Athena

From Middle English Athena, from Latin Athēna, from Ancient Greek Ἀθηνᾶ (Athēnâ). Doublet of Athina.

The last thing feminist Athenas see about corporate structures, government, or academia is that they are run by benevolent and all-protective fathers.

1989, Jennifer Barker Woolger, Roger J. Woolger, The goddess within:

The latter may become either Athenas or feminists. If one gets a certain sort of male sponsorship, becomes a Daddy's girl, one is allowed to function in these vocations of the righteous […]

1992, Marilyn Frye, Willful virgin: essays in feminism, 1976-1992, page 141:

Women who do decide to become scientists find themselves under attack from the self-proclaimed "echt" feminists, who call them "Athenas" and "Queen Bees."

1995, Noretta Koertge, Skeptical Inquirer, volume 19, number 2, page 42:

(feminism, derogatory, figurative) A woman who colludes with the patriarchy rather than actively opposing it.


sisterhood

en-noun

sisterhood (countable and uncountable, plural sisterhoods)

From Middle English susterhede; equivalent to sister + -hood (with a modification in the suffix).

What does the rallying cry of sisterhood and the concept of feminism mean when last year, the majority of white, female voters chose whiteness as a political identity over womanhood?

2017 September 23, Kaitlyn Greenidge, “‘Sisterhood’ Felt Meaningless. So My Sisters and I Got in the Car.”, in The New York Times:

(feminism) The idea of universal experience amongst women, regardless of other traits or factors. (Considered obsolete in third-wave feminism.)

sororidade

feminism: the idea of universal experience amongst women


gendered knowledge

(feminism) According to feminist studies and gender studies, mainstream knowledge that is produced by men and privileges the masculine over the feminine.


ovular

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From ovule + -ar. In the feminist sense, chosen as an opposite to seminar because of that term's etymological link with semen, the male sexual fluid.

Trebilco considers 'seminar' offensively 'masculinist', so she has replaced it with ovular, which she regards as its feminist equivalent.

1994, Christina Hoff Sommers, Who Stole Feminism?:

(feminism, rare) A seminar for feminists.


herstory

herstory (countable and uncountable, plural herstories)

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Wordplay: blend of her + history, derived as though the first syllable in history were his, the male determiner.

(feminism) Any historical writing by or about women.


shero

Packing estrogen and, not infrequently, a pen and a sword, sheroes come in every imaginable shape, size, and color, and manifest their sheroism in infinite ways.

1998, Varla Ventura, Sheroes: Bold, Brash, and Absolutely Unabashed Superwomen from Susan B. Anthony to Xena, Conari Press, →ISBN, →OL:

Every human grouping, whether it's just two people, a family, people in the neighborhood, people in the city, in a nation, a tribe, a species; people live in direct relation to the heroes and the sheroes they have.

2006 November 30, Dave Chappelle & Maya Angelou (Iconoclasts), season 2, episode 6, Maya Angelou (actor), via Sundance:

He talks about how we must remember the unsung heroes and sheroes of the Talahassee boycott, of the movement in general, and finally, he wonders how C. K. Steele would be accepted here.

2010 April 1, Ana Maria Spagna, Test Ride on the Sunnyland Bus: A Daughter's Civil Rights Journey, University of Nebraska Press, →ISBN:

“They are nobodies. They could be silenced tomorrow. They are sheroes, to the world.”

2012 August 17, Melena Ryzik, quoting Kate Conroy, “In New York, a Show of Solidarity for Russian Punk Band”, in New York Times:


omg

(chiefly Internet, slang) Alternative form of OMG:


malestream

en-adj

malestream (comparative more malestream, superlative most malestream)

more malestream (comparative)
most malestream (superlative)

(feminism) Mainstream and usual, from the point of view of the man, though actually biased towards men.


herstorical

herstorical (comparative more herstorical, superlative most herstorical)

more herstorical (comparative)
most herstorical (superlative)

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The essays discuss the ways in which the struggles against racism and sexism have come together or the times they have worked in isolation. They are well researched and reflect herstorical conditions of America's past, so often left out of history.

