Antifeminism

Canadian sociologists Melissa Blais and Francis Dupuis-Déri write that antifeminist thought has primarily taken the form of masculinism, in which "men are in crisis because of the feminization of society".{{cite journal |last1=Blais |first1=Melissa |last2=Francis Dupuis-Déri |first2=Francis |year=2012 |title=Masculinism and the antifeminist countermovement |journal=Journal of Social, Cultural and Political Protest |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=21–39 |doi=10.1080/14742837.2012.640532 |s2cid=144983000}}

The term antifeminist is also used to describe public female figures, some of whom, such as Naomi Wolf, Camille Paglia, and Katie Roiphe, define themselves as feminists, based on their opposition to some or all elements of feminist movements.{{Cite journal |last=Hammer |first=Rhonda |s2cid=143539183 |title=Anti-feminists as media celebrities |journal=Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=207–222 |doi=10.1080/1071441000220303 |year=2006}} Other feminists{{Who|date=October 2024}} label writers such as Roiphe, Christina Hoff Sommers, Jean Bethke Elshtain, and Elizabeth Fox-Genovese as antifeminist{{Cite journal |last=Stacey |first=Judith |title=Is academic feminism an oxymoron? |journal=Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=1189–1194 |doi=10.1086/495543 |date=Summer 2000 |jstor=3175510 |s2cid=144886664}}{{Cite journal |last=Kamarck Minnich |first=Elizabeth |title=Feminist attacks on feminisms: patriarchy's prodigal daughters |journal=Feminist Studies |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=159–175 |doi=10.2307/3178629 |date=Spring 1998 |jstor=3178629}} because of their positions regarding oppression and lines of thought within feminism.{{cite book |last1=Craig |first1=Julie |editor1-last=Jervis |editor1-first=Lisa |editor2-last=Zeisler |editor2-first=Andi |title=BITCHfest: Ten Years of Cultural Criticism from the Pages of Bitch Magazine |date=2006 |publisher=New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux |isbn=978-0-374-11343-8 |page=116 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/bitchfesttenyear00miya/page/116/mode/1up?view=theater |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter=I Can't Believe It's Not Feminism!: On the Feminists Who Aren't}}

The meaning of antifeminism has varied across time and cultures, and antifeminism attracts both men and women. Some women, like those in the Women's National Anti-Suffrage League, campaigned against women's suffrage.{{cite book |first1=Constance |last1=Rover |title=Women's Suffrage and Party Politics in Britain, 1866–1914 |chapter=Ix. The Anti-Suffragists |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.3138/9781487575250-012/html |publisher=University of Toronto Press |date=22 July 2019 |pages=170–177 |isbn=978-1-4875-7525-0 |via=www.degruyter.com |doi=10.3138/9781487575250-012 |access-date=9 September 2021 |archive-date=9 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210909215954/https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.3138/9781487575250-012/html |url-status=live}}

Men's studies scholar Michael Kimmel defines antifeminism as "the opposition to women's equality". He says that antifeminists oppose "women's entry into the public sphere, the re-organization of the private sphere, women's control of their bodies, and women's rights generally." Kimmel further writes that antifeminist argumentation relies on "religious and cultural norms" while proponents of antifeminism advance their cause as a means of "'saving' masculinity from pollution and invasion". He argues that antifeminists consider the "traditional gender division of labor as natural and inevitable, perhaps also divinely sanctioned."

Antifeminist ideology rejects at least one of the following general principles of feminism:{{cite book |last=Clatterbaugh |first=Kenneth |title=International encyclopedia of men and masculinities |date=2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-41-533343-6 |editor-last1=Flood |editor-first1=Michael |editor-link1=Michael Flood |location=London |pages=21–22 |chapter=Anti-feminism |author-link=Kenneth Clatterbaugh |editor-last2=Kegan Gardiner |editor-first2=Judith |editor-last3=Pease |editor-first3=Bob |editor-last4=Pringle |editor-first4=Keith |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T54J3Q_VwnIC&pg=PA21 |access-date=6 May 2020 |archive-date=16 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416153937/https://books.google.com/books?id=T54J3Q_VwnIC&pg=PA21 |url-status=live}}

1. That social arrangements among men and women are neither natural nor divinely determined.
2. That social arrangements among men and women favor men.
3. That there are collective actions that can and should be taken to transform these arrangements into more just and equitable arrangements

Some antifeminists argue that feminism, despite claiming to advocate for equality, ignores rights issues unique to men. They believe that the feminist movement has achieved its aims and now seeks higher status for women than for men via special rights and exemptions, such as female-only scholarships, affirmative action, and gender quotas.{{cite web |last=Wattenberg |first=Ben |year=1994 |title=Has feminism gone too far? |url=http://www.menweb.org/paglsomm.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061013145104/http://www.menweb.org/paglsomm.htm |archive-date=13 October 2006 |access-date=30 September 2006 |publisher=MenWeb}}{{cite web |last=Pizzey |first=Erin |author-link=Erin Pizzey |year=1999 |title=How the women's movement taught women to hate men |url=http://www.fathersforlife.org/pizzey/how_women_were_taught_to_hate_men.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060926183932/http://www.fathersforlife.org/pizzey/how_women_were_taught_to_hate_men.htm |archive-date=26 September 2006 |access-date=30 September 2006 |publisher=Fathers for Life}}{{cite web |last=Shaw Crouse |first=Janice |date=7 February 2006 |title=What Friedan wrought |url=http://www.beverlylahayeinstitute.org/articledisplay.asp?id=10088&department=BLI&categoryid=dotcommentary |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060427170136/http://www.beverlylahayeinstitute.org/articledisplay.asp?id=10088&department=BLI&categoryid=dotcommentary |archive-date=27 April 2006 |access-date=30 September 2006 |publisher=Concerned Women for America}}

Antifeminism might be motivated by the belief that feminist theories of patriarchy and disadvantages suffered by women in society are incorrect or exaggerated; that feminism as a movement encourages misandry and results in harm or oppression of men; or driven by general opposition towards women's rights.{{cite book |last=Blee |first=Kathleen M. |title=The reader's companion to U.S. women's history |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Co. |date=1998 |isbn=978-0-395-67173-3 |editor-last1=Mankiller |editor-first1=Wilma |location=Boston, Mass. |page=32 |display-editors=et al |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/readerscompanion00mank/page/32/mode/1up?view=theater |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter=Antifeminism |quote=The two major waves of antifeminist activity coincide with the two waves of the women's rights movement: the campaign to secure female suffrage in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the feminist movement of the late twentieth century. In both periods, those holding a traditional view of women's place in the home and family tried to advance their cause by joining with other conservative groups to forestall efforts to extend women's rights.}}{{cite book |title=New dictionary of the history of ideas, Volume 1: Abolitionism to Common sense |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-684-31378-8 |editor-last=Cline Horowitz |editor-first=Maryanne |location=New York |pages=94–98 |chapter-url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/antifeminism |via=Encyclopedia.com |chapter=Antifeminism |last=Mertz |first=Thomas J. |quote=Antifeminism, then, repudiates critiques of male supremacy and resists efforts to eliminate it (often accompanied by dismissal of the idea that change is possible). Note that this definition of antifeminism limits its reference to reactions against critiques of gender-based hierarchies and efforts to relieve the oppression of women.}}{{cite book |last=Howard |first=Angela Marie |url= |title=The Oxford encyclopedia of women in world history, Volume 1: Abayomi to Czech Republic |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-19-514890-9 |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=Bonnie G. |location=New York |page=116 |chapter=Antifeminism |quote=Reform activity that challenged either the subordination of women to men or the patriarchal limitation of women's status provoked an antifeminist response that included an intellectual and political campaign to halt progress toward women's rights and equality.}}

