JD Nelson this was an excellent article and totally agree with you. People do stereotype. Even though this world is getting more and more modern i often think we are taking 2 steps back and only 1 step forward.

You are correct when you say it is easy to group individuals with similar characteristics into a single category, and to make assessments and critiques based on this method of analyzing content. For the most part, I’d say that people may be conditioned to do this very thing, e.g. looking at something abstract and giving it a clear and meaningful definition. It’s a way for the mind to categorize abstract ideas and to draw conclusions because we don’t like it when ideas just kind of hang in the air without any application to ideas that we are familiar with.

With regards to your post, a class I am currently enrolled in discusses the topic of race and gender, and particularly, its relationship with the media. Most feel the media has a role in society beyond just reporting events that affect citizens - there has to be a purpose beyond this, and that purpose would be to actively better society through the mass dissemination of information. I think that an easy and familiar image that comes up in the minds of some people when they hear “feminist” is a picture of a woman at a public rally, probably holding up a tall wooden sign with a symbolic message scribed onto the sign, and that this woman probably fills your No. 7 myth and all that it entails (butch haircut, masculine, tattoos, unattractive, etc.). The average, American woman, or even a man, would likely not be the first image of a feminist that most people conjure up. You are right that this negative perception largely comes from the stereotype of the image of a feminist. It likely is the only reason to explain why someone would state a claim that might partially parallel a feminist’s message but then that same person would be quick to defend themselves against all possible claims that they are themselves a feminist.

The media has done little to represent feminists accurately enough to eliminate this stereotype, or if the media has made an effort then that effort has largely gone unnoticed for the reasons you stated - stereotypes are easy, and people will take whatever is easy and roll with it without much effort to explore for more information and to gain a better understanding of perception and reality.

This was a very interesting article to read. It is unfair that people are stereotyped but there is nothing you can do about it. If a majority of feminists were going to explore each myth behind their stereotype and then make a major issue out of them, they would also be labeled as whiners.
The black man did not sit around and complain that they were being treated unfairly and inhumanly. They did not fall victim to their stereotype. Instead they held their head high, brushed off the labels and marched on. They become great politicians (even Presidents), athletes, entertainers, authors, doctors, inventors; the list goes on and on. Their march was not easy and with great success in recent history the road ahead is still rocky for them. Imagine the philosophy of our society if men like Douglas or King just sat around and said this is not fair you are labeling and let me tell you why this is a label.
If you are a true feminist stand strong in your convictions and use your energy to get your message out. Do not sit around and complain or give in to some label that someone else has created. Read up on your history, look at the sacrifices that women like Susan B Anthony made. Women like her are so admirable because they marched on regardless of stereotypes. That is not easy life to have and not everyone is strong enough or has such a great motivation to push their believes (and that is okay) but do not sit around and create another stereotype for feminist, it just makes their job a whole lot harder.

I’m not sure how to properly address your comment Jessica except to say that what you call complaining, others call enlightening.

If you didn’t get anything from this post then that’s fine, I am not writing for everyone. But I will never be afraid to speak out on anything just because someone may get annoyed and think I am complaining.

Besides, that’s the purpose of this blog, to have a venue to state my opinion. Being afraid to do so would be quite silly.

As for your other comments…that is a whole other blog post and I generally don’t get into race issues so that is best discussed on blogs that do. Just be careful how you word things and educate yourself before you make sweeping statements.

“So instead of looking at the issues, women are focused on not being labeled. They can’t speak their minds and point out the objectification of women, sexism, and discrimination because they don’t want to be labeled as an evil feminist.”

So true! Whenever I express outrage that a music artist is spouting sexist lyrics or an ad campaign is degrading to women, I find that people are more apt to laugh that I’m “turning into a feminist” than to actually examine the issue I’m bringing up. It’s sad.

Loved the lists. They gave me something to think about and realize, yet, again, we are all different, yet we all want the same thing. Feminism seems to stem from a womens desire for fair treatment in all aspects of there life and choices they make.