Some of us believe that feminists do whatever they can to discourage the masculine virtues. They see no value in courage and want all of us to be as compliant as possible. There’s no room for independence, only teamwork!

Partly correct. Actually, although they despise these traits in men (when not determining who to boink), they love fostering them in women and girls. Moxie! GI Jane to the rescue in the Navy SEALs!

So it’s not that they oppose masculinity per se, they just oppose it in men.

Likewise, we often accuse feminists of degrading the traditionally feminine virtues. Sweetness, sensitivity, caring, culinary skills, and proficiency with diaper-changing. These have been re-framed as either weakness, subservience, slavery, or a waste of human talent.

But not quite. When men do that same stuff, they’re awesome! Just look at how much respect they earn! Just look at how much they respect themselves!*

Okay, maybe not.

Still, that won’t stop them from trying.

In certain respects, the term “feminism” fits perfectly, for as Glenn Reynolds puts it:

One characteristic of modern feminism is the strong belief that men are not entitled to judge women for anything, coupled with the equally strong belief that women are entitled to judge men for everything.

No matter how much they wail about feminism being what’s best for everybody, it’s all about maximizing the feminine imperative legally, culturally, and sexually.

However, in another sense, to claim that feminism in any way promotes actual femininity is a bit of a stretch. Modern females may share the same biological predispositions as their foremothers, but I wouldn’t exactly describe most of them as girly.

And as they make the women less female, they make the men less male, thus turning us all into what they hope to be neither male nor female, but some sort of neuters.

Androgenes.

Hence, the supplementary term: androgynism.

I’ve no illusion that my term will ever supplant “feminism” (although it would be pretty cool), and sometimes feminism actually is all about the female.

Nonetheless, as they shout about “diversity” in other settings, they really just want to make all of us the same.

* See if as a men you can read the comments to that post and not cringe, I dare you.