Furthermore, antifeminists view feminism as a denial of innate psychological sex differences and an attempt to reprogram people against their biological tendencies.{{cite book |title=The liberation debate: rights at issue |publisher=Routledge |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-415-11694-7 |editor-last=Leahy |editor-first=Michael P. T. |location=New York |page=10 |chapter=The case for feminism |last=Hampton |first=Jean}} They have argued that feminism has resulted in changes to society's previous norms relating to sexuality, which they see as detrimental to traditional values or conservative religious beliefs.{{cite book |title=The paradigm of international social development: ideologies, development systems and policy approaches |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-135-01025-6 |editor-last=Desai |editor-first=Murli |location=New York |page=119 |chapter=Feminism and policy approaches for gender aware development}}{{cite book |title=The Continuum complete international encyclopedia of sexuality |publisher=Continuum |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-19-975470-0 |editor-last1=Francoeur |editor-first1=Robert T. |location=New York |page=1163 |editor-last2=Noonan |editor-first2=Raymond J. |chapter=Feminism and sexuality in the United States |last=Barthalow Koch |first=Patricia}}{{cite book |title=Feminist politics and human |publisher=Rowman & Allanheld |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-7108-0653-6 |editor-last=Jaggar |editor-first=Alison |location=Totowa, N.J |page=75 |chapter=Traditional Marxism and human nature}} For example, the ubiquity of casual sex and the decline of marriage are mentioned as negative consequences of feminism.{{cite book |last=Kassian |first=Mary A. |title=The feminist mistake: the radical impact of feminism on church and culture |publisher=Crossway Books |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-58134-570-4 |location=Wheaton, Ill.}}{{cite book |last=Lukas |first=Carrie L. |title=The politically incorrect guide to women, sex, and feminism |publisher=Regency Publishing |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-59698-003-7 |location=Lanham, Md. |url=https://archive.org/details/politicallyincor0000luka/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access=registration}} In a report from anti-extremism charity HOPE not Hate, half of young men from UK believe that feminism has "gone too far and makes it harder for men to succeed".{{Cite web |title=Feminism Has 'Gone Too Far', Say 50 Percent of Gen Z Men |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/gen-z-men-attitudes-towards-feminism/ |access-date=10 June 2021 |website=Vice.com |date=3 August 2020 |language=en |archive-date=10 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210610145735/https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3zxmy/gen-z-men-attitudes-towards-feminism |url-status=live}}{{Cite web |title=Young, Male and Anti-Feminist – The Gen Z Boys Who Hate Women |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/anti-feminist-gen-z-boys-who-hate-women/ |access-date=10 June 2021 |website=Vice.com |date=28 May 2021 |language=en |archive-date=11 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210611172105/https://www.vice.com/en/article/dyv7by/anti-feminist-gen-z-boys-who-hate-women |url-status=live}}

Moreover, other antifeminists oppose women's entry into the workforce, political office, or the voting process, as well as the lessening of male authority in families.{{citation |last=Busch |first=Elizabeth Kaufer |title=Democracy reconsidered |page=242 |year=2009 |editor-last1=Busch |editor-first1=Elizabeth Kaufer |contribution=Women against liberation |location=Lanham, Md. |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0-7391-2481-9 |editor-last2=Lawler |editor-first2=Peter Augustine}} They argue that a change of women's roles is a destructive force that endangers the family, or is contrary to religious morals. For example, Paul Gottfried maintains that the change of women's roles "has been a social disaster that continues to take its toll on the family" and contributed to a "descent by increasingly disconnected individuals into social chaos".{{cite web |last=Gottfried |first=Paul |date=21 April 2001 |title=The trouble with feminism |url=https://www.lewrockwell.com/2001/04/paul-gottfried/the-trouble-with-feminism/ |access-date=30 September 2006 |publisher=LewRockwell.com |archive-date=20 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211120124522/https://www.lewrockwell.com/2001/04/paul-gottfried/the-trouble-with-feminism/ |url-status=live}}

File:Antisuffragists.jpg

The "women's movement" began in 1848, most famously articulated by Elizabeth Cady Stanton demanding voting rights, joined by Lucy Stone, Susan B. Anthony and others who also pushed for other rights such as education, job freedom, marital and property rights, and the right to choose when or whether to become a mother.{{cite book |last=Faludi |first=Susan |author-link=Susan Faludi |title=Backlash: the undeclared war against women |page=69 |publisher=Vintage |location=London |isbn=978-1-4090-4344-7 |date=2010 |chapter=Backlashes then and now}} By the end of the century, a cultural counter movement had begun. Janet Chafetz identified in a study 32 first-wave antifeminist movements, including those in the 19th century and early 20th century movements.{{cite journal |last1=Chafetz |first1=Janet |last2=Dworkin |first2=Anthony |s2cid=145056212 |title=In the face of threat: organized antifeminism in comparative perspective |journal=Gender & Society |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=33–60 |doi=10.1177/089124387001001003 |jstor=190086 |date=March 1987}}

These countermovements were in response to some women's growing demands, which were perceived as threatening to the standard way of life. Though men were not the only antifeminists, men experienced what some have called a "crisis of masculinity"{{Cite journal |last=Kimmel |first=Michael S. |s2cid=145428652 |author-link=Michael Kimmel |title=Men's responses to feminism at the turn of the century |journal=Gender and Society |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=261–283 |doi=10.1177/089124387001003003 |jstor=189564 |date=September 1987}} in response to traditional gender roles being challenged. Men's responses to increased feminism varied. Some men subscribed to feminist ideals, and others became decidedly antifeminist. Antifeminist men cited religious models and natural law to emphasize women's need to return to the private sphere, in order to preserve the current social order.

In the 19th century, one of the major focal points of antifeminism was opposition to women's suffrage, which began as a grassroots movement in 1848 and spanned for 72 years.{{cite journal |last=Dolton |first=Patricia F. |title=The alert collector: women's suffrage movement |journal=Reference and User Services Quarterly |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=31–36 |doi=10.5860/rusq.54n2.31 |date=2014 |doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal |last=Maddux |first=Kristy |s2cid=143856522 |title=When patriots protest: the anti-suffrage discursive transformation of 1917 |journal=Rhetoric & Public Affairs |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=283–310 |doi=10.1353/rap.2005.0012 |date=Fall 2004}} Opponents of women's entry into institutions of higher learning argued that education was too great a physical burden on women. In Sex in Education: or, a Fair Chance for the Girls (1873), Harvard professor Edward Clarke predicted that if women went to college, their brains would grow bigger and heavier, and their wombs would atrophy.{{cite book |last=Clarke |first=Edward H. |title=Sex in education |pages=29, 55 |publisher=Wildside Press |location=Rockville, Md. |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8095-0170-0}} Other antifeminists opposed women's entry into the labor force, their right to join unions, to sit on juries, or to obtain birth control and control of their sexuality.{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jWj5OBvTh1IC&pg=PA35 |chapter=Antifeminism |editor-last1=Kimmel |editor-first1=Michael |editor-last2=Aronson |editor-first2=Amy |editor-link1=Michael Kimmel |editor-link2=Amy Aronson |title=Men and masculinities a social, cultural, and historical encyclopedia |pages=35–37 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, Calif. |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-57607-774-0}}

The pro-family movement appeared in the late 19th century, by about 1870.{{cite journal |last=Adams |first=Michele |s2cid=145588708 |title=Women's rights and wedding bells: 19th-century pro-family rhetoric and (re)enforcement of the gender status quo |journal=Journal of Family Issues |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=501–528 |doi=10.1177/0192513X06297465 |date=April 2007}} This movement was intended to halt the rising divorce rate and reinforce traditional family values. The National League for the Protection of the Family, formerly known as the Divorce Reform League, took over the movement in 1881.{{cite journal |last=Henderson |first=C. R. |title=Reviews: The Report of the National League for the Protection of the Family |journal=American Journal of Sociology |volume=3 |issue=5 |page=705 |doi=10.1086/210751 |date=March 1898 |doi-access=}} Samuel Dike was one of the founders of the League, and was considered an early expert on divorce. Through his efforts, the League garnered attention from pro-family advocates. It underwent a shift from fighting against divorce to promoting marriage and traditional family. Speaking on behalf of the League in an 1887 address to the Evangelical Alliance Conference, Samuel Dike described the ideal family as having "one man and one woman, united in wedlock, together with their children". This movement built the foundation for many pro-family arguments in contemporary antifeminism.

