Counter-feminist? What does this mean?

On the face of it, you might think that "counter-feminist" means against feminism or contrary to feminism. And you would be right!

You might also think that it means the same thing as "anti-feminist". And in that case, you could be right -- depending on what you think "anti-feminist" means!

So... what does anti-feminist mean? Does it mean against feminism? Or... does it mean against females? On the face of it, this is impossible to know. The hinge of meaning could swing both ways.

And that is why we have coined the term counter-feminist. It lacks the equivocation which makes "anti-feminist" so problematic and so prone to pejorative obfuscation. Indeed, you could make the case that "anti-feminist" means anti-female, since the word might seem to admit that construction. But if you tried to make the same case for "counter-feminist", you'd be pushing a heavier barrow up a considerably steep hillside!

Understand, I make no objection to "anti-feminist". To me this word signifies merely "opposed to feminism" -- an honorable sort of opposition you would say, yes? But sadly, the feminists have gotten a great head start upon us in defining this word to mean anti-female or anti-woman. They have, and will continue to put it about, that anti-feminist has exactly this meaning.

The idea behind "counter-feminist" therefore, is to offer an alternative to "anti-feminist" which signals a subtext of principled opposition but offers no easy grist to the semantic spin-mills. Consider: If anti-feminist means "anti-female" or "anti-woman", then what on earth could counter-feminist mean?

Could it mean counter-woman? Could it mean counter-female?

No, this won't stick. It affords no traction. What the hell would "counter" female signify, anyway? It sounds vacuous. Inane. Silly. Like a set of gums with no teeth. Compare counter to anti. Notice the difference?

There is a school of thought which proposes a rescue operation for the word "anti-feminist". Such theorists hold that we must own up to this word like troopers, that we must labor to establish it in the sunlight of the world's valuation by insisting on its usage and by patiently educating the world about what it "really" means according to "us".

I honor their spirit and wish them all the best, but it sure sounds like a lot of work to me. That is why I have put on my thinking cap and devised "counter-feminist". I would urge others to adopt this term, and to circulate it both in speaking and writing.

Up to this point, I have sketched the meaning of "counter-feminist", and called attention to certain advantages that might urge a widespread adoption of this term in preference to "anti-feminist". Having established the talk upon such a footing, I turn now to a more practical order of considerations.

The question becomes, not "what does counter-feminism mean?", but rather "what IS counter-feminism in itself?" By what visible applications might we distinguish counter-feminism from any other party or policy that goes "counter" to feminism?

Firstly, counter-feminism is the largest of umbrella words, large enough to overspread various smaller umbrellas presently in use. Everything now encompassed by the so-called men's movement, for example, may be classed under the heading of "counterfeminist".

Therefore, the MRAs, FRAs, or various single-issue "reformists" might be called counter-feminist insofar as their endeavor would counteract feminism's presence on earth. But counter-feminism, in principle, is bigger than all of them.

Counter-feminism, at its core, should not be understood as an advocacy movement "for men" lest it fall into the same unilateral madness feminism has fallen into -- namely, that of abstracting itself out of the social ecology which men and women BOTH inhabit and thereby damaging that ecology in a manner that has ecumenical repercussions.

That is why we feel ambivalent about the term "men's movement". Not that such a thing is unworthy, but because it runs the risk of parochiality, and thereby of lapsing into something which unhappily mirrors feminism, enabling a certain dialectic which ought to be laid to rest. The hazard is that a "men's movement", so designated, might end up entrenching feminism by generating an antithesis to it.

Always the emphasis must be, not to do things for men, but to undo what feminism has done to them in the first place, to restore certain things feminism has taken away, to demand restitution for injuries feminism has inflicted -- and that not solely upon men, but upon the entire world! The difference of emphasis here is subtle but telling, although a bit of cogitation may be needed before it "clicks".

On the whole, the best way to counter feminism is to show the world what dodgy and disreputable people feminists truly are. This can be accomplished in a multitude of ways, limited only by your ingenuity. Paint their blazing crimes in blazing colors; mock their petty foibles in quieter ways. Do this, and other things will follow; other roadways will be cleared and graded and opened to travel.


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