1982 December 4, Malkah Barrsey Feldman, “A Legacy of Oppression”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 20, page 9:

(rare, feminism) Pertaining to herstory.


herstorically

en-adv

herstorically (comparative more herstorically, superlative most herstorically)

more herstorically (comparative)
most herstorically (superlative)

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(rare, feminism) In a herstoric or herstorical way.


foresister

From fore- + sister. Compare forefather.

Another method of concealing lesbian history is the post-mortem straightening out of the lesbian, in which Haiviette becomes Joan of arc's "girlhood friend," Ebba Sparre becomes Queen Christina of Sweden's "companion," and the Ladies of Llangollen become "famous friends." Many of our fore-sisters have been stolen from us in this manner.

1976, Xenia S. Williams, “The Power of History...or History Is Written by the Powerful”, in Dave Peterson, Johnathan Cross, Lyn Rosen, editors, A Gay Person's Guide to New England, 2 edition:

Only then will we be able to adequately tell what our foresisters have done in memory of her.

1984, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, In memory of her: a feminist theological reconstruction of Christian origins:

Of course, women and men are always children of their time, and feminists today are children of their time, sitting on the shoulders of their foresisters even if they do not recognize it.

1999, Deborah F Sawyer, Diane M Collier, Is there a future for feminist theology?:

(feminism) A feminist of an earlier generation.


hystory

en-noun

hystory (countable and uncountable, plural hystories)

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Wordplay, replacing the supposed occurrence of the male pronoun his with hystero-; compare herstory.

(feminism, very rare) Nonstandard spelling of history.


womanifesto

womanifesto (plural womanifestos or womanifestoes)

womanifestos (plural)
womanifestoes (plural)

Two centuries later, feminist literary critics analyzed these feminist polemics, or womanifestos, as texts that embody a struggle between reason and emotion.

2002, Elaine Showalter, Inventing Herself, page 28:

On that date, whatever else we demonstrate, let us not fear to demonstrate by our presentation of womanifestos everywhere that feminism has universal potential and imperatives.

1992, Contemporary American Voices, page 316:


matristic

en-adj

matristic (comparative more matristic, superlative most matristic)

more matristic (comparative)
most matristic (superlative)

(feminism) Being or relating to a prehistoric female-led society based around Mother Goddess worship.


woman-born-woman

women-born-women (plural)
womyn-born-womyn (alternative)
WBW (alternative)

Coined by second-wave feminists to distinguish cisgender women from transgender women.

To the extent that she can pull it off, her gender is babe. But at Stayfree her babe outfit (long hair, big shirt, leggings, flats) makes her feel like an interloper—like some rude woman-born-woman intent on boycotting femininity because she can take it for granted.

(feminism) A cisgender woman; a cis woman.


transmisogynist

transmisogynist (comparative more transmisogynist, superlative most transmisogynist)

more transmisogynist (comparative)
most transmisogynist (superlative)
trans-misogynist (alternative)

Ropchan's assessment of the situation displays transmisogynist bias in the intentional misuse of the pronoun 'he,' […]

2012 April 4, Jil Jorgensen, Alexa DeGagne, “University must do more for transgendered people”, in The Gateway, volume 102, number 28, University of Alberta, page 10:

Well, speaking for myself as a trans woman: Certainly it's hard to argue that it doesn't repeat and reinforce all sorts of tired transmisogynist tropes, or that the song doesn't have a nasty hetero-cis sneer underneath it.

