Do teenagers think feminism is ''uncool"?

[Tylee]

Just that, really. Someone told me their daughter thinks feminism is uncool, and I'm wondering if most teenagers think that. And if so, why?

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.

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 .

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.

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

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.

"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..........

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

"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.

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.

My 13 year old goes to FemSoc

I think it's less cool amongst 20-30 year olds.

And my DD, IS very concerned with 'cool'!

We have plenty of girls of that age who come along to ours as well Painfulpain!

a vision of feminists as violent and crazy men haters

Quite something this is said of feminists when there's so much violent misogyny out there, manifesting itself in near constant violence against women and girls.

My teenage Dd and her friends describe themselves as feminists, they are quite forceful about it, my teen ds's are supportive of it they had no choice

The girls I know don't think it's relevant. So m e think they're already equal, so what's the point? More worrying to me are the boys who bang on about 'feminazis' and lack of men's rights. Interestingly, these are often the quieter,more sensitive boys who I would have thoughg would be more supportive.

I think I would be questioning my parenting if I had children who thought of feminists as man hating feminazis.

Fine not to have thought about the issues much yet, or to think that feminism isn't relevant to them ( they will learn!) but to be actually aggressively hostile to the idea? Wow.........

Many teens are more concerned with trans-rights and are being fed a diet of nonsense about this and mental illness.

I've actually experienced the opposite; in fact the boys I'm friends with are in the main the "quieter, more sensitive" type! The younger of my brothers also is so hopefully he's having positive influence at home The boys I've come across who use terms like "feminazis" and general misogyny have been ones who post rape jokes and memes online, harass girls at parties, think nothing of "groping", "rank" girls compiling lists and so forth. I suppose it shows you can't necessarily predict who will harbour misogynist sentiment as it's so pernicious.

"Interestingly, these are often the quieter,more sensitive boys who I would have thoughg would be more supportive." - No, they are the ones that aren't popular at school, don't get laid and become bitter.

Those are exactly the type I would expect to be like that.

The other type might be the ones that take things for granted and thus display chauvinistic/misogynistic behavior, but wouldn't cry about how bad men's lifes are.