The widely recounted story about feminists burning their bras is a complete myth; it just didn’t happen. In reality, a group of feminists once threw their bras into a trash can. There is something about certain stereotypes that has caused them to stick to feminism, despite the fact that they are untrue.

Dr Christina Scharff

New research from King’s College London has found that myths such as the supposed hatred of men and a perceived lack of femininity are largely responsible for feminism’s unpopularity amongst some younger women. The findings of the study, which was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), suggest that many women who reject the ‘feminist’ label do so in an attempt to align themselves with societal expectations concerning femininity and heterosexuality.



The investigation, which surveyed women in Germany and the United Kingdom, found that whilst female respondents wanted to be treated equally and were aware of gender inequalities, many still tended to treat the feminist movement with suspicion. The women interviewed during the course of the study were young and came from a diverse range of backgrounds, yet most rejected feminism. Many of the women who rejected the feminist label did so because of a reluctance to be associated with the negative stereotypes surrounding the movement.



To find out more about the common misconceptions connected with feminism, and to ask what role the movement still has to play within modern society, I spoke to the study’s author Dr Christina Scharff, Lecturer in Culture, Media and Creative Industries at King's College London. I began by asking whether she believes that ‘feminism’ has become a dirty word in the 21st Century.



"I would argue that ‘feminism’ has always been a dirty word," she replied. "Historical research suggests that it was a dirty word during the original suffragette movements, and it wasn’t so different during the 1960s and 1970s either. So, in answer to your question, feminism is a dirty word in the 21st Century, but this is a reflection of historical continuity; it is not a new phenomenon.



"I wouldn’t say that feminism is more unpopular now than it was in the 20th Century," Dr Scharff continued. "On the contrary, there was somewhat of a resurgence of feminist activism in the late 2000s. It just so happens that this resurgence occurred alongside rejections of feminism from other sections of society. There have been countless marches and books written about gender equality, but they haven’t stopped feminism from being viewed as a dirty word by a lot of other women."



Dr Scharff contends that the rejection of feminism revealed by her research is most likely the result of a failure to appreciate the multifarious nature of the movement. Rather than recognising feminism as a complex collection of – sometimes disparate – theories and approaches, some individuals continue to associate the movement with crude stereotypes such as the bra-burning, man-hating, lesbian feminist. I asked why such myths have persisted into modernity.



"That is a really good question and I wish that I had the answer," Dr Scharff replied. "The widely recounted story about feminists burning their bras is a complete myth; it just didn’t happen. In reality, a group of feminists once threw their bras into a trash can. There is something about certain stereotypes that has caused them to stick to feminism, despite the fact that they are untrue. I don’t know why feminism is associated with a hatred of men, or why feminists are presumed by many to be unfeminine. These really are difficult questions to answer."



I went on to ask whether the persistence of these myths might be the result of propaganda espoused by feminism’s opponents.



"Probably, but then they have also been adopted by the women that I interviewed," Dr Scharff pointed out. "My respondents said things like, ‘Feminism is about man hating’, and so on. It was interesting, however, to find that they couldn’t name a single feminist who was a man-hating, unfeminine woman. They couldn’t think of anybody. These beliefs are based entirely on myths."



The study did not only reveal a widespread rejection of feminism amongst its participants. It also provided insights into the ways in which Western women perceive women from other parts of the world. As Dr Scharff explained, whilst her respondents saw themselves as empowered, they perceived women from other, non-Western communities as passive victims of oppressive cultures.



"It is particularly interesting to note that this subject was raised by my participants without any prompting," she said. "Some interviewees stated that women in the West are free, whereas women in other countries tend to be oppressed. In this context, participants would begin to use words such as ‘oppression’ and ‘patriarchy’; words that they hadn’t used to describe their own experiences. From a critical perspective, I think that these responses overlook differences amongst women both in the West and in the rest of the world. Women don’t always occupy the same position qua being a woman. An individual’s position in society is dependent upon their education, their class background, their ethnicity, etc. I think that this discourse is one that resonates with colonial views of non-Western countries, i.e. that gender relations in these places are less progressive. I find these generalisations quite problematic."



With this in mind, I asked Dr Scharff what she would say to Western women who argue that the purpose of feminism has been achieved. Does feminism still have an important role to play in the 21st Century?



"Yes, I think that it does," she replied. "Sexual violence continues against women. There has been extensive coverage of this subject in the media recently. The gender pay gap persists. There is a lot of pressure on women – possibly more than ever before – to look a certain way. Worryingly, all of these factors exist within a climate in which the concept of gender inequality is becoming increasingly unspeakable. This in itself poses a significant challenge. How can we address a problem if the very mention of that problem is frowned upon?"



Finally, I asked what can be done to convince the movement’s detractors that feminism is still necessary in modern society. As Dr Scharff explained, it would be helpful to encourage discourse based less on opinion and more on quantifiable facts.



"In media debates, you often find opinion pieces as opposed to facts and statistics," she concluded. "I think that a reversal of this trend would represent a very important step forward. We need to bring home the low conviction rates for sexual crimes. We must emphasise the facts about continuing gender inequality within the workplace. The evidence demonstrates that feminism has not achieved its goal – not even in this country. It is also important for us not to dismiss feminism out of hand. I often hear people say that feminism has gone too far; that it is now men who are oppressed. The statistics, however, tell a different story."