2012, Rachel Zall, quoted in Andrew Hickey, Preservation: The Kinks' Music 1964-1974, Lulu.com (2012), page 137, published 2 September 2012

Transwomen grow up in an incredibly transmisogynist culture, where we receive relentlessly negative messages about our identities, […]

2013, Leela Ginelle, "Parker Marie Molloy Elaborates on 'Gay Dudes, Can You Just Not?'", PQ Monthly, Volume 2, Number 12, December 2013/January 2014, page 12

(feminism, LGBTQ, neologism) Relating to, characteristic of, or exhibiting transmisogyny.


transmisogynist

transmisogynists (plural)
trans-misogynist (alternative)

(feminism, LGBTQ, neologism) One who exhibits transmisogyny.


anarcha-feminism

(politics, feminism) A political and philosophical theory combining anarchism and feminism, which typically views the state as patriarchal and oppressive.


sheroic

sheroic (comparative more sheroic, superlative most sheroic)

more sheroic (comparative)
most sheroic (superlative)

The tragedy of Gatha's sheroic journey is that the actualization of her own importance is never considered "the prize" of her odyssey; hence, she never recognizes the personal and historic success of her journey.

1999, Janice Lee Liddell, “Voyages Beyond Lust and Lactation: The Climacteric as Seen in Novels by Sylvia Wynter, Beryl Gilroy, and Paule Marshall”, in Janice Liddell, Yakini Belinda Kemp, editors, Arms Akimbo: Africana Women in Contemporary Literature, University Press of Florida, →ISBN, page 36:

This sheroic choice eventually led her to testify compassionately on behalf of faceless and voiceless young girls still living under horrific conditions in the community she had escaped from.

2015, Nancy D. O'Reilly, Leading Women: 20 Influential Women Share Their Secrets to Leadership, Business, and Life, Adams Media, →ISBN, page 84:

However, in the same vein, she also bemoans that following each of these campaigns, amnesia sets in wherein society tends to conveniently forget about the sheroic lengths to which its women have uniformly performed and without whom the military's successes could not have been achieved.

2015, G. L. A. Harris, Living Legends and Full Agency: Implications of Repealing the Combat Exclusion Policy, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 37:

(feminism) Heroic in a female or feminist context.


metapatriarchal

metapatriarchal (comparative more metapatriarchal, superlative most metapatriarchal)

more metapatriarchal (comparative)
most metapatriarchal (superlative)

From meta- + patriarchal, coined by Mary Daly (1928–2010), playing on multiple senses of meta-.

(feminism) Relating to transcendence over the patriarchy.


wommonhood

From wommon + -hood, modelled on womanhood.

(feminism, rare) Nonstandard spelling of womanhood.


pink tax

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(informal, feminism) The relative increase in price paid for women's consumer items compared to similar products marketed to men.


matrophobia

Coined by the poet Lynn Sukenick; equivalent to matri- + -phobia.

(feminism) The fear of becoming like one's mother.


radical feminism

en-noun

radical feminism (countable and uncountable, plural radical feminisms)

The conference had been convened by a group that wanted to defend two positions that have made radical feminism anathema to much of the left. First, the organizers hoped to refute charges that the desire to ban prostitution implies hostility toward prostitutes.

2014 August 4, Michelle Goldberg, “What Is A Woman? The Dispute between Radical Feminism and Transgenderism”, in The New Yorker:

(politics, feminism) A type of feminism which calls for a radical reordering of society to eliminate male supremacy in all social and economic contexts.


pornotroping

Coined by Hortense J. Spillers in her 1987 essay “Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: An American Grammar Book”; porno- + trope + -ing.

(feminism) The process of reducing a person or group of people to mere flesh, stripped of personhood and made into the object of violent and sexual impulses.


jineology

Anglicized from Northern Kurdish jineolojî, from jin (“woman”).

(feminism, politics) A school of feminist thought espoused by various leftist groups in Kurdistan.


wombyn

Form "My journey as a wombyn child emerging from a wombyn, my mother, and my own growth thru all the passages and consecutive emergences to the present is both similar to the experiences of generations of wombyn gone before me and uniquely my own.

1983, Lynda Ross Ford, Bleeding, page 147:

I come from a generation of wombyn that struggled and strived alone.

