Gender feminism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gender feminism is a phrase coined by author Christina Hoff Sommers in her book Who Stole Feminism? (Simon & Schuster, 1994). She uses the term to describe a kind of feminism that criticises contemporary gender roles and wishes to abolish them completely. In more modern and frequent use it is used to describe feminism that seeks to use legal means to give preference to women in such areas as spousal abuse, child custody, sexual harassment, divorce proceedings, and pay equity. Supporter justfiy such activity on the ground of creating a real equality among the sexes while critics argue that they merely support reverse discrimination and encourage political, legal, social and economic rent seeking activities based on gender.

Hoff Sommers claims that this characterizes most of the body of modern feminist theory. Hoff Sommers prefers equity feminism instead (a term she also coined in the book as opposed to gender feminism), the goal of which is to establish full legal equality of woman and men and equality of opportunity. Hoff Sommers argues that while the feminists she designates as "gender feminists" advocate preferential treatment and portraying women as victims, equity feminism provides a viable alternative form of feminism. She uses the terms to critique the contemporary academic and middle-class feminist movement, which she felt was obsessively gynocentric and misandric.

The appellation "gender feminist" can be thought of as an epithet, since the feminists who Hoff Sommers would describe with this term would generally not identify themselves as "gender feminists".