Feminism has taken different characters at different times in history, and some have been better than others. At this time I would like to draw a distinction between legitimate feminism and toxic feminism - popularly known as feminazism - and show the full extent as to how they differ from one another.
Legitimate feminism is a rightful, even a noble, cause, and one that I have supported since childhood. Women should have rights and powers at the same level with men; women should have a meaningful choice of lifestyles; women should be able to protect themselves and their children from family violence. Feminism directed toward these directions is legitimate. Toxic feminism however is an entirely different beast.
Toxic feminism is distinguished from legitimate feminism in its vicious character, its shrill rhetoric, its totalitarian tactics and its holocaustey intent. All of the above make the popular term "feminazism" appropriate to this misdirection of feminism.
The participants in toxic feminism claim that they speak for all women without other women having given them the right to do so. In this they seek to appropriate for themselves unelected, totalitarian, powers, over all women in the world. They then use the false claim that they speak for all women to ruthlessly bludgeon other women into conformity with their party line, while doing everything that they can to ruin the women who do not take part in any aspect of it. Like any totalitarian, the toxic feminist aims to control the thought and behavior of all women. She then takes it in the direction of teaching women to be the worst thing that they possibly can be, while maliciously attacking anything in women that's beautiful, loving, warm and life-nurturing - every good quality, that is, with which women are more naturally endowed than are men.
The toxic feminists then appropriate the attention of men who are sympathetic toward women and use them as their lapdogs. Their attention is through this denied to women who actually merit it or stand to benefit from it; who, with men who have goodwill toward women being appropriated by toxic feminists, have nowhere to go except men who have no goodwill toward women - men who are openly patriarchial, violent, misogynistic or all of the preceding. The toxic feminists then blame these women for their suffering and teach men who are sympathetic toward women to avoid them, leaving them further at the mercy of their abusers. The best women - ones possessive of kindness, warmth and beauty - become victims of the worst men to be found, as men who have goodwill toward women are taught to steer clear of them. Meanwhile other women come under intense pressure to destroy in themselves all the beautiful feminine qualities and to conduct themselves like the worst of men. The result is women being aggressively pressured to be the worst thing that they can be, and every woman who wouldn't be the worst thing that she can be becoming victims of abuse - either by toxic feminists or by violent, overtly patriarchial, males. The result, logically, is a vast degradation in the quality of womanhood; and the American women as a result of this have a reputation as being absolutely the worst women in the world.
As if this was not bad enough, toxic feminists also seek to perpetrate holocausts; and it is in this that the term "feminazi" becomes especially appropriate. Particularly, they seek to exterminate whole sections of the population; and it is here that they are most glaringly in violation of constitutional intent. People in America are meant to be protected from those who would commit holocausts and witch hunts. If one group is allowed to exterminate another group, then other groups would do the same to still more people. If toxic feminists are allowed to go on with their holocaust against "perverts" or "sociopaths," then that gives green light for other groups to do the same to others. The likely victims of that, given today's political climate, are the people who have been allied with feminism: homosexuals, single mothers, minority religions, the politically liberal, and - you guessed it - feminists and feminism-influenced women. They commit a holocaust and by doing so leave the door open to others who would do the same, including to them.
Toxic feminism is likewise distinguished by its war against love and beauty. And at this point I will say something that has not been said before, but should be. The toxic feminism, in militating against beauty and love, it attacks what made feminism possible in the first place. Feminism was strongly supported by Romanticism. It was Romantic poets such as Blake, Byron and Keats that did the most to fight the aggressive misogyny of Christian-influenced Western societies and to influence men to see in women their beauty and goodness and to love them and treat them in a noble way. And as toxic feminism directs all its energies toward destroying the same beauty in women and that in the man which loves that beauty, it is destroying its roots and making to rot the entire plant.
It is for this reason that intelligent, successful women from all around the world have been saying for over a decade that feminism has gone too far. It has gone to the point of militating against everything beautiful in women - to the point that it itself has become, in a very real sense, profoundly misogynistic. It is valid to give women meaningful choice over their lives; it is not valid to force women to follow the party line of toxic feminism to extinction of everything good in themselves. And it is in this matter that the distinction between legitimate feminism and toxic feminism becomes the most clear.
Legitimate feminism does not tell women to suppress their beauty, their kindness, their warmth or their tenderness. Legitimate feminism allows women to be their best while fighting for better treatment and more rights for the woman. Legitimate feminism embraces the feminine and gives the woman the opportunity to pursue her goals and her freedom while protecting her from ill treatment. Legitimate feminism recognizes and celebrates the woman and empowers her to have a better life.
As a result of the venal conduct of toxic feminists, there is now a large and vocal constituency against all forms of feminism and against women, proper. For this of course the toxic feminists bear the full blame. They claim to be the voice of feminism - indeed they claim to be the voice of women; so what would be more likely for any number of people to conclude than that they are in fact the voice of women, and that all women will conduct themselves like the toxic feminists if they are allowed freedom over their lives. This stance of course resonates with a number of statements made in the Bible and the Koran, and the misconduct of toxic feminists is used to claim that these misogynistic statements were right all along, as were the people who used them to impose upon women brutality and oppression. The back flux from this does not hit the toxic feminists. It hits innocent women all around the world.
Toxic feminists have destroyed a good cause, poisoned the social climate, abused everything good in women, and made women look like utter monsters to the rest of the world, resulting in escalating abuses against women. Their behavior was worse than self-defeating; it was a horrible violence done to women around the world. The world will continue to exist, there will continue to be women, and there will remain people who seek to make things better for women. As someone in the last category, I think that I speak for most people in it when I say that women deserve better feminism than this poisonous misdirection and a wiser, more principled, forms of feminism to fight for their well-being and their rights.