2014, Diata, Wombanystic Thoughts, →ISBN, page 108:

These spritely guides are merely an inspiration for you to begin or deepen your journey depending on where you are in your development. I invite you to take time to see what your personal guidance says about your wombyn's rhythms.

2016, Zsuzsi Hussla, Unraveling Her, →ISBN:


wimin

(feminism) Alternative spelling of women.


womin

LF 36, Pisces, would like to meet a special womin with Holistic inter arts affection.

1986 April 19, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, page 13:

(feminism) Alternative spelling of woman.


toxic femininity

Don’t get me wrong I know many rad Riot Grrris but for me the predominant kinderwhore uniform didn’t seem very different than the toxic femininity mass media was already pushing on me as a fat non white teen […]

2014, Mason J., quoted in Amos Mac & Rocco Kayiatos, "Mr. Transman San Francisco Mason J.", Original Plumbing, Winter 2014, page 33

The obsequious demands of toxic femininity require placing oneself in a diminished role in relation to a more powerful partner, who uses physical, sexual, financial, emotional, or psychological actions or threats of actions to gain or maintain power over another person.

2019, Brenda R. Weber, Latter-day Screens: Gender, Sexuality, and Mediated Mormonism, page 232:

Rather, toxic femininity is a by-product of toxic masculinity – it is the poison which arises in women's bodies and minds when they experience not just the pain of lost love, but the hopelessness of trying to be perfect, not for themselves but for men who ultimately neither understand nor value them.

2024, Van Thanh Binh, Stephen Whitehead, Self-Love for Women: Overcoming Toxic Femininity and Suffering, unnumbered page:

(feminism) The systemic pressure on women to conform to standards of beauty, femininity, modesty, etc., to the detriment of individual agency and well-being.


himpathy

But this isn't because the problem of himpathy is rare. On the contrary -- it's so common that we regard it as business as usual.

2017, Kate Manne, Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny, →ISBN, page 196:

For too long we have clung to the idea of “himpathy”, as Washington Times journalist Irin Carmon so perfectly described it at the writers' festival.

2018 May 13, Helen Pitt, “Drop the 'himpathy': Clarion call of Sydney Writers' Festival's #MeToo moment”, in The Sydney Morning Herald:

Examples of “himpathy” abound. Cosby was buoyed by public support for decades, even as more than 60 women accused him of sexual assault.

2019 December 18, Anne Kingston, “Will Harvey Weinstein's big show produce ‘himpathy’?”, in Maclean’s:

(feminism) Inappropriate sympathy given to men or boys, especially those who are guilty of sexual transgressions.


womban

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compulsory heterosexuality

In none of these books, which concern themselves with mothering, sex roles, relationships, and societal prescriptions for women, is compulsory heterosexuality ever examined as an institution powerfully affecting all these; or the idea of "preference" or "innate orientation" even indirectly questioned.

1980 Summer, Adrienne Rich, “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence”, in Signs, volume 5, number 4, →DOI, page 633:

How could I have missed this milestone of compulsory heterosexuality? Who would teach my daughter whatever girls with fathers learned on these dates and dances, like how to wait for doors to be opened or hold a fork like an unmistakable catch?

2019 April 26, Asha French, “A ‘Daddy-Daughter Date,’ Queer Single Mom-Style”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

(feminism, LGBTQ) The idea that heterosexuality is often assumed and forced upon individuals regardless of their own sexual orientation by a patriarchal and heteronormative society.


comphet

comp-het (alternative)
comp het (alternative)

Because heterosexuality is, by and large, presented as the only acceptable sexuality to have, comp het assumes that one might choose heterosexuality by default, even if one is not strictly hetero, in order to escape such punishment.

2019 June 3, Anna Pulley, “Ask Anna: Am I really attracted to men, or just responding to heteronormativity?”, in Chicago Tribune:

compulsory heterosexuality
compulsory heterosexuality#English

(feminism, LGBTQ) Abbreviation of compulsory heterosexuality.


himpathetic

Blend of him + sympathetic, or of himpathy + sympathetic.