Women's suffrage was achieved in the US in 1920, and early 20th-century antifeminism was primarily focused on fighting this. Suffragists scoffed at antisuffragists. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) from 1904 to 1915, presumed that the antisuffragists were merely working under the influence of male forces.{{cite journal |last=Thurner |first=Manuela |s2cid=144309053 |title="Better citizens without the ballot": American antisuffrage women and their rationale during the progressive era |journal=Journal of Women's History |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=33–60 |doi=10.1353/jowh.2010.0279 |date=Spring 1993}} Later historians tended to dismiss antisuffragists as subscribing to the model of domestic idealism, that a woman's place is in the home. This undermines and belittles the true power and numbers behind the antisuffrage movement, which was primarily led by women themselves.

Arguments employed by antisuffragists at the turn of the century had less to do with a woman's place in the home as much as it had to do with a woman's proper place in the public realm. Leaders of the movement often encouraged other women to leave the home and participate in society. What they opposed was women participating in the political sphere.

There were two reasons antisuffragists opposed women participating in the political realm. Some argued that women were already overburdened. The majority of them, however, argued that a woman's participation in the political realm would hinder her participation in social and civic duties. If they won the right to vote, women would have to align with a particular party, which would destroy their ability to be politically neutral. Antisuffragists feared this would hinder their influence with legislative authorities.

In 1951, two journalists published Washington Confidential. The novel claimed that Communist leaders used their men and women to recruit a variety of minorities in the nation's capital, such as females, colored males, and homosexual males. The popularity of the book led the Civil Service Commission to create a "publicity campaign to improve the image of federal employees"{{Cite journal |last=Storrs |first=Landon R.Y. |title=Attacking the Washington "Femmocracy": antifeminism in the Cold War Campaign against "Communists in Government" |journal=Feminist Studies |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=118–152 |doi=10.2307/20459124 |jstor=20459124 |date=Spring 2007 |doi-access=free}} in hopes to save their federal employees from losing their jobs. This ploy failed once the journalists linked feminism to communism in their novel, and ultimately reinforced antifeminism by implying that defending the "white, Christian, heterosexual, patriarchal family" was the only way to oppose communism.

The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a perennially proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that would grant equal rights and opportunities to every citizen of the United States, regardless of their sex. In 1950 and 1953, ERA was passed by the Senate with a provision known as "the Hayden rider", making it unacceptable to ERA supporters.{{cite web |last=Paul |first=Alice |title=Conversations with Alice Paul: Woman Suffrage and the Equal Rights Amendment (interview with Amelia R. Fry) (November 1972 and May 1973) |url=http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=kt6f59n89c&brand=calisphere&doc.view=entire_text |website=cdlib.org |publisher=Suffragists Oral History Project, University of California, Berkeley |access-date=19 July 2016 |archive-date=6 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160206110547/http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=kt6f59n89c&brand=calisphere&doc.view=entire_text |url-status=live}}{{cite web |last=Freeman |first=Jo |url=http://www.jofreeman.com/lawandpolicy/eraname.htm |title=What's in a Name? Does it matter how the Equal Rights Amendment is worded? |website=jofreeman.com |date=June 1996 |access-date=19 July 2016 |archive-date=18 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118212646/http://www.jofreeman.com/lawandpolicy/eraname.htm |url-status=live}} The Hayden rider was included to keep special protections for women. A new section to the ERA was added, stating: "The provisions of this article shall not be construed to impair any rights, benefits, or exemptions now or hereafter conferred by law upon persons of the female sex." That is, women could keep their existing and future special protections that men did not have.

By 1972, the amendment was supported by both major parties and was immensely popular. However, it was defeated in Congress when it failed to get the vote of 38 legislatures by 1982.{{Cite journal |last=Burris |first=Val |title=Who opposed the ERA? An analysis of the social bases of antifeminism |journal=Social Science Quarterly |volume=64 |issue=2 |pages=305–317 |date=June 1983 |jstor=42874034}} Supporters of an unaltered ERA rejected the Hayden rider, believing an ERA containing the rider did not provide for equality.{{cite book |last=Harrison |first=Cynthia |title=On Account of Sex: The Politics of Women's Issues, 1945–1968 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |pages=31–32 |isbn=978-0-520-06121-7 |year=1988 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/onaccountofsexp00harr_0/page/31/mode/1up?view=theater |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter='Reasonable distinctions': an alternative to the ERA}}

In 1986, Jerome Himmelstein identified two main theories about the appeal of antifeminism and its role in opposition to the ERA. One theory is that it was a clash between upper-class liberal voters and the older, more conservative lower-class rural voters, who often serve as the center for right-wing movements. This theory identifies particular social classes as more inherently friendly to antifeminism. Another theory holds that women who feel vulnerable and dependent upon men, are likely to oppose anything that threatens that tenuous stability. Under this view, while educated, independent career women may support feminism, housewives who lack such resources are more drawn to antifeminism. Himmelstein says both views are at least partially wrong, arguing that the primary dividing line between feminists and antifeminists is cultural, rather than stemming from differences in economic and social status.{{Cite journal |last=Himmelstein |first=Jerome |title=The social basis of antifeminism: Religious networks and culture |journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=1–15 |doi=10.2307/1386059 |jstor=1386059 |date=March 1986}}

There are similarities between income between activists on both sides of the ERA debate. The most indicative factors when predicting ERA position, especially among women, were race, marital status, age, and education.{{cite journal |last=Marshall |first=Susan E. |s2cid=145178814 |title=Who speaks for American Women? The future of antifeminism |journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |volume=515 |issue=1 |pages=50–62 |doi=10.1177/0002716291515001005 |jstor=1046927 |date=May 1991}} ERA opposition was much higher among white, married, older, and less educated citizens. Women who opposed the ERA tended to fit characteristics consistent with the Religious Right.{{cite journal |last1=Brady |first1=David W. |last2=Tedin |first2=Kent L. |title=Ladies in pink: religion and political ideology in the anti-ERA movement |journal=Social Science Quarterly |volume=56 |issue=4 |pages=564–575 |date=March 1976 |jstor=42860411}}

In 1983, Val Burris said that high-income men opposed the amendment, because they would gain the least with it being passed; that those men had the most to lose, since the ratification of the ERA would mean more competition for their jobs and possibly a lowered self-esteem. Because of the support of antifeminism from conservatives and the constant "conservative reactions to liberal social politics", such as the New Deal attacks, the attack on the ERA has been called a "right-wing backlash". In a 2012 study, their methods include actions such as "insults proffered in emails or on the telephone, systematic denigration of feminism in the media, Internet disclosure of confidential information (e.g. addresses) on resources for battered women" and more.

Anti abortion rhetoric largely has religious underpinnings, influence, and is often promoted by activists of strong religious faith.{{Citation |last=Munson |first=Ziad |title=Protest and Religion: The U.S. Pro-Life Movement |date=23 May 2019 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics |url=https://oxfordre.com/politics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228637-e-684 |access-date=28 June 2024 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.684 |isbn=978-0-19-022863-7|url-access=subscription }} The anti-abortion movement protests in the form of educational outreach, political mobilisation, street protests (largely at abortion clinics), and is often aimed at convincing pregnant women to carry their pregnancies to term.

