Disavowing Social Identities: What it Means When Women Say, “I'm not a Feminist, But …”

Abstract

Many women, even as they embrace feminist principles, are loath to be labeled feminists. This study presents a measure of feminist identity that accounts for beliefs and behaviors of self-identified feminists and nonfeminists, and for a third group, egalitarians, who endorse liberal feminist beliefs but reject the feminist label. In a sample of 272 college-educated women, a MANOVA showed egalitarians had levels of feminist consciousness between nonfeminists and feminists. Egalitarians did not differ from nonfeminists on favorable conditions for feminist identity or on feminist activism, but both groups scored lower on these measures than feminists. In a hierarchical multiple regression, feminist identity was a significant predictor of feminist activism, above and beyond favorable conditions and barriers. The importance of self-labeling for invisible and stigmatized social identities is discussed.

Conocimiento y actitudes hacia el feminismo = Knowledge and attitudes toward feminism

“…En nuestro caso, el no tener una actitud positiva en comparación con los hombres es mantenido por un escaso conocimiento sobre el feminismo, lo que refuerza más una imagen peyorativa. Esto mismo es destacado por muchos estudios, como el de Ferrer y Bosch (1998) y muchos otros (Aronson, 2003, Liss et al, 2001, Zucker, 2004, que concluyen en las reticencias a la auto-categorización de las mujeres como feministas.…”

“…Roy et al (2007) encontraron que la asociación del feminismo a estereotipos negativos correlacionaba positivamente con una posición reacia de las personas participantes a considerarse a sí mismas como feministas. Y es que la dificultad de la autodefinición como feministas queda reflejada en numerosos trabajos, que en su mayoría han tenido muestras compuestas por mujeres (Aronson, 2003;Liss, O'Connor, Morosky, y Crawford, 2001;Percy y Kremer, 1995;Zucker, 2004). Sin embargo, merece la pena destacar dos trabajos más recientes que establecen, una vez más, la importancia de los estereotipos negativos asociados al feminismo.…”

Women’s Studies as Virus: Institutional Feminism, Affect, and the Projection of Danger.

“…When compared to the emotional impact of viruses-particularly the sorts of panics viruses create-women's studies and feminism also tend to produce similar emotional responses both within and outside of the corporate university (Zucker, 2004). Despite its successes and accomplishments as a field-and the way it fits with university priorities of social engagement, community involvement, and interdisciplinaritywomen's studies has always had to struggle to maintain its existence.…”

Not All Nonlabelers Are Created Equal

“…Thus, just like feminists, nonlabelers' feminist beliefs may buffer them against the psychological costs of sexism. However, because feminist identity consistently predicts activism on behalf of women's wellbeing, nonlabelers (who do not adopt the feminist label) tend to report engaging in lower levels of activism than their feminist-identified peers (e.g., Duncan, 2010;Eisele & Stake, 2008;Yoder, Tobias, & Snell, 2011;Zucker, 2004). These findings support the notion that feminist identity and attitudes are conceptually distinct and predict different outcomes (e.g., Liss & Erchull, 2010; for a review, see Zucker & BayCheng, 2010).…”

“…In total, women might be categorized in three ways in relation to feminist identity development: feminists (i.e., women who label themselves as feminists and hold feminist attitudes), nonlabelers (i.e., women who do not label themselves as feminists yet hold feminist attitudes), and nonfeminists (i.e., women who neither label themselves nor hold feminist attitudes; Ramsey et al, 2007;Zucker, 2004;Zucker & Bay-Cheng, 2010). Throughout the present article, we will use these labels to differentiate among these groups of women.…”