A straw feminist is a fictional character used to make arguments about the feminist movement, often promoting radical ideas and lacking logic. This misrepresentation frustrates true feminists who simply want equal rights and respect for women. Negative perceptions of feminism can discourage some from identifying as feminists.
A straw feminist is the feminist version of the infamous straw man. A straw man is a person who is made up to make a point, usually by pulling together the threads of the other side’s arguments and beliefs and misrepresenting the statements made by the other side. Often, a straw man is specifically designed to be easily attacked, with the creator leaving gaps in the logic of imaginary creation that can be attacked with ease, thus “refuting” the points made by the other side.
In the feminist sense, a straw feminist or straw feminist is a fictional “feminist” character who is used to make arguments about the feminist movement as a whole. A straw feminist can take many forms. She could be mentioned in an article criticizing the feminist movement, for example, or she could appear in the form of a sockpuppet, a fake user account used to make inflammatory comments on a message board or blogging community.
The typical straw feminist promotes radical ideas: She says all men are evil, advocates castration for rapists, and makes inflammatory statements that are more representative of the fringe feminist movement than the mainstream feminist. She is the “fat man-hating dyke” who inhabits the nightmares of conservative commentators, embodying every imaginable stereotype about the feminist movement. The form of feminist represented by the Straw Feminist is shrill, shrill and often lacking in logic, in stark contrast to the thoughtful, forthright and often very logical face of the feminist movement.
Most feminists are simply trying to create equal rights for women and promote respect for women that protects them from de facto sexism and de jure issues. They want to see equal pay for equal work, for example, or the crackdown on harassment of women on the street, on public transport and in the workplace. True feminists come in a wide range of socioeconomic classes, shapes, sizes, and relationships, just like anyone else.
The straw feminist argument is extremely frustrating for many feminists, in part because so many people believe in it. Some women who are actually very feminist-minded are reluctant to call themselves “feminists” due to negative perceptions of feminism, and criticism of the feminist movement, even by knowledgeable people, often sounds suspiciously like discussions of straw feminism. For example, many people argue that second-wave feminism “goes too far,” not realizing that most second-wave feminists focused on addressing the de facto inequalities that plagued women, not on creating an “feminine utopia” without men.
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