Is there really such a thing as ‘Ladies Against Feminism’?

fem·i·nism (fĕm‘ə-nĭz‘əm)

n.

1. Belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.
2. The movement organized around this belief.

When I saw the banner for this site I was, quite rightly appalled and not really surprised when I found out it was a site full of Christian women. However when I read the section marked ‘start here‘, or at least as much as I could without falling asleep (there was quite a lot of it), I began to wonder… Why the hell do they call themselves ‘Ladies Against Feminism’? By some of the stuff Chancey put you would not say they were against feminism, more like the opposite.

Godly husbands do not treat their wives like children, browbeat them, or abuse them in any way. We’ve heard about websites whose authors claim it is a good thing to keep women in line by treating them as lesser beings. Scripture is clear: as you do to others, you are asking it to be done to you. Real men treat women like queens and co-heirs–not as chattel or children. LAF has nothing to do with anyone who promotes belittling or abusing women in any way. End of story.

So you’re against feminism yet you believe this? They are basically saying they are against domestic violence, good for them, so are all the feminists of the world.

Women in the work force are not the objects of our debate on this site. We are not here to sit in judgment over individual circumstances. All women are welcome here. We know that not everyone working a job outside the home is a feminist. And those who do embrace feminism are still individuals and not a vast faceless entity.

So, they feel it is a woman’s right to choose whether she works outside the home or in? That sounds like feminism to me. Where work is concerned, feminism is not about getting the best job or proving to men that they don’t have to be housewives. It’s about doing what is right for you and and what you want. If being a housewife makes a woman happy then she is already fufulling the roles of feminism. If she wants to be a high powered laywer then that it great too, it about what a woman wants, not what is expected. Many people get confused, even self proclaimed feminists, about the workplace and being a housewife. Some women will say to housewives (who want to be housewives) that they are holding back feminism, this is just a big misconception. Feminism is about choosing what is best for you and by LAF saying they are for the choice of either they are saying they are feminists or at least in a agreement with them.

I put the dictionary definition of ‘feminism’ at the top so people could get a understanding of what it is. Basically it just says that women are equal to men. So from what the women at LAF are suggesting is that they do not see women as equal at all. After all they are fighting feminism which means they support anti-feminism. A woman called Ana comments:

when people hear I stopped supporting feminism, they assume I’m against women’s rights. The reason of this misjudged concept is automatically associating feminism with women’s rights and benefits, and everything that goes against it with oppression and belittling of women – which is imprecise, to say the least.

How can someone who is anti-feminism support women’s rights, when one of the hardest battles of women is misogyny and disrespect? The definition of anti-feminism is this:

activity indicative of belief in the superiority of men over women

Drawn by Mary Tracy9

I am not saying women need to say they are all feminists, but I am saying they should understand what it is before they dismiss it completely. If you don’t want to be involved with feminist issues, that is fine it is your decision. But please do not say you are anti-feminism, if we cannot support our sex that will give others more reason to disrespect it.

An interesting read on the subject of women against women is Female Chauvinist Pigs: Woman and the Rise of Raunch Culture by Ariel Levy.
Today’s young women seem to be outdoing the male chauvinist pigs of yesteryear, applauding the ‘pornification’ of other women, and themselves… This terrifically witty and wickedly intelligent book makes the case that the rise of raunch does not represent how far women have come – it proves only how far women have left to go.