Post: #1

New poll finds the majority of women voters consider themselves feminists




I’m sorry, what was that you were saying about how young women are afraid to call themselves feminists these days?

A poll commissioned by Ms. conducted just after the election found that 55 percent of women voters and 30 percent of men voters consider themselves feminists.

These results are generally 9 points higher than they were in 2008, when the same question was posed to voters, and this upward trend is likely to continue given the strong identification with feminism by younger women and women of color.

Speaking of younger women, a solid majority of them (58 percent) identify as feminists—as did 54 percent of older women, nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of Democratic women and a respectable 38 percent of Republican women.

“The feminist factor cuts across race and ethnic lines,” they note. In fact, white women as a whole are considerably less likely than black and Latina women to claim the label, which is in line with the voting differences I’ve noted before. And which perhaps helps to explain why much of the media continues to act as if feminists are unicorns these days.

Unsurprisingly, voters’ views on feminism tend to correlate with their choice of candidates. It’s actually pretty amazing that so many self-identified feminists are Republicans. You’d think they’d be pressuring their party to evolve a bit harder.

But I wonder what we’re gonna do about the fact that older women aren’t as likely to embrace feminism as younger women. Perhaps they’ve been convinced the fight has already been won? Maybe they should be reading more feminist blogs. Just sayin’.

Post: #2

I wonder if you did this poll on men, how many would identify as feminists? With all the manginas in this country nowadays, I wouldn't be surprised if it was well north of 25%.

Post: #3

What this poll shows is that there are at least 14% of women who won't call themselves feminist unless you provide them a bullshit definition.

Post: #4

I'm not knocking you posting this, but keep in mind it says the poll was done "By Lake Research for Ms. Magazine." Odds are they either polled a select group or asked leading questions to influence the results.

The "one in four women are raped" statistic was arrived at by such a methodology, if I'm not mistaken. If this were an independent poll conducted by AP, I'd be more worried, but since Ms. Magazine is behind it, it might not exactly be reflective of middle America.

Post: #5

What the hell happened to Latinas?, they were the only reason I was in favor of Latino immigration.
It's the demographics by race that are really puzzling, the Whites have always been the worst succubi that were out there.

Post: #6

Feminism and Liberalism go hand in hand.

Post: #7

Interesting. On another, totally unrelated note, here are the obesity rates among females in the United States:

31.9% of women aged 20-39 are obese
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db82.pdf

African American: 76.7% either overweight or obese, with 41.2% of women obese

Hispanic/Latino: 78.8% either overweight or obese, with 33.1% of women obese

White: 66.7% either overweight or obese, with 24.5% of women being obese

http://win.niddk.nih.gov/statistics/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_in_...ted_States

Post: #8

(05-16-2013 10:11 AM)The Texas Prophet Wrote:  I wonder if you did this poll on men, how many would identify as feminists? With all the manginas in this country nowadays, I wouldn't be surprised if it was well north of 25%.

The initial post says, 30%... so you were right that it was north of 25, at least.

The thing to keep in mind is that the dictionary definition was read to these people and then they were asked about their stance on feminism, but the definition and the reality are two different beasts entirely. There's nothing inherently wrong with the dictionary definition on the surface, it's a pretty general statement and people will easily say, "Sure, everyone should be treated equally and given the same chance, I'm a strong feminist."

But if the poll followed the dictionary definition with the litany of abuses, hypocrisies, and wealth of damages feminism has caused and continues to cause, one would wonder how many would still identify as such...

Post: #9

Eh. By the dictionary definition, I'm a feminist. I just don't happen to believe that contemporary feminists are really about equality.

Post: #10

(05-16-2013 04:07 PM)Atilla Wrote:  

Interesting. On another, totally unrelated note, here are the obesity rates among females in the United States:

31.9% of women aged 20-39 are obese
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db82.pdf

African American: 76.7% either overweight or obese, with 41.2% of women obese

Hispanic/Latino: 78.8% either overweight or obese, with 33.1% of women obese

White: 66.7% either overweight or obese, with 24.5% of women being obese

http://win.niddk.nih.gov/statistics/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_in_...ted_States

With certain definitions only about 4% of women are obese.

Post: #11

Reminds me of this:

Post: #12

Young and attractive women don't generally vote, so this high percentage doesn't surprise me.

Post: #13

What really trips me out is that white women were the smallest demographic of feminists.

Post: #14

Between 2008 and 2012 we saw the financial crisis become the recession and the new normal in terms of jobs.

Economically unproductive women have three choices:

1. Bottom rung of the socioeconomic ladder
2. Be a good wife/partner
3. Use feminism to get redistribution in the form of direct government subsidy or intimidating companies into creating make work positions to avoid being sued for gender discrimination.

Option 1 stinks
Option 2 prevents carousel riding and just plain ticks them off
Option 3 means all the carousel they can handle and a high standard of living

Post: #15

A Huffington Post/YouGov poll conducted recently found that only 23% women and 16% of men identified as feminists:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16...94917.html

Another Economist poll also from this year found that 38% of women and 18% of men called themselves feminists:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/wate...-not-femi/

So, the figures in the Ms. poll seem unusually high.

Post: #16

(05-16-2013 04:46 PM)j r Wrote:  Eh. By the dictionary definition, I'm a feminist. I just don't happen to believe that contemporary feminists are really about equality.

Yeah. Basically any vaguely progressive-minded person these days is a feminist by the dictionary definition. But believing that doesn't actually make you a feminist by the definition of today's feminist leadership. Probably the better question to ask would be something like, "do you believe that the Western world is based on a 'rape culture' whereby women are systematically molested and shamed for resisting from a very early age." This is the central premise of third wave feminism (well there's economic stuff to but mainly the rape thing), and I bet most women wouldn't agree with it.

Post: #17

Think I might have mentioned this already, but I'll say it again: these numbers are skewed by the fact that large numbers of conservative-leaning whites sat out the election last year, meaning that liberal, feminist whites are overrepresented. Had whites turned out at the same rate in 2012 as they did in 2004, Romney would have won.

(05-16-2013 07:34 PM)InternationPlayboy Wrote:  What really trips me out is that white women were the smallest demographic of feminists.

Probably due to demographics. For the past few decades, feminist and leftist women have consistently had fewer children than conservative ones, and it's pretty much common knowledge that two-thirds to three-quarters of people have similar political views as their parents. The substantially higher percentage of feminists among blacks and Latinos is an outgrowth of those demographics' greater support for Democrats and liberalism in general.

That's the biggest joke of all: all else being equal, feminism literally selects its most devoted adherents out of the gene pool. By liberating women, we've ensured that each successive generation will be more feminine and submissive than the last.

Post: #18

(05-16-2013 07:34 PM)InternationPlayboy Wrote:  What really trips me out is that white women were the smallest demographic of feminists.

When you think about it, it's not that hard to believe