Abortion remains one of the most controversial topics in the United States. Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, and abortion was utilized by many antifeminists to rally supporters. Antiabortion views helped further several right-wing movements, including explicit antifeminism, and helped right-wing politicians rise to power.{{cite journal |last=Petchesky |first=Rosalind Pollack |author-link=Rosalind P. Petchesky |title=Antiabortion, antifeminism, and the rise of the new right |journal=Feminist Studies |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=206–246 |doi=10.2307/3177522 |date=Summer 1981 |jstor=3177522 |hdl=2027/spo.0499697.0007.205 |hdl-access=free}}{{Cite journal |last=Joffe |first=Carole |s2cid=153392612 |title=Abortion and antifeminism |journal=Politics & Society |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=207–211 |doi=10.1177/003232928701500206 |date=June 1987}} Antiabortion writings and conservative commentary in the late 20th century criticized the feminist movement's embrace of the right to abortion as selfish and self-centered, practicing it only out of convenience.

File:Feminazi STOP!.jpg protest an International Women's Day march in Warsaw, 2010]]

Some current antifeminist practices can be traced back to the rise of the Christian right in the late 1970s. Antifeminist internet communities and hashtags include men's rights activists, incels ("involuntary celibates"), pickup artists, "meninism", "Red Pill", #YourSlipisShowing, #gamergate, and Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW). These communities overlap with various white supremacist, authoritarian, and populist movements.{{Cite book |last=Chemaly |first=Soraya |title=Gender Hate Online: Understanding the New Anti-Feminism |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2019 |page=x |isbn=978-3-319-96226-9 |editor-last=Ging |editor-first=Debbie |location=Cham |editor-last2=Siapera |editor-first2=Eugenia |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-96226-9 |chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/bfm:978-3-319-96226-9/1 |chapter-format=PDF |chapter=Foreword}}

In 2014, users of the social media hashtag #WomenAgainstFeminism argued that feminism demonizes men ({{crossref|See Misandry}}) and that women are not oppressed in 21st century Western countries.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28446617 |title=#BBCtrending: Meet the 'Women Against Feminism' |last1=Brosnan |first1=Greg |date=24 July 2014 |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |access-date=24 July 2014 |archive-date=14 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170414140430/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28446617 |url-status=live}}{{cite news |last=Kim |first=Eun Kyung |url=http://www.today.com/news/feminism-still-relevant-some-women-saying-they-dont-need-it-1D79996867 |title=Is feminism still relevant? Some women saying they don't need it |work=Today |publisher=NBC |date=30 July 2014 |access-date=1 August 2014 |archive-date=16 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181016143858/https://www.today.com/news/feminism-still-relevant-some-women-saying-they-dont-need-it-1D79996867 |url-status=live}}{{cite news |last=Boesveld |first=Sarah |url=http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/07/25/not-all-feminists-how-modern-feminism-has-become-complicated-messy-personal-and-sometimes-alienating/ |title=Not all feminists: How modern feminism has become complicated, messy and sometimes alienating |work=National Post |publisher=Postmedia Network Inc. |date=25 July 2014 |access-date=1 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150324205240/http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/07/25/not-all-feminists-how-modern-feminism-has-become-complicated-messy-personal-and-sometimes-alienating/ |archive-date=24 March 2015 |url-status=dead}}{{cite news |last=Durgin |first=Celina |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/article/383683/anti-feminists-baffle-feminists-celina-durgin |title=Anti-feminists baffle feminists |work=National Review |publisher=National Review, Inc. |date=28 July 2014 |access-date=1 August 2014 |archive-date=8 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008095041/http://www.nationalreview.com/article/383683/anti-feminists-baffle-feminists-celina-durgin |url-status=live}} A meta-analysis in 2023 published in the journal Psychology of Women Quarterly investigated the stereotype of feminists' attitudes to men and concluded that feminist views of men were no different to that of non-feminists or men towards men and titled the phenomenon the misandry myth – "We term the focal stereotype the misandry myth in light of the evidence that it is false and widespread, and discuss its implications for the movement."{{cite journal |title=The Misandry Myth: An Inaccurate Stereotype About Feminists' Attitudes Toward Men |date=2024 |last1=Hopkins-Doyle |first1=A. |last2=Petterson |first2=A. L. |last3=Leach |first3=S. |last4=Zibell |first4=H. |last5=Chobthamkit |first5=P. |last6=Binti Abdul Rahim |first6=S. |last7=Blake |first7=J. |last8=Bosco |first8=C. |last9=Cherrie-Rees |first9=K. |last10=Beadle |first10=A. |last11=Cock |first11=V. |last12=Greer |first12=H. |last13=Jankowska |first13=A. |last14=Macdonald |first14=K. |last15=Scott English |first15=A. |last16=Wai Lan YEUNG |first16=V. |last17=Asano |first17=R. |last18=Beattie |first18=P. |last19=Bernardo |first19=A. B. I. |last20=Sutton |first20=R. M. |display-authors=5 |doi=10.1177/03616843231202708 |doi-access=free |journal=Psychology of Women Quarterly |volume=48 |issue=1 |pages=8–37 |issn=1471-6402}}