Yet it would be a mistake to view them as on a different plane of moral obtuseness, as opposed to merely being on the extreme end of a himpathetic spectrum on which many of us lie. Brock Turner's defenders exhibited forgiving tendencies, ...

2017, Kate Manne, Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 200:

But in a himpathetic world view this does make sense because the question we are invited to ask is what does it mean for him? That Kavanaugh's (and, to an extent, Thomas's) privilege is such that his greatest fear is the loss of his name […]

2019, Karen Boyle, #MeToo, Weinstein and Feminism, Springer Nature, →ISBN, page 113:

This was picked up and repeated by women in the media who were “himpathetic” to the idea. Trump's win “gives us an opportunity to reflect on how badly misogynist forces can distort our thinking and bias our reasoning” (Manne 2019, 250).

2019, Maria B. Marron, Misogyny and Media in the Age of Trump, Lexington Books, →ISBN, page 98:

When a woman fails to give a man what he's supposedly owed, she will often face punishment and reprisal — whether from him, his himpathetic supporters, or the misogynistic social structures in [society].

2020, Kate Manne, Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women, Crown, →ISBN, page 11:

(feminism) Exhibiting or pertaining to himpathy; inappropriately sympathetic to men or boys, especially ones guilty of sexual transgressions.


himpathize

en-verb

himpathize (third-person singular simple present himpathizes, present participle himpathizing, simple past and past participle himpathized)

himpathizes (present singular third-person)
himpathizing (participle present)
himpathized (participle past)
himpathized (past)

Blend of him + sympathize, or of himpathy + sympathize.

As Manne (2017) and Solnit (2017) have shown, we tend to sympathize (or 'himpathize') too much with men and their standpoints, and not enough with women and their standpoints. This results in a tendency to downplay men's transgressions ...

2019, Michelle Ciurria, An Intersectional Feminist Theory of Moral Responsibility, Routledge, →ISBN:

... move in the political realm, particularly when they are challenging male authority. Female misogynists have made themselves visible in this era, being willing to exonerate, himpathize, and dismiss other women's concerns and accusations, were crucial to the outcome.

2019, L. H. Blumenfeld, Female Misogyny and Political Power, in Maria B. Marron, Misogyny and Media in the Age of Trump, Lexington Books, page 4

So here, as elsewhere, we ought to resist the pressure to himpathize. Incels have generated many headlines recently. It's easy to understand why, given the egregiously violent acts of misogyny some incels have committed.

2020, Kate Manne, Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women, Crown, →ISBN, page 30:

(feminism, rare) To exhibit himpathy; to inappropriately sympathize with men or boys, especially ones guilty of sexual transgressions.


liberal feminism

en-noun

liberal feminism (countable and uncountable, plural liberal feminisms)

(politics, feminism) A type of feminism defined by its focus on achieving gender equality within the framework of liberal democracy and through political and legal reform


Aunt Tabby

(feminism, historical, derogatory) A woman who opposes the feminist movement or regards it as too radical.


male-

Ignoring male-odorous patriarchal rituals and ceremonies, we celebrate New Sparks of Elemental Feminist Genius with our own festivals.

1998, Mary Daly, Quintessence: Realizing the Archaic Future:

(rare, derogatory, feminism) Variant of mal-; used to associate men with negative things


femstruate

en-verb

femstruate (third-person singular simple present femstruates, present participle femstruating, simple past and past participle femstruated)

femstruates (present singular third-person)
femstruating (participle present)
femstruated (participle past)
femstruated (past)

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Blend of fem- + menstruate, to avoid the word men.

(rare, nonstandard, feminism) Synonym of menstruate.


femopause

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Blend of fem- + menopause, to avoid the word men.

(rare, nonstandard, feminism) Synonym of menopause.


femstruation

en-noun

femstruation (usually uncountable, plural femstruations)

Blend of fem- + menstruation, to avoid the word men.

