We all get different ideas in our heads when the word feminism is mentioned. Some people will cheer for it, others will sigh. We can find feminism empowering just as much as we can find it to be excessive and even unnecessary. On social media there are various trends of people, including women themselves, degrading the word feminism to an idea of women expressing their superiority over men and saying things like “I’m not a feminist, I can actually cook,” with various pro-feminist accounts in turn responding angrily. The perception of feminism is often taken away to different meanings and stereotypes that put feminists into a bad light. 

Why don’t we accept it anymore nowadays? Though it sounds logical that progress moves upwards, this isn’t the case at present with feminism. Especially in the last few years, feminism has received increasing backlash from multiple sides. The idea that feminism is something inherently angry, directed towards an aversion of men, has become dominant in today’s society. Stereotypes of feminism were created that have made people more careful of associating themselves with the name. At the same time, people are growing tired of feminist activism altogether. This phenomenon is called “feminist fatigue”, referring to the idea that gender equality has already been achieved and that people are getting tired of any further feminist action at present. The idea that follows is that there are more pressing matters dominating society, such as humanitarian disasters or the state of the economy. Something that is also often used as an argument for this rejection, is that women have already achieved a bunch in the last century, implying that we shouldn’t overwork ourselves in feminist activism. The backlash can be seen during the MeToo movement, where numerous male celebrities were outed for their abuse of mistreatment of women. A sentiment that arose during this time was that the feminist movement had lost its nuance due to the wide spectrum of misbehaviour of men published by many women. It was also inside this movement where a lot of debate emerged surrounding the trend. According to The Guardian, analysts portrayed these debates as “a screaming match between weary mothers and teenage daughters”. This portrayal can be seen as harmful as it confirms the already existing stereotypes about women and creates a problematic view of feminism. 

According to several authors from Pressbooks, the increase in feminist backlash is related to generalized memories. Due to the overwhelming emotional force of the feminist movement for the past years that gets transmitted through the media, the actual message gets lost. Our brain in terms of memory processing tends to generalize and thus leave out detailed information. According to these authors, this is where the media has put its focus on, albeit unintentionally, for the past years. By focusing on transmitting this emotional side of the feminist movement, a sentiment of western women’s inferiority is created. Adding the cultural affirmations that already exist about women, these generalizations are doomed to occur and create harm in the way that feminism is perceived and accepted. 

How should we see feminism in its entirety? According to the Oxford English Dictionary, feminism is “the advocacy of equality of the sexes and the establishment of the political, social, and economic rights of the female sex.” This conception of feminism does not mention the superiority of women nor does it imply anything about women’s cooking. What I mean to say is that despite the many various ideas and views about feminism, it might be useful to turn back to the center of it all to reflect on what feminism inherently stands for. When we look at what feminism in its core tries to battle, it is along the lines of eliminating oppression of women and the pedestal of superiority that men sometimes possess, which is something that has haunted women for centuries. The examples mentioned above illustrate the importance of dialogue and the way that discourse is transmitted through media, just as impressions are important. In order to address feminism in the way that it is intended, it is imperative to look at the impact of social discourse and the negative but also positive influence it can have on society.