Do teenagers think feminism is ''uncool"?

My teen girls have a vision of feminists as violent and crazy men haters and they don't want to be associated with that. I challenge that idea overtime it raises it's head, however, it is a persistent one.

"DD (15) says feminism is irrelevant and toxic.

She thinks she shouldn't be singled out as needing something specific to be done because that isn't equality in her eyes it's women being singled out for special treatment because of their sex and everyone should be treated equally ."

That is something I hear a lot. From both males and females.

That's what I think BigDeskBob. Many of us also have experienced sexism and are very much feminists as well of course!

MrSlant your sons sound excellent.

I have two teen DS' who would identify as 'feminist' (in speech marks as I don't know if I'm categorising them correctly as young men) in that they see that we still don't have a fair society and think that is wrong. They have very strong female role models in their friend groups if that makes a difference. Plus we live somewhere remote where no one pretends that women have remotely equal status yet. They think life should be equal but acknowledge we aren't there yet. by a fucking country mile

I agree nolove I think many teens have experienced sexism, they just haven't identified it as such.

Very much so Bertrand, which is why I feel it could be normalised to some so much so that it doesn't strike them as a problem. Some girls may feel street harassment is just one of those things when you're female; as it happens frequently it could almost be accepted. Of course I can't speak for them but could be the case.

Your daughter sounds great DoubleNegativePanda! I know a fair few girls of various ages like her

And I would be very surprised if most girls haven't experienced harassnent of one sort or another, Or sexist language and behaviour from boys at school

Or seen the way that women who take stands are treated on Twitter.

My 15yo DD is quite the feminist, and she will expound on the subject at the drop of a hat.

"She thinks she shouldn't be singled out as needing something specific to be done because that isn't equality in her eyes it's women being singled out for special treatment because of their sex and everyone should be treated equally"

I do hope you pointed out the logical flaw in her argument..........

Quite possibly BigDeskBob but I think many have. I think sexism is so normalised in many ways though some don't register it as being a problem, more just how things are. For example in terms of street harassment, the often derogatory ways many boys speak of girls and so forth.

That would be great if women were treated equally ReinettePompadour. I find it frustrating some see fighting against misogyny in all its forms, rape culture, male violence against women and girls, street harassment, victim blaming and objectification of women and girls is "women being singled out for special treatment". We'd not need it if misogyny wasn't so rampant.

There are so many cases this year alone of women and girls being attacked by men unknown to them purely due to their being female and absolutely no other reason. How on Earth can feminism not be necessary when this is rampant? Here are two your daughter's age in one small area of London alone: www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/15339336.Mother_speaks_out_about_sex_attacker_who_assaulted_her__brave__daughter_on_Twickenham_bus/

www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/police-step-up-patrols-after-15yearold-girl-sexually-assaulted-in-twickenham-a3592681.html

I think teens are naturally optimistic and believe the world is a good place full (equal) opportunities. Which is a good thing, I'm hardly going to tell my daughter that her choices are more limited than my son's.

Every generation of women think the previous generations life is so different that their experiences are irrelevant. I know when I was younger, I thought the sexism experienced by older women wouldn't apply to me because I'd do things right and the world is a different place. Also, its very easy, even expected, to ignore women's experiences, so its natural for teenagers to ignored us.

I think to understand the need for feminism, you have to experience being disadvantaged because you are female. Many teenagers haven't had those experiences.

DD (15) says feminism is irrelevant and toxic.

She thinks she shouldn't be singled out as needing something specific to be done because that isn't equality in her eyes it's women being singled out for special treatment because of their sex and everyone should be treated equally .

Lonelystar I agree. Pay inequality and lack of progression into the senior strata and "bullying" during pregnancy etc is a huge eye opener for most young women.

My niece who always argued that feminism was irrelevant and that we should live our lives how we want without labels is now incandescent after discovering her male trainees were earning more than her ( she discovered this when they complained to her about their "low" salaries) and it dawning on her that the senior managers are all male. The scales are lifting. However, I am very sad that young women seem to have deal and fight against the same crap I was over 30 years ago.

The label of feminist is uncool and unnecessarily inflammatory - is what the yoof don't like!
Be pro everything feminist, but don't have to label yourself- it's a generation of YouTube platforms- something to say, said publicly and for all to comment on!

I dont think so

My DD identified as a feminist early on in her new sixth form when asked by the sociology teacher if anyone in the class considered themselves a feminist - she was quick to raise her hand but was the only one.The consensus was that there was no need for feminism because we are all equal now! The sociology teacher told me at parents evening aboyt it and said how sad it made her.

After that a small clique of girls would come right up to my DD's face in the corridor and shout lesbian at her. These same girls were presented to an anti homophobic bullying celeb who visited as good ambassadors as their best friend was a gay guy - go figure!

Depends if they read teen vogue and think women are non men.

I think it's easy for younger people to see it as irrelevant- this generation seem to be very open minded and liberal which is lovely...but that means they don't necessarily see how gender inequality, discrimination etc plays out. When you get older, your biology seems to come more into view and you also become wise to it all. I did sociology at A level and degree and covered feminism a lot but was under the false impression that the society I graduated into was equal etc. I soon realised when I started work that we were a long, long way off...and with each day it is clear that we are regressing.

But that discrimination is becoming more and more subtle and thus harder and harder to get society as a whole to recognize and address it.

Of course many teenage girls who try to stand up for feminism are attacked and bullied by their peers - such as this excellent girl: mashable.com/2017/04/23/teenager-gender-equality/#OuiI5p5CEkqq

I get the impression that there are 'Tumblr feminists' who are annoying, over-the-top, whining about men all the time which puts teens off the feminist tag.

My school has an active feminist group and is far from alone. I even know a boys' school nearby (which my brothers attend) which has a joint Feminist Society with their sister school, and a mixed school which has one attended by girls and boys. All my particular friends, girls and boys, are feminists/feminist allies.

The teen years are very intense and some of the challenges they face today are new to us. They don't want to hear about patriarchy

On the contrary, this is something we regularly discuss and hugely relevant to being a teenager now. Online misogyny, revenge porn, girls being pressured into sexual acts, the way some boys talk of girls (and women), sexually aggressive behaviour at parties, objectification, street harassment (which every girl I know has experienced, my first instance being at 14 in school uniform), violence against women and girls in general, victim blaming culture, the reasons we need feminism are endless.