What exactly is antifeminism? What does it have to do with equal rights, human dignity, sexism or LGBTIQA* hostility? Is antifeminism a problem? And what can I actually do about it myself?
What do you want to do?
What is Antifeminism?
„Antifeminism means fighting or rejecting feminist demands and positions in a general, active and often organised way. This can happen as an individual (e.g. in internet discussions or seminars), in parties or other groups.“
Translation, based on: Projekt Antifeminismus begegnen – Demokratie stärken
What are feminist goals? So, what are the antifeminists fighting against?
Feminism is an umbrella term for social, political and academic currents and social movements. There is no single feminism, but some basic ideas unite the different movements.
Feminists advocate equal rights, human dignity and self-determination for all people, regardless of gender. They fight against sexism, misogyny and queer hostility as well as for the elimination of structural discrimination based on gender.
Want to know more?
Here are some concrete examples of the aims of feminism
- Commitment to equality respectively equal rights for all genders (socially, financially, politically, legally)
Combating sexism, misogyny and LGBTIQA* hostility - Combating discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation
- Recognising and fairly distributing care work at all levels (care work includes, for example, housework, caring for sick relatives, childcare)
- Implementation of reproductive justice, i.e. that people can decide for themselves whether or how they want to give birth or have children (without social pressure, pressure from families and partners or legal punishability and social stigmatisation of abortions)
- Commitment to gender diversity and gender expressions, e.g. overcoming certain ideals of beauty, clothing norms, etc.
- Dismantling gender stereotypes for the free development of all people according to their individual wishes and views
- The dismantling of heteronormativity in our society, or the abolition of heterosexuality as the norm of the social order, of individual love between people and of the legal basis, e.g. the preferential tax treatment of marriage between a man and a woman.
All examples are simplified. And there is no such thing as a ‚one‘ type of feminism. Not all feminists will agree with all these examples
in exactly the same way.
For inspiration and motivation, we have collected some of the successes of feminism around the world with the participants of our „Chat Week on Anti-Feminism“. Another perspective and a reminder of why we need feminism.
But how does antifeminism differ from sexism or LGBTIQ* hostility?
The distinction between anti-feminism and sexism or LGBTIQ* hostility is not easy: because sexism is usually part of antifeminism. In the same way, for example, LGBTIQ* / queer hostility and heteronormativity are usually part of antifeminism.
It is important to note that not every act of discrimination or sexism is antifeminist. For example, a person can be in favour of gender equality and gender diversity and still do or say sexist things.
Here we look at the differences between forms of discrimination and ideologies to understand: When is it anti-feminism?
There is „discrimination“ in the sense of unequal treatment of people based on (perceived) group membership. Examples of discrimination include sexism or LGBTIQ* hostility.
Discrimination can be deliberate and intentional. For example: I am convinced that people in the green group are physically stronger, so i give (perceived) people in the green group physically harder tasks than people in the yellow group.
Discrimination can also be unconscious. For example: I have a physically difficult task to do. Without thinking about it, I am more likely to ask a green person to do it. Probably because I often see Group Green people doing physically difficult tasks. And without consciously thinking that Group Yellow people are fundamentally unsuited to the task.
There are also ideologies.
An ideology is a combination of basic attitudes and values, as well as particular interests and agendas.
For example, a basic attitude may be the belief that groups of people have different values. So a discriminatory attitude can be part of an ideology.
For example: I generally believe that all green people should do all physically difficult tasks. Yellow group people should not do any physically hard work. If a group yellow person wants to do it, that’s a problem. And if a Group Green person can’t do physically hard work, that’s a problem.
Example of a discriminatory attitude as part of an ideology
Example of an action that could be the result of this: I loudly advocate that all green people should always do all the physically difficult tasks. For example, in my neighbourhood chat group, if someone has a physically difficult task, I say: „Green group people should do it so it comes out well – because yellow group people can’t do it“. If a green person asks for help, I say: „You must be able to do it yourself! Or are you a yellow person?“ Or I make posts in groups and on my profile that support „traditional role models“. For example: „Women belong at the stove – that’s how it’s traditionally done, and that’s how it should continue to be done. We need to get our women back to doing more of the housework themselves! That’s what they are biologically meant to do.“
Example of actions as part of an ideology
What exactly does antifeminism want?
Antifeminist protagonists
Who are antifeminists?
Which known groups exist? What are the basic assumptions / world view and goals (remember? These are components of ideology) of these groups?
Click through the gallery to get to know some groups, their world view and goals.
Learn more, interactively
In our word search game „Antifeminismus“ you can search for terms that have something to do with antifeminism.
Did you not know many of the terms? Then the „Fibel echte Vielfalt“ page will help you.
Escape antifeminist protagostists
Here you can play a bit of our Escape Room on the computer (click on the picture!). There you can get to know the protagonists of antifeminism. It’s a bit more interesting than the pictures above. 🐱💻
What can I do?
Antifeminism is an anti-democratic ideology: antifeminists want to prevent equal rights and self-determination and also want to reverse successes that have already been achieved.
For example, you can work online to ensure that antifeminists do not succeed in your groups, chats and pages. To do this, it is important to know how to spot antifeminist posts and what to do about them. You can download and share our picture gallery.
Here you can download the complete guide to „Recognising and countering antifeminism“ as a comprehensive PDF.
You can also find general tips on how to deal with anti-democratic content on our First Aid Online page