(rare, nonstandard, feminism) Synonym of menstruation.


manel

(feminism, informal, derogatory, neologism) A panel of speakers that fails to include any women.


male pattern violence

Apparently modelled on male pattern baldness.

As civilization collapses, we will see an increase in male-pattern violence. We will see an increase in violence against those who resist. We will see an increase in violence against people of color.

2011, Derrick Jensen, Aric McBay, Lierre Keith, Deep Green Resistance: Strategy to Save the Planet:

As feminists have known for years: the issue is male-pattern violence, and sexual assault is only one facet of this violence which keeps women in a subservient class to men.

2019, Martin Gitlin, Sexual Consent, page 86:

(feminism) Violent behavior thought to be characteristic of men.


woman-identified-woman

Their father hasn't contributed except periodically to their support. He has the option of living his life style as he wishes, but I have to hide and deny my life style as a woman-identified-woman or risk losing my children.

1980 April 12, M. Amish, “The Right to Be a Parent”, in Gay Community News, page 12:

(feminism) A lesbian, whether political or native-born.


urinary leash

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(feminism, historical) The former situation of women being largely confined to their homes because of a lack of public toilets for women.


male as norm

(grammar, feminism) The principle that holds that grammatical and lexical devices such as the use of the feminine suffix -ess and the use of man to mean human, strengthen the perceptions that the male category is the norm, and that corresponding female categories are thus less important.


manclaiming

(feminism, rare, derogatory) A man's practice of claiming a woman's work as his own.


male-identified

I'm here to tell you that lesbian battering occurs in all kinds of lesbian relationships. I am a butch and I was a victim of it. All kinds of women can be abused, and many different kinds of women can be abusers. It's not going to be as easy as pointing fingers at those who are "male-identified" or have "internalized homophobia," and saying the problem is over there.

1984 February 4, Anne Franklin, “Who Are The Experts?”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 28, page 6:

(feminism, of a woman, derogatory) Aligned with patriarchal interests.


supershero

Blend of superhero + she. By surface analysis, super- + shero.

Sandee's polar opposite in every way is real life supershero supermodel Waris Dirie, a resplendent Somali native who has come out of the closet about a horrific secret from her childhood — a female circumcision performed on her at the age of six.

1998, Ventura, Varla, 1958-, Sheroes : bold, brash, and absolutely unabashed superwomen from Susan B. Anthony to Xena, page 231:

Add action figures to the block area to encourage superhero and supershero play.

1998, York, Stacey, 1957-, Big as life : the everyday inclusive curriculum, page 126:

It isn’t just that the entertainment media are feminizing the superhero. It’s that today’s superheroes and the more recently emerging supersheroes almost always and exclusively use violence to solve problems, and enjoy beating up the bad guy to boot.

2005, Prothrow-Stith, Deborah, 1954-, Sugar and spice and no longer nice : how we can stop girls' violence, page 36:

She holds the position of Senior Professor of Kabba Lah Lah Yoga at the Jewlicious Festival, teaches classes on Jewish women supersheroes at retreats in Maui, and serves on the advisory board for Schmooze, the Sidney Krum Jewish Culture Conference.

2008, Lisa Alcalay Klug, Cool Jew, page 233:

I created an avatar, supershero, and alter-ego named Amrita Simla. Via my immigrant supershero, I retaliate against labels of exotic, submissive, or compliant women, stereotypes we encounter as South Asian Americans.

2019, Women and Migration - Responses in Art and History, page 331:

In 1992, VNS Matrix, a feminist artist collective based out of Adelaide, launched All New Gen, a new media artwork using the language and aesthetic of videogames to “disrupt the machismo world of video games with a female non binary centric computer game” where “an omnipresent supershero collaborates with her band of DNA Sluts to bring down Big Daddy Mainframe” (VNS Matrix 1992).

2023, Keogh, Brendan, The Videogame Industry Does Not Exist: Why We Should Think Beyond Commercial Game Production, page 66:

(feminism) A female superhero (especially in the sense of a remarkable human).