Legitimate feminism is a rightful, even a noble, cause, and one that I have supported since childhood. Women should have rights and powers at the same level with men; women should have a meaningful choice of lifestyles; women should be able to protect themselves and their children from family violence. Feminism directed toward these directions is legitimate. Toxic feminism however is an entirely different beast.
Toxic feminism is distinguished from legitimate feminism in its vicious character, its shrill rhetoric, its totalitarian tactics and its holocaustey intent. All of the above make the popular term "feminazism" appropriate to this misdirection of feminism.
The participants in toxic feminism claim that they speak for all women without other women having given them the right to do so. In this they seek to appropriate for themselves unelected, totalitarian, powers, over all women in the world. They then use the false claim that they speak for all women to ruthlessly bludgeon other women into conformity with their party line, while doing everything that they can to ruin the women who do not take part in any aspect of it. Like any totalitarian, the toxic feminist aims to control the thought and behavior of all women. She then takes it in the direction of teaching women to be the worst thing that they possibly can be, while maliciously attacking anything in women that's beautiful, loving, warm and life-nurturing - every good quality, that is, with which women are more naturally endowed than are men.
The toxic feminists then appropriate the attention of men who are sympathetic toward women and use them as their lapdogs. Their attention is through this denied to women who actually merit it or stand to benefit from it; who, with men who have goodwill toward women being appropriated by toxic feminists, have nowhere to go except men who have no goodwill toward women - men who are openly patriarchial, violent, misogynistic or all of the preceding. The toxic feminists then blame these women for their suffering and teach men who are sympathetic toward women to avoid them, leaving them further at the mercy of their abusers. The best women - ones possessive of kindness, warmth and beauty - become victims of the worst men to be found, as men who have goodwill toward women are taught to steer clear of them. Meanwhile other women come under intense pressure to destroy in themselves all the beautiful feminine qualities and to conduct themselves like the worst of men. The result is women being aggressively pressured to be the worst thing that they can be, and every woman who wouldn't be the worst thing that she can be becoming victims of abuse - either by toxic feminists or by violent, overtly patriarchial, males. The result, logically, is a vast degradation in the quality of womanhood; and the American women as a result of this have a reputation as being absolutely the worst women in the world.
As if this was not bad enough, toxic feminists also seek to perpetrate holocausts; and it is in this that the term "feminazi" becomes especially appropriate. Particularly, they seek to exterminate whole sections of the population; and it is here that they are most glaringly in violation of constitutional intent. People in America are meant to be protected from those who would commit holocausts and witch hunts. If one group is allowed to exterminate another group, then other groups would do the same to still more people. If toxic feminists are allowed to go on with their holocaust against "perverts" or "sociopaths," then that gives green light for other groups to do the same to others. The likely victims of that, given today's political climate, are the people who have been allied with feminism: homosexuals, single mothers, minority religions, the politically liberal, and - you guessed it - feminists and feminism-influenced women. They commit a holocaust and by doing so leave the door open to others who would do the same, including to them.
Toxic feminism is likewise distinguished by its war against love and beauty. And at this point I will say something that has not been said before, but should be. The toxic feminism, in militating against beauty and love, it attacks what made feminism possible in the first place. Feminism was strongly supported by Romanticism. It was Romantic poets such as Blake, Byron and Keats that did the most to fight the aggressive misogyny of Christian-influenced Western societies and to influence men to see in women their beauty and goodness and to love them and treat them in a noble way. And as toxic feminism directs all its energies toward destroying the same beauty in women and that in the man which loves that beauty, it is destroying its roots and making to rot the entire plant.
It is for this reason that intelligent, successful women from all around the world have been saying for over a decade that feminism has gone too far. It has gone to the point of militating against everything beautiful in women - to the point that it itself has become, in a very real sense, profoundly misogynistic. It is valid to give women meaningful choice over their lives; it is not valid to force women to follow the party line of toxic feminism to extinction of everything good in themselves. And it is in this matter that the distinction between legitimate feminism and toxic feminism becomes the most clear.
Legitimate feminism does not tell women to suppress their beauty, their kindness, their warmth or their tenderness. Legitimate feminism allows women to be their best while fighting for better treatment and more rights for the woman. Legitimate feminism embraces the feminine and gives the woman the opportunity to pursue her goals and her freedom while protecting her from ill treatment. Legitimate feminism recognizes and celebrates the woman and empowers her to have a better life.
As a result of the venal conduct of toxic feminists, there is now a large and vocal constituency against all forms of feminism and against women, proper. For this of course the toxic feminists bear the full blame. They claim to be the voice of feminism - indeed they claim to be the voice of women; so what would be more likely for any number of people to conclude than that they are in fact the voice of women, and that all women will conduct themselves like the toxic feminists if they are allowed freedom over their lives. This stance of course resonates with a number of statements made in the Bible and the Koran, and the misconduct of toxic feminists is used to claim that these misogynistic statements were right all along, as were the people who used them to impose upon women brutality and oppression. The back flux from this does not hit the toxic feminists. It hits innocent women all around the world.
Toxic feminists have destroyed a good cause, poisoned the social climate, abused everything good in women, and made women look like utter monsters to the rest of the world, resulting in escalating abuses against women. Their behavior was worse than self-defeating; it was a horrible violence done to women around the world. The world will continue to exist, there will continue to be women, and there will remain people who seek to make things better for women. As someone in the last category, I think that I speak for most people in it when I say that women deserve better feminism than this poisonous misdirection and a wiser, more principled, forms of feminism to fight for their well-being and their rights.
Ilya Shambat