Many scholars consider the men's rights movement a backlash{{Multiref2 |{{cite book |last1=Clatterbaugh |first1=Kenneth |title=International Encyclopedia of Men and Masculinities |date=2007a |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-33343-6 |editor1-last=Flood |editor1-first=Michael |pages=430–433 |chapter=Men's Rights |quote=The concept of men's rights embraces a variety of points of view that are overwhelmingly hostile to feminism or pro-feminism. |editor2-last=Gardiner |editor2-first=Judith Kegan |editor3-last=Pease |editor3-first=Bob |editor4-last=Pringle |editor4-first=Keith}} |{{cite journal |last=Maddison |first=Sarah |year=1999 |title=Private Men, Public Anger: The Men's Rights Movement in Australia |url=http://newcastle.edu.au/Resources/Schools/Humanities%20and%20Social%20Science/JIGS/JIGSV4N2_039.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=39–52 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020163216/https://newcastle.edu.au/Resources/Schools/Humanities%20and%20Social%20Science/JIGS/JIGSV4N2_039.pdf |archive-date=20 October 2013}} |{{cite book |last1=Doyle |first1=Ciara |title=Citizenship Revisited: Threats or Opportunities of Shifting Boundaries |publisher=Nova Publishers |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-59033-900-8 |editor1-last=Herrman |editor1-first=Peter |location=New York |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=HdLVGgJQ0mUC&pg=PA61 61–62] |chapter=The Fathers' Rights Movement: Extending Patriarchal Control Beyond the Marital Family}} |{{cite book |last1=Flood |first1=Michael |author-link1=Michael Flood |title=Handbook of Studies on Men and Masculinities |publisher=SAGE Publications |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-7619-2369-5 |editor1-last=Kimmel |editor1-first=Michael S. |editor1-link=Michael Kimmel |location=Thousand Oaks, Calif. |page=459 |chapter=Men's Collective Struggles for Gender Justice: The Case of Antiviolence Activism |editor2-last=Hearn |editor2-first=Jeff |editor3-last=Connell |editor3-first=Raewyn |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UvAZD45BMDoC&pg=PA459}} |{{cite web |last1=Finocchiaro |first1=Peter |date=29 March 2011 |title=Is the men's rights movement growing? |url=http://www.salon.com/2011/03/29/scott_adams_mens_rights_movement/ |access-date=10 March 2013 |work=Salon}} |{{cite book |last=Messner |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Messner |title=Politics of Masculinities: Men in Movements |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-8039-5577-6 |location=Lanham, Md. |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=nG8MGcopgWQC&pg=PA41 41]}} |{{cite book |last1=Solinger |first1=Rickie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gfem7O38h6MC&pg=PP130 |title=Reproductive Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-19-981141-0 |page=130}} |{{cite book |last1=Menzies |first1=Robert |title=Reaction and Resistance: Feminism, Law, and Social Change |publisher=University of British Columbia Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7748-1411-9 |editor1-last=Boyd |editor1-first=Susan B |location=Vancouver |pages=65–97 |chapter=Virtual Backlash: Representation of Men's 'Rights' and Feminist 'Wrongs' in Cyberspace |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ASc568aunFoC&pg=PA65}} |{{cite book |last1=Dunphy |first1=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NVPQkt0bVpAC&pg=PA88 |title=Sexual Politics: An Introduction |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-7486-1247-5 |location=Edinburgh |page=88}} |{{Cite journal |last=Mills |first=Martin |year=2003 |title=Shaping the boys' agenda: the backlash blockbusters |journal=International Journal of Inclusive Education |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=57–73 |doi=10.1080/13603110210143644 |s2cid=144875158}} }} or countermovement{{cite journal |last=Williams |first=Rhys H. |author-link=Rhys H. Williams (sociologist) |year=1995 |title=Constructing the Public Good: Social Movements and Cultural Resources |journal=Social Problems |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=134–135 |citeseerx=10.1.1.1016.677 |doi=10.2307/3097008 |jstor=3097008 |quote=Another example of contractual model rhetoric is in the language of the Men's Rights movement. As a countermovement to the feminist movement, it has concentrated on areas generally thought of as family law—especially divorce and child custody laws. The movement charges that maternal preference in child custody decisions is an example of gender prejudice, with men the ones who are systematically disadvantaged [...] Men's Rights groups [...] have adopted much of the rhetoric of the early liberal feminist movement [...] Similarly, along with the appeal to 'equal rights for fathers' [...] the Men's Rights movement also uses a rhetoric of children's 'needs' [...] The needs rhetoric helps offset charges that their rights language is motivated by self-interest alone.}} to feminism. The men's rights movement generally incorporates points of view that reject feminist and profeminist ideas.{{sfn|Clatterbaugh|2007a}}{{r|Messner 1998}} Men's rights activists say feminism has radicalized its objective and harmed men.{{cite journal |last=Messner |first=Michael A. |author-link=Michael Messner |date=June 1998 |title=The limits of 'The Male Sex Role': an analysis of the men's liberation and men's rights movements' discourse |url=http://www.michaelmessner.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Gender-Society-1998-MESSNER-255-76.pdf |journal=Gender & Society |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=255–276 |doi=10.1177/0891243298012003002 |jstor=190285 |s2cid=143890298}}{{cite journal |last=Maddison |first=Sarah |year=1999 |title=Private Men, Public Anger: The Men's Rights Movement in Australia |url=http://newcastle.edu.au/Resources/Schools/Humanities%20and%20Social%20Science/JIGS/JIGSV4N2_039.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=39–52 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020163216/https://newcastle.edu.au/Resources/Schools/Humanities%20and%20Social%20Science/JIGS/JIGSV4N2_039.pdf |archive-date=20 October 2013}}{{cite book |last1=Cahill |first1=Charlotte |title=Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-84972-713-6 |editor1-last=Chapman |editor1-first=Roger |location=Armonk, N.Y. |pages=354–356 |chapter=Men's movement |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vRY27FkGJAUC&pg=PA355}}{{cite journal |last=Allen |first=Jonathan A. |date=9 March 2015 |title=Phallic Affect |journal=Men and Masculinities |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=22–41 |doi=10.1177/1097184X15574338 |s2cid=147829870 |quote=The men's rights movement is distinct from other explorations of masculinity insofar as the movement itself is fundamentally situated in opposition to feminist theory and activism.}} Men's rights activists believe that men are victims of feminism and "feminizing" influences in society,{{cite journal |last=Allen |first=Jonathan A. |date=9 March 2015 |title=Phallic Affect |journal=Men and Masculinities |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=22–41 |doi=10.1177/1097184X15574338 |s2cid=147829870}} and that entities such as public institutions now discriminate against men.{{cite book |last=Beasley |first=Chris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f2qM2ULqDK0C&pg=PA180 |title=Gender and Sexuality: Critical Theories, Critical Thinkers |publisher=SAGE Publications |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-7619-6979-2 |location=Thousand Oaks, Calif. |page=180}}

The website Jezebel has also reported on an increasing number of women and female celebrities rejecting feminism and instead subscribing to humanism.{{cite web |last1=Dries |first1=Kate |title=The many misguided reasons famous ladies say 'I'm Not a Feminist' |url=http://jezebel.com/the-many-misguided-reasons-famous-ladies-say-im-not-a-1456405014 |website=jezebel.com |date=2 November 2013 |publisher=Gawker Media |access-date=14 August 2014 |archive-date=21 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321114239/https://jezebel.com/the-many-misguided-reasons-famous-ladies-say-im-not-a-1456405014 |url-status=live}}

In response to the social media trend, modern day feminists also began to upload similar pictures to websites such as Twitter and Tumblr. Most used the same hashtag, "womenagainstfeminism", but instead made satirical and bluntly parodic comments.{{cite news |last=Chang |first=Charis |title=#WomenAgainstFeminism goes viral as people explain why they don't need feminism anymore |url=http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/womenagainstfeminism-goes-viral-as-people-explain-why-they-dont-need-feminism-anymore/story-fnixwvgh-1227010590106 |work=news.com.au |access-date=13 August 2014 |archive-date=12 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812234858/http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/womenagainstfeminism-goes-viral-as-people-explain-why-they-dont-need-feminism-anymore/story-fnixwvgh-1227010590106 |url-status=live}} In November 2014, Time magazine included "feminist" on its annual list of proposed banished words. After initially receiving the majority of votes (51%), a Time editor apologized for including the word in the poll and removed it from the results.{{cite magazine |last=Steinmetz |first=Katy |title=Which word should be banned in 2015? |url=https://time.com/3576870/worst-words-poll-2014/#3576870/worst-words-poll-2014/ |magazine=Time |date=12 November 2014 |url-access=limited |access-date=18 November 2014 |archive-date=10 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010093600/http://time.com/3576870/worst-words-poll-2014/#3576870/worst-words-poll-2014/ |url-status=live}}{{cite news |last=Rabouin |first=Dion |title=Time Magazine apologizes for including 'feminist' in 2015 word banishment poll |url=http://www.ibtimes.com/time-magazine-apologizes-including-feminist-2015-word-banishment-poll-1724372#.VGlJ9TkPlMY.twitter |work=International Business Times |date=15 November 2014 |access-date=18 November 2014 |archive-date=16 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181016081403/https://www.ibtimes.com/time-magazine-apologizes-including-feminist-2015-word-banishment-poll-1724372#.VGlJ9TkPlMY.twitter |url-status=live}}

In March 2019, the {{interlanguage link|Verein Deutsche Sprache|de}} ("German Language Association"), an advocacy group for German language purism, organized a petition proclaiming that billions of Euros are being wasted in Germany on "gender gaga" (gender-neutral language and gender studies). This is money the organization believes can be better used to fund hospitals, natural science faculties and virus research institutes.{{Cite web |last=Debionne |first=Philippe |title=Verein macht Gender-Studien für fehlende Finanzmittel bei Virusforschung verantwortlich |url=https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/politik-gesellschaft/verein-macht-gender-studien-fuer-fehlende-finanzmittel-bei-virusforschung-verantwortlich-li.79789 |access-date=24 May 2022 |website=Berliner Zeitung |date=28 March 2020 |language=de |archive-date=30 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210730053054/https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/politik-gesellschaft/verein-macht-gender-studien-fuer-fehlende-finanzmittel-bei-virusforschung-verantwortlich-li.79789 |url-status=live}}

