Why do people HATE the word "F-E-M-I-N-I-S-M"

Feminism is over-rated, and I have little respect for most feminists. There are a lot of things women can do that men can't. Case and point - selective service. Men are bound by law to sign up for selective service at the age of 18, and not doing so results in hardship for them. Women, on the other hand, don't have to worry about that, but I never hear feminists crying about how we aren't forced to register for selective service, either. Of course there's still discrimination going on, but it goes both ways. Women aren't the only ones who have to worry about it.

I actually just took a gender politics class and some of the replies on here just make me laugh because people are still generalizing feminists when there are TONS of types of feminists. The only reason feminists are given a bad name is because the media tends to spotlight on the more radical groups which are the lesbians, the men-haters, the ones who want artifical births, communal families, etc. Those groups are creating a ton of drama so therefore those are the ones that are going to receive the attention. I think people just need to realize that both conservatives and feminists have good and bad parts to all the arguments they possess and there is no right person.

This is a question I've been asking myself for decades! For some reason some people think that any woman who calls herself a feminist somehow hates all men and even hates the idea of motherhood! When I was younger it seemed there was a constant battle between "working women" and "housewives". It seemed more like each group was on the defensive, as if they thought the "other side" were belittling them and I don't believe that to be the case. It sure hasn't helped that Rush Limbaugh has been using the term "Femi-Nazi" for years and he's long said that "feminists" are women who aren't attractive enough to make it in the mainstream. Annie

The reason people hate that word is because "feminists" have made it something completely different than a term for women seeking equality. First, many so-called feminists don't want equal treatment in the workplace. They want special treatment. Take for example maternity leave. Now I have no problem and no objection to a woman who takes leave to raise her family and be a responsible parent, but why should your job, or SSA "reward" you for spending years not working or contributing to Social Security? I can assure you that if I, as a man, tried to get special compensation for taking time away from work to raise my son, my boss would laugh me out of his office. You know who REALLY gives feminism a bad name though? Feminist Groups. These are the groups that PRETEND to care about women's rights. They pretend to be the defenders of women. In truth, they don't give a crap about women. They only care about raising money and pushing their own political agenda. That's why feminist groups didn't stand up for Hillary Clinton. She actually stood for the things they claim to support, but they backed Obama and chose to ignore all the vicious attacks on her. It gets far worse if a woman is conservative or *gasp* pro-life. I NEVER heard a single feminist organization stand up for the brutal lies and smears against Sarah Palin, or even her DAUGHTER Bristol. I heard "feminists" en masse saying that Sarah Palin should be at home taking care of her children and that she's a horrible mother for trying to be VP. I even watched a feminist openly mock Carrie Prejean when asked why feminist groups weren't defending her.

Because they don't represent WOMEN. They represent themselves. They are not for equality nor do they represent equality. It is all about politics and pressing their own agenda.

I agree that there has been a huge backlash in this country (USA) and I personally have felt it. In 1989 I was making 11.41 per hour as a security guard for a dept. of energy contractor. During this time, I also took classes to further my eduaction at a local college. Now I have 18 years of experience and am one semester away from a bachellor's degree. The jobs I can get in the Denver area pay right around $12.00 per hour. I have a lot of student loans to pay and I am thinking that none of it was worthwhile. Do you think I would have busted my behind by working and going to school just to have student loans to pay? Absolutely not. Of course I have had 2 children in all of those years too. Because of my family, I have had to stay home with my kids for some of those years. My husband, conversely, has 2 years of college and makes a lot of money (right around 80k) working in the IT field. I am glad that he has been successful, because if he had not been, it would have been more difficult for our family, but I am jealous in many ways. I have heard a lot of crap about how women should stay home with their kids because it damages them if you work. ( Doctor Laura is fond of saying such things on her radio show) And it seems that conservatives love Doctor Laura and take what she says as gospel. That is why I think it is ironic that 4 years ago, under the Bush administration, my husband lost his good IT job and I had to leave my children at home and find a job. The job I got was as a security supervisor, because even though my education is in business and marketing, security was the only job I could find that paid more than $9.00 per hour. The Bush administration and their brand of conservatism touted the "idea" of women staying home with their children, but in practice, it was under that political administration that I had to take whatever job would keep my family living in a house and eating food. It has been frustrating for me and I am sure other women have had similar experiences. Once my husband got a good job, I quit working because the jobs I can get pay so little and take me away from my kids. Frankly, unless we are in an emergency situation in our family, it does not pay for me to work. One year, I worked for OppenheimerFunds and my husband made a lot of money that year too. We got dinged badly on our income tax. That year, I only made around 22k, but my hubby made 65K, we paid more taxes than we would have if he had made 80K by himself. It makes me angry and I don't feel empowered to do anything about it, but it simply does not pay me to work.

I don't think people necessarily associate feminism and lesbians. But people do often think of feminists as mean ladies who want all the rights of men. I think women should have all the rights of men. I think asking for extra money for raising children and having children is going beyond the rights of men (unless you want to give the men these rights too). I don't agree with companies being punished because an employee gets pregnant. If you want to raise children, that's a personal choice and not something that you should be paid for. There is no shortage of people on the planet so I can't see a reason for governments to foot the bill for this either. If anything people who don't have any children should get paid a bonus for not overpopulating the planet. The funny thing is, we were just talking about this at work today. If women could all get time off each month for their period, and then of course if you're pregnant you wouldn't need that. But your time would add up so that you could use it as maternity leave. Otherwise it is kind of unfair to women who never have children. They never get that free month off. But this would then become unfair to men. And would obviously have to result in pay cuts for everyone too.