The marches' organizers estimated that 1.15 million people attended. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A41023-2004Apr25?language=printer washingtonpost.com: Abortion Rights Advocates Flood D.C ] ]

Response

Persecution of feminists in Nazi Holocaust

Some consider conservatives’ use of the term “feminazi” ironic because German feminists and other political dissenters were among the victims of Nazi concentration camps and Nazi work camps. [ [http://www.remember.org/educate/elman.html Triangles and Tribulations: The Politics of Nazi Symbols] ] [http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/interviews/steinem1.htm Ask Gloria] (second question down)] [ [http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2002/10/09/when-is-calling-a-jew-a-nazi-not-anti-semitic-when-shes-a-feminist-jew/ "When is calling a Jew a Nazi not anti-Semitic? When she’s a feminist Jew."] ] Gloria Steinem said in an interview, "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." Many prominent German feminists like Helene Stöcker, Trude Weiss-Rosmarin and Clara Zetkin were forced to flee Nazi Germany. Nazi philosophy explicitly opposed gender equality.

Term used to minimize progress

Liberal feminists have argued the term is used as a way to dismiss all feminism and any group run by (or for) women as being extreme (an example of this can be seen when Rush Limbaugh referred to the National Center for Women and Policing as feminazis - "Rush Limbaugh Show" [broadcast 22 June 2005] ).

Many cultural theorists believe the term "feminazi" is one way in which social conservatives attempt to minimize and marginalize the work of liberal feminists. This work includes equal pay initiatives, sex discrimination and sexual harassment laws, reproductive freedoms, promotion of diversity, and legislation that helps protect women from violence. [ [http://mediamatters.org/items/200508160001?offset=20&show=1 The "Truth" according to Limbaugh: Feminism established "to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society"] ]

Young feminists have observed that social conservatives, like Rush Limbaugh, frequently use the term feminazi to stereotype the entire feminist movement.” [ [http://www.gurl.com/findout/label/pages/0,,694923,00.html Label it... Feminist] ] As a way to co-opt or de-fuse these derogatory connotations, some feminists have employed the term in a satirical way. [http://www.livejournal.com/community/feminazis One group] posts ironical photos and humorous writing on a website as a way to undermine the stereotype.

Feminazi in popular culture

* A term similar to "feminazi" was coined earlier as the name of the male-hating female inhabitants of the fictional planet, Femnaz, in a Legion of Super-heroes story from a 1964 issue of "Adventure Comics" written by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel.Cite web|url=http://prismcomics.org/display_print.php?id=1229|title=Revolt of the Girl Legionnaires|accessdate=2008-05-31|publisher=Prism Comics|year=2006 |author=Chris Sims]

* In an April 2006 episode of "The Colbert Report", Stephen Colbert used the word "femistapo" in his “The Word” segment. "Femistapo" is a portmanteau word combining feminist and Gestapo. It is a parody of the word "feminazi".

ee also

* Godwin's law
* Feminist Majority Foundation
* Kinder, Küche, Kirche
* Liberal feminism
* Men's rights
* National Organization for Women
* Rush Limbaugh
* Women's rights

References