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ANTI

By Caroline Turner

“Sticks and Stones Might Break My Bones…

But Your Words Can Never Hurt Me.”

Photo cred: Anti suffragettes postcard (c.1909) face of an ugly dimwitted woman -Wikimedia Commons

For years since the women’s suffrage era and the women’s rights movement, there has been opposition. Stemming from fear and hate, cruel images and fear mongering have been used to cut back, curtail, and end action that women have taken to obtain the same rights that men have. Propaganda worked largely to subdue the need for women to have these rights, and turned the suffragettes’ image into an ugly, violent, silly, monstrous abruption to society.

Many know of the suffrage movement, but not many are aware of the Anti-suffrage movement that also took place.

Women’s rights were posed as a threat to almost every facet of life- the home, children, marriage, jobs, business, politics, would all be at the stake if women were involved. Women were seen as a menace, dangerous, and catastrophic to the institutions and the glue of everyday life.

Today we now can see that none of these fearful effects actually happened. More rights and mobility for women led to more education, discovery and growth, and did not once undermine the role of males. It actually opened up mobility for men in turn by broadening their expectations and possibilities as well.

Photo cred: Anti-Suffrage Postcard, c. 1910 (22754363186).jpg -Wikimedia Commons

Although some rights were won, there are still many to go. Women face everyday battles and we are still catching up. This makes sense realizing that only into the 20th century woman began to acquire what we now view as basic rights such as the right to own property, right to vote, right to work, etc.  – which means 19 centuries of our history, institutions, families, completely shut out (or in) and silenced women.

People in present day are shocked that women are taking action to obtain the same rights men have, such as safety and security. There has been lots of progress, lots of change. But more change needs to happen.

I recently became alarmed to learn of a new, contemporary way of fear-mongering and labeling women. The term “feminazi,” mostly made popular by Rush Limbaugh in the 1990s, has been used to degrade and attack women who claim to be feminists. This remark is similar to the propaganda anti-suffragettes used to villainize suffragettes and turn them into “monsters”. What bothers me the most about the term

Photo cred: Anti Suffrage Postcard c. 1908 02.jpg -Wikimedia Commons

“feminazi” is the severity as well as the implication. The cruelness of being compared to Nazis are beyond comprehension. The motive behind everything the Nazi party did, as well as their leaders who constructed it, was anti-Semitism. Nazis were literally inhumane and their purpose was to carry out the Holocaust, leading up to the extermination of millions of Jews in Europe during World War II and almost wiping out an entire people from the planet.

To compare women who are advocating for freedom and rights to the inhumane, anti-Semitic evil of the Holocaust is more than extreme: it’s unspeakable. The term “feminazi” tries to strip away the Holocaust and tries to malign women. Nothing ever can or should attempt to compare to the Holocaust because it’s impossible- the only thing that can ever compare with it is the Holocaust itself. For one to do such degradation in the name of women gaining rights is a huge step backwards, and one that should not be taken.

The term “feminazi” is one people should take a deeper look at to truly understand the hidden motives and implications it carries. Like the anti-suffragettes in the past, people today who spit these words to lessen the efforts of women, are only throwing stones that reveal their true character.