Why are we scared of feminism?

Why are we scared of the word that gave women rights?

A brief history

Feminism has long been a part of our daily discourse. The origins of the word “feminism” can be traced back to the 1830s when French philosopher and radical social utopian Charles Fourier first associated it with women’s rights. Initially, “feminism” meant “feminine” or “related to women.” The term gained popularity in the Netherlands in 1872, Great Britain in the 1890s, and the United States in 1910. The definition of “feminism” is the advocacy of women’s rights based on the equality of the sexes. This definition encompasses two key concepts: equality between the sexes and the promotion of women’s rights. Equality of the sexes means that all human beings deserve equal rights, an equal voice in democracy, and equal protection under the law, regardless of sex or gender. The advocacy of women’s rights acknowledges that women’s rights have not been equal to men’s rights. It includes equal rights to a job, respect, and not being viewed as objects. Women never wanted more privileges than men; they simply wanted what men had for years. Thereby, the goal of feminism is to achieve equity between men and women.

Throughout the years, feminist movements gained women the right to work in the government, the right to vote, own property, keep children after divorce, serve on juries, attend schools, hold jobs, and assert their humanity. Women who play soccer, get credit cards without their husbands’ signatures, and more have feminists to thank.

“I’m not a typical feminist…”

Despite all achieved, feminism and feminists are today portrayed in the media through a negative lens. They are often labeled as man-hating, family-destroying, unattractive, and too radical in their beliefs. This leads to women being hesitant in identifying as feminists. In this article, we intend to explore, in our view, the main reasons why feminism is perceived as unfavourable these days. We encourage you to consider other factors as well.

Foremost, there is no single definition of feminism. Therefore, people still struggle to understand what feminism means. It gives the freedom to interpret feminism under various lenses.

Secondly, the media exerts a significant influence on individuals’ perceptions, including their views on feminism. Right-leaning media often label feminists as aggressive and a threat to traditional values. Apart from that, the men’s rights movement, which has existed since the 1970s, experienced a significant surge in popularity with the rise of TikTok. This rise was further propelled by the controversial American-British social media personality, Andrew Tate, whose content gained massive viral attention in 2022, particularly on TikTok. Tate has since become a prominent figure in promoting anti-feminist and «manosphere» discourse on social media, primarily targeting a younger male audience.

Uncertain times and certain traditions

Similarly, lately, the “male-loneliness epidemic” has gained its popularity, claiming that feminists are the reason for men being “left out” and “unneeded”. Research conducted in 2025 by Ipsos (a multinational market research and consulting firm) highlights a significant divide among Gen Z men and women (the ages of approximately 13 and 28). Young men are more likely than any other generation to agree that “we have gone so far in promoting women’s equality that we are discriminating against men.” It is interesting to note that younger men are more likely to agree with this statement than older men.

We believe the ‘revival’ of the men’s rights movement is due to men’s fear of losing their status quo and privileges. Male college students interviewed by Gough and Peace (2000) universally viewed feminism as “dangerous and alienating to men”. García-Favaro and Gill (2016) found online comments portraying feminists as man-haters, extremists, and fascists. Lopez et al. (2019) found that most tweets with the “feminism” hashtag on Twitter made negative statements about feminists’ appearance, sexual behaviours, and misandry. Feminists were labelled as ugly, bitter, and foul-mouthed, while feminism was called a “hate movement”. Similar representations of feminists have been reported in studies nearly two decades apart, highlighting the persistence of this stereotype.

As the results of Lopez’s survey show, feminists were portrayed as seeking superiority over men, promoting hatred of men, and selectively ignoring men’s disadvantages to maintain their false narrative of male privilege. Some users argued that feminism was illegitimate because it didn’t treat men and women equally, thus delegitimising it. However, this argument relied on a formal understanding of equality rather than a substantive one. In this understanding, any differential treatment between men and women could be framed as unjust, even when it aimed to resolve gender inequality. Some users promoted a conservative, separate-but-equal version of equality, where men and women should belong to separate spheres.

There’s more to this article, but we’ll conclude here. We’d like to end with Emma Watson’s quote from the HeForShe Campaign 2014: “If men don’t have to be aggressive to be accepted, women won’t feel compelled to be submissive. If men don’t have to control, women won’t have to be controlled. It’s not the word [feminism] that matters; it’s the idea and ambition behind it.”

More to read on the topic:

• IPSOS, 2025. International Women’s Day 2025 (The survey on global attitudes towards gender equality). Find at: https://internationalwim.org/iwim-reports/international-womens-day-2025-ipsos/
• AISTON, Jessica, 2023. Vicious, vitriolic, hateful and hypocritical’: the representation of feminism within the manosphere. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2023.2257816