In April 2022, far-right political party Leviathan, with a significant public profile of almost 300,000 Facebook followers, missed out on a seat in parliament in Serbia's 2022 election. The Leviathan party portrays migrants as criminals, and themselves as the defenders of Serbian women. The group has been praised by some in Serbia for defending 'traditional family values' and hierarchical gender roles, while opposing the empowerment of women and feminist ideologies.{{Cite web |date=10 May 2022 |title=Extreme Entitlement: Misogyny, Anti-Feminism in Far-Right Recruitment |url=https://balkaninsight.com/2022/05/10/extreme-entitlement-misogyny-anti-feminism-in-far-right-recruitment/ |access-date=24 May 2022 |website=Balkan Insight |language=en-US |archive-date=18 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220518120147/https://balkaninsight.com/2022/05/10/extreme-entitlement-misogyny-anti-feminism-in-far-right-recruitment/ |url-status=live}}

Social improvements by women have sparked an anti-feminist backlash, in which disgruntled young men have become vocal critics of feminism and feminist women who speak out in public. Yoon Suk-yeol narrowly won South Korea's 2022 presidential election. During his run for presidency, he called for the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family to be abolished, and accused its officials of treating men like "potential sex criminals."{{Cite magazine |title=How South Korea's Next President Capitalized on Anti-Feminist Backlash |url=https://time.com/6156537/south-korea-president-yoon-suk-yeol-sexism/ |access-date=24 May 2022 |magazine=Time |language=en |url-access=limited |archive-date=24 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220524071322/https://time.com/6156537/south-korea-president-yoon-suk-yeol-sexism/ |url-status=live}} Yoon also said that he doesn't think systemic structural discrimination based on gender exists in South Korea. However, Korean women are near the bottom of the developed world according to several economic and social indicators.{{Cite web |last=Seoul |first=Raphael Rashid in |date=11 March 2022 |title='Devastated': gender equality hopes on hold as 'anti-feminist' voted South Korea's president |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/11/south-korea-gender-equality-anti-feminist-president-yoon-suk-yeol |access-date=2 August 2022 |website=the Guardian |language=en |archive-date=13 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813135207/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/11/south-korea-gender-equality-anti-feminist-president-yoon-suk-yeol |url-status=live}}

Despite decades of anti-discriminatory gender policies and better education for women, there is persistent discrimination of gender in workplaces in South Korea.{{Cite journal |last=Hwang |first=Y. J |date=2 January 2022 |title=Borderline society and 'rebellious mourning': the case of South Korean feminist activism |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14682761.2021.1874106 |journal=Studies in Theatre and Performance |language=en |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=32–46 |doi=10.1080/14682761.2021.1874106 |issn=1468-2761|url-access=subscription }} The reasons for this is due to the lack of legal and inefficient enforcement of the gender-based policies. The punishment for gender-based crimes is weak. The culture of South Korea typically favors male dominance which influences the organizational structure of workplaces and boosts societal pressures for women.

Driven by public anger and media coverage, South Korea has seen a boost in actions against sex crimes since the mid 2000's. South Korean K-WomenLink has advocated for systems to support the survivors of sexual violence whilst highlighting the deficiencies in the system. Cases with high influence of victim-blaming, flawed procedures, moreover cases involving individuals (perpetrators) in high social positions were challenged by the organization.

There has been a hashtag, that was popular on Twitter in South Korea "#iamafeminist" which normalized the term "feminism", in a society where it was once unacceptable. This hashtag facilitated feminist activism and played a role against misogyny, where identification as a feminist is often stigmatized.{{Cite journal |last=Kim |first=Jinsook |date=3 September 2017 |title=#iamafeminist as the "mother tag": feminist identification and activism against misogyny on Twitter in South Korea |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14680777.2017.1283343 |journal=Feminist Media Studies |language=en |volume=17 |issue=5 |pages=804–820 |doi=10.1080/14680777.2017.1283343 |issn=1468-0777|url-access=subscription }} The expression of feminist identity was utilized through this hashtag, and people started to discuss their personal experiences that were related to gender inequality. The hashtag was used for a variety of issues, where not only feminists and activists, but also ordinary individuals shared their hardships on housework, equal pay, sexual harassment, etc.

File:STOP ERA.gif

Founded in the U.S. by Phyllis Schlafly in 1972, Stop ERA, now known as "Eagle Forum", lobbied successfully to block the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment in the U.S.{{cite book |last=Marshall |first=Susan E. |editor1-last=Tierney |editor1-first=Helen |title=Women's Studies Encyclopedia: A–F |edition=revised |date=1999 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, Conn. |isbn=978-0-313-29620-8 |page=95 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/womensstudiesenc0001unse/page/95/mode/1up?view=theater |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter=Antifeminist Movements}} It was also Schlafly who forged links between Stop ERA and other conservative organizations, as well as single-issue groups against abortion, pornography, gun control, and unions. By integrating Stop ERA with the thus-dubbed "New Right", she was able to leverage a wider range of technological, organizational and political resources, successfully targeting pro-feminist candidates for defeat.

In India, the Save Indian Family Foundation is an antifeminist organization{{cite journal |last=Basu |first=Srimati |s2cid=144414017 |title=Playing off courts: the negotiation of divorce and violence in plural legal settings in Kolkata |journal=The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law |volume=38 |issue=52 |pages=41–75 |doi=10.1080/07329113.2006.10756591 |date=2006 |citeseerx=10.1.1.485.7052}} opposed to a number of laws that they claim to have been used against men.{{cite book |editor-last1=Dasgupta |editor-first1=Rohit K. |editor-last2=Gokulsing |editor-first2=K. Moti |title=Masculinity and its challenges in India: essays on changing perceptions |page=65 |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers |location=Jefferson, N.C. |isbn=978-0-7864-7224-6 |date=2013 |chapter=Critical masculinity studies in India |last=Kulkarni |first=Mangesh}}

The Concerned Women of America (CWA) are also an antifeminist organization. Like other conservative women's groups, they oppose abortion and same-sex marriage and make appeals for maternalism and biological differences between women and men.{{cite book |last=Schreiber |first=Ronnee |title=Righting feminism: conservative women and American politics |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-19-533181-3}}{{cite journal |last=Schreiber |first=Ronnee |s2cid=140980839 |title=Injecting a woman's voice: Conservative women's organizations, gender consciousness, and the expression of women's policy preferences |journal=Sex Roles |volume=47 |issue=7–8 |pages=331–341 |doi=10.1023/A:1021479030885 |date=October 2002}}

The Independent Women's Forum (IWF) is another antifeminist, conservative, women-oriented group. It's younger and less established than the CWA, though the two organizations are often discussed in relation to each other. It was founded to take on the "old feminist establishment". Both of these organizations pride themselves on rallying women who do not identify with feminist rhetoric together. These organizations frame themselves as being by women, for women, in order to fight the idea that feminism is the only women-oriented ideology. These organizations chastise feminists for presuming to universally speak for all women. The IWF claims to be "the voice of reasonable women with important ideas who embrace common sense over divisive ideology".

Another antifeminist merger, which is not yet an acknowledged organization but became a large movement, is the "incel" movement, an internet-culture, which is increasingly widespread via online forums, especially in the US. After the term came up the first time by a woman in the 1990s to define feelings of social awkwardness, in began that the term was used in other contexts. Lately, the term incel is composed of the words "involuntarily" and "celibate" (sexual abstinence) and it is mostly young men in their mid-twenties, identifying with the incel movement, whose overall themes consist of failure and frustration what for they accuse woman and society's structure changes of experiencing a shortage of sexual activity and romantic success, how the Anti-Defamation League defined that movement.

The movement can be classified as misogynist, violent and extremist. Some incels are considered as a danger to the public as well as to individuals, especially women. Their ideology consists of antifeminist ideologies, according to which a hierarchy, based on appearance determines access to sexual relationships and recognition in society, as well as the belief in "hypergamy", that woman use their sexuality for social advancement, which would make them sexually selective and ultimately leads to the third ideology of the rejection of feminism.

According to the German Federal Agency for Civic Education, their hierarchy is composed by three classes of men, the attractive men at the top, as "chads" or "alphas", followed by the so called "normies", the normal men and finally the incels as the loser of the system. With their allegations, they claim to have a fundamental right to sex, which they are denied. In addition to the accusations towards women, their beliefs are anti-immigrant, as their hatred is also directed against migrants, who would take away their sexual partners.

According to Amherst College sociology professor Jerome L. Himmelstein, antifeminism is rooted in social stigmas against feminism and is thus a purely reactionary movement. Himmelstein identifies two prevailing theories that seek to explain the origins of antifeminism: the first theory, proposed by Himmelstein, is that conservative opposition in the abortion and Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) debates has created a climate of hostility toward the entire feminist movement.

The second theory Himmelstein identifies states that the female antifeminists who lead the movement are largely married, low education, and low personal income women who embody the "insecure housewife scenario" and seek to perpetuate their own situation in which women depend on men for fiscal support. However, numerous studies have failed to correlate the aforementioned demographic factors with support for antifeminism, and only religiosity correlates positively with antifeminist alignment.

Authors Janet Saltzman Chafetz and Anthony Gary Dworkin, writing for Gender and Society, argue that the organizations most likely to formally organize against feminism are religious. This is because women's movements may demand access to male-dominated positions within the religious sector, like the clergy, and women's movements threaten male-oriented values of some religions. The more successful a feminist movement is in challenging the authority of male-dominated groups, the more these groups will organize a countermovement.

University of Illinois at Chicago sociology professor Danielle Giffort argues that the stigma against feminism created by antifeminists has resulted in organizations that practice "implicit feminism", which she defines as the "strategy practiced by feminist activists within organizations that are operating in an anti- and post-feminist environment in which they conceal feminist identities and ideas while emphasizing the more socially acceptable angles of their efforts".{{cite journal |last=Giffort |first=Danielle M. |s2cid=145503177 |title=Show or tell? Feminist dilemmas and implicit feminism at girls' rock camp |journal=Gender & Society |volume=25 |issue=5 |pages=569–588 |doi=10.1177/0891243211415978 |jstor=23044173 |date=October 2011}}

Due to the stigma against feminism, some activists, such as those involved with Girls Rock, may take the principles of feminism as a foundation of thought and teach girls and women independence and self-reliance without explicitly labeling it with the stigmatized brand of feminism. Thus, most women continue to practice feminism in terms of seeking equality and independence for women, yet avoid the label.

Antifeminism has been identified as an underlying motivation for far-right extremism.{{cite book |last1=Träbert |first1=Alva |editor1-last=Köttig |editor1-first=M. |editor2-last=Bitzan |editor2-first=R. |editor3-last=Petö |editor3-first=A. |title=Gender and Far Right Politics in Europe |date=2017 |publisher=Springer International Publishing |isbn=978-3-319-43533-6 |pages=273–288 |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-43533-6_18 |chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-3-319-43533-6_18 |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter=At the Mercy of Femocracy? Networks and Ideological Links Between Far-Right Movements and the Antifeminist Men's Rights Movement}}{{cite book |last1=Fielitz |first1=Maik |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_OtevgEACAAJ |title=Post-Digital Cultures of the Far Right: Online Actions and Offline Consequences in Europe and the US |last2=Thurston |first2=Nick |date=2019 |publisher=Transcript Verlag |isbn=978-3-8376-4670-2 |chapter=Bet ween Anti-Feminism and Ethnicized Sexism |via=Google Books |access-date=8 December 2021 |archive-date=16 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416154006/https://books.google.com/books?id=_OtevgEACAAJ |url-status=live}}{{cite journal |last1=Lorentzen |first1=Maia Kahlke |last2=Shakir |first2=Kevin |date=1 June 2020 |title=The Anti-Feminism of the Far-Right Imageboard Terrorists |journal=Conjunctions |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=000010714671119855 |doi=10.7146/tjcp.v7i1.119855 |doi-broken-date=28 November 2024 |issn=2246-3755 |doi-access=free}} For example, the perpetrators of the Christchurch massacre and the El Paso shooting appear to have been motivated by the conspiracy theory that white people are being replaced by non-whites largely as a result of feminist stances in Western societies.{{Cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/08/anti-feminism-gateway-far-right/595642/ |title=To Learn About the Far Right, Start With the 'Manosphere' |last=Lewis |first=Helen |date=7 August 2019 |website=The Atlantic |language=en-US |access-date=6 April 2020 |url-access=limited |archive-date=14 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614063619/https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/08/anti-feminism-gateway-far-right/595642/ |url-status=live}}

Many who affiliate with the white nationalist alt-right movement are antifeminist,{{cite news |last=Stack |first=Liam |title=Alt-right, alt-left, antifa: a glossary of extremist language |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/15/us/politics/alt-left-alt-right-glossary.html |date=15 August 2017 |work=The New York Times |access-date=26 October 2017 |url-access=limited |archive-date=17 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217033111/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/15/us/politics/alt-left-alt-right-glossary.html |url-status=live}}{{Cite book |title=Making Sense of the Alt-Right |publisher=Columbia University Press |last=Hawley |first=George |page=17}} with antifeminism and resentment of women being a common recruitment gateway into the movement.{{cite news |url=https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/alt-right-in-montreal-the-war-against-women |work=Montreal Gazette |date=20 May 2018 |title=Alt-right in Montreal: The war against women |first1=Shannon |last1=Carranco |first2=Jon |last2=Milton |first3=Christopher |last3=Curtis |access-date=1 April 2019 |archive-date=1 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401141803/https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/alt-right-in-montreal-the-war-against-women |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.vox.com/culture/2016/12/14/13576192/alt-right-sexism-recruitment |work=Vox |date=14 December 2016 |first=Aja |last=Romano |title=How the alt-right's sexism lures men into white supremacy |access-date=1 April 2019 |archive-date=10 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810025059/https://www.vox.com/culture/2016/12/14/13576192/alt-right-sexism-recruitment |url-status=live}}

Media researcher Michele White argues that contemporary antifeminism often supports antisemitism and white supremacy, citing the example of the Neo-Nazi websites Stormfront and The Daily Stormer, which often claim that feminism represents a Jewish plot to destroy Western civilization.{{cite book |last1=White |first1=Michele |editor1-last=White |editor1-first=Michele |editor2-last=Negra |editor2-first=Diane |title=Anti-Feminisms in Media Culture |date=2022 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=978-1-0030-9021-2 |pages=1–24 |edition=1st |chapter=An Introduction to and Critique of Anti-feminisms |doi=10.4324/9781003090212-1 |s2cid=246953267}}{{page needed|date=December 2022}}

According to Helen Lewis, the far-right ideology considers it vital to control female reproduction and sexuality: "Misogyny is used predominantly as the first outreach mechanism", where "You were owed something, or your life should have been X, but because of the ridiculous things feminists are doing, you can't access them." Similar strands of thought are found in the incel subculture, which centers around misogynist fantasies about punishing women for not having sex with them.{{cite news |last1=Ling |first1=Justin |title='Not as ironic as I imagined': the incels spokesman on why he is renouncing them |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/19/incels-why-jack-peterson-left-elliot-rodger |work=The Guardian |date=19 June 2018 |access-date=6 April 2020 |archive-date=3 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200503125754/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/19/incels-why-jack-peterson-left-elliot-rodger |url-status=live}}

The rise of the radical right since the 1980s{{Cite journal |last=Art |first=David |date=2013 |title=Rise of the Radical Right: Implications for European Politics |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24590825 |journal=Brown Journal of World Affairs |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=127–137 |jstor=24590825}} is, if one focuses on Europe is also accompanied by antifeminist approaches,{{Cite web |last=Zandt |first=Florian |date=18 April 2024 |title=Wie Rechtspopulismus in Europa Fuß fasst |url=https://de.statista.com/infografik/31323/stimmanteile-der-staerksten--extrem--rechten-parteien-in-ausgewaehlten-laendern-bei-den-letzten-parlamentswahlen/ |access-date=25 June 2024 |website=statista.com}} since the political approach of right-wing extremist parties is mostly based on a "patriarchal constitution".{{Cite book |last1=Hentges |last2=Nottbohm |first1=G. |first2=K. |chapter=Die Verbindung von Antifeminismus und Europakritik. Positionen der Parteien "Alternative für Deutschland" und "Front National" |trans-title=The connection between anti-feminism and criticism of Europe. Positions of the parties 'Alternative for Germany' and 'Front National' |date=2017 |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-14951-2_8 |editor-last1=Hentges |editor-first1=G. |editor-last2=Nottbohm |editor-first2=K. |editor-last3=Platzer |editor-first3=HW. |title=Europäische Identität in der Krise? |pages=167–208 |doi=10.1007/978-3-658-14951-2_8 |isbn=978-3-658-14950-5 |language=de}} Hostile narratives are seen in feminism, in addition to immigration and Judaism, which are reacted primarily with xenophobia.{{Cite book |last=Jasser |first=Greta |date=2023 |title=Antifeminismus und LGBTQAI* – Feindlichkeit als Brückennarrative der Radikalen Rechten |chapter=Antifeminismus und LGTBQIA*-Feindlichkeit als Brückennarrative der Radikalen Rechten |language=de |journal=Demokratie-Dialog |series=Demokratie-Dialog: Werkstattbericht FoDEx |doi=10.17875/gup2023-2461 |pages=26–69 |location=Göttingen}} As the current european governments clarify, a conservative, sexist environment does not oppose the participation of woman in these contexts.

Anti-feminist conservative family and migration policies are pursued by woman-led governments themselves, together with right-wing populist ones. For example through the narrative of a mother, used by Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister,{{Cite web |date=22 May 2024 |title=Die Rechtsaußen-Parteien gewinnen an Einfluss |url=https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/rechtspopulismus-rechtsextremismus-europa-rechtsruck-100.html |access-date=25 June 2024 |website=deutschlandfunk.de}} or by Marine Le Pen, former leader of the national Rally party, who presents herself as the "modern mother of the nation". But this by no means has a feminist approach, because along with right-wing populist approaches, Le Pen also pursues a pro-natalist policy in the National Front party, that does not aim at equality, but rather grants women primarily reproductive functions. However, women with anti-feminism attitudes can take advantage of the fact that a "feminine image" leads to their being perceived as less radical and far-right. Taking advantage of gender-specific attributions would be therefore an important contribution to the normalization and demonization strategy of anti-feminist and far-right approaches.

{{Div col|colwidth=24em}}

• Backlash (sociology)
• École Polytechnique massacre
• Feminazi
• Incel
• The Manipulated Man
• Manosphere
• Men's rights movement
• Sexism
• Social justice warrior

{{Div col end}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite journal |last=Faraut |first=Martine |date=2003 |title=Women resisting the vote: a case of anti-feminism? |journal=Women's History Review |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=605–621 |doi=10.1080/09612020300200376 |s2cid=145708717 |doi-access=free}}
• {{cite book |editor-last=Howard |editor-first=Angela |editor-last2=Adams Tarrant |editor-first2=Sasha Ranaé |title=Opposition to the Women's Movement in the United States, 1848-1929 |series=Antifeminism in America: A Collection of Readings From the Literature of the Opponents to U.S. Feminism, 1848 to the Present |volume=1 |date=1997 |publisher=Garland Publishing |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8153-2713-4}}
• {{Cite book |editor-last=Howard |editor-first=Angela |editor-last2=Adams Tarrant |editor-first2=Sasha Ranaé |title=Reaction to the Modern Women's Movement, 1963 to the Present |series=Antifeminism in America: A Collection of Readings From the Literature of the Opponents to U.S Feminism, 1848 to the Present |volume=3 |date=1997 |publisher=Garland Publishing |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8153-2715-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/reactiontomodern0000unse/page/n6/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access=registration}}
• {{Cite book |editor-last=Howard |editor-first=Angela |editor-last2=Adams Tarrant |editor-first2=Sasha Ranaé |title=Redefining the New Woman, 1920–1963 |series=Antifeminism in America: A Collection of Readings From the Literature of the Opponents to U.S. Feminism, 1848 to the Present |volume=2 |date=1997 |publisher=Garland Publishing |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8153-2714-1}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Kampwirth |first=Karen |date=2006 |title=Resisting the feminist threat: antifeminist politics in post-Sandinista Nicaragua |journal=NWSA Journal |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=73–100 |doi=10.2979/NWS.2006.18.2.73 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |s2cid=145487146 |jstor=4317208}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Kampwirth |first=Karen |date=2003 |title=Arnoldo Alemán takes on the NGOs: antifeminism and the new populism in Nicaragua |journal=Latin American Politics and Society |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=133–158 |doi=10.1111/j.1548-2456.2003.tb00243.x |jstor=3176982 |s2cid=153608755}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Kampwirth |first=Karen |date=1998 |title=Feminism, antifeminism, and electoral politics in post-war Nicaragua and El Salvador |journal=Political Science Quarterly |volume=113 |issue=2 |pages=259–279 |doi=10.2307/2657856 |jstor=2657856}}
• {{Cite book |last=Kinnard |first=Cynthia D. |title=Antifeminism in American thought: an annotated bibliography |publisher=G.K. Hall & Co. |date=1986 |isbn=978-0-8161-8122-3 |location=Boston, Mass. |url=https://archive.org/details/antifeminisminam0000kinn/page/n8/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access=registration}}
• {{Cite book |last=Mansbridge |first=Jane |title=Why we lost the ERA |publisher=University of Chicago Press |date=1986 |isbn=978-0-226-50357-8 |author-link=Jane Mansbridge |url=https://archive.org/details/whywelostera0000mans/page/n6/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access=registration}}
• {{Cite book |last=Nielsen |first=Kim E. |title=Un-American womanhood : antiradicalism, antifeminism, and the first Red Scare |publisher=Ohio State University Press 978-0-8142-0882-3 |date=2001 |isbn=978-0-8142-0882-3 |location=Columbus |author-link=Kim E. Nielsen}}
• {{cite magazine |last1=Price-Robertson |first1=Rhys |title=Anti-feminist men's groups in Australia (An interview with Michael Flood) |url=http://xyonline.net/content/anti-feminist-mens-groups-australia-interview-michael-flood |format=PDF |magazine=DVRCV Quarterly |via=Xyonline.net |publisher=Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria |location=Collingwood, Vic. |pages=10–13 |edition=3 |date=Spring 2012 |issn=1838-7926}}
• {{Cite book |last=Schreiber |first=Ronnee |title=Righting feminism: conservative women and American politics |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2008 |isbn=978-0-19-533181-3 |location=New York}}
• {{Cite book |last=Swanson |first=Gillian |title=Antifeminism in America: A Historical Reader |publisher=Routledge |date=2013 |orig-year=first published 1999 |location=New York |isbn=978-1-3150-5197-0 |doi=10.4324/9781315051970 |edition=1st}}

• {{Commons category-inline|Antifeminism}}
• {{wiktionary-inline|antifeminism}}

{{Feminism}}

{{Masculism}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Social movements

Category:Criticism of feminism