iFeminism: A Unique Feminist Group?

David Byron has been submitting insightful news stories left and right lately, and writes "I have spent time looking at feminist sites on-line and trying to debate on feminist boards for a couple of years now, and in all that time of trying to find a sincere feminism, only one group has managed to convince me that they might really want sexual equality and are prepared to be honest. The site is now one year old and here's a quote from their newsletter: For slightly more than a year now, we have been making an all-out effort to heal the destruction wrought by gender feminism and to offer in its place a feminism that embraces men as equals, the free market as opportunity, sex as a source of joy, and civil liberties as every human being's right. My thanks to each and every one of you for sharing and contributing to our vision." Click "Read More" below to view more of David's comments and find out what site he is referring to...

The iFeminist site and newsletter is run by Wendy McElroy, who seems to be a libertarian first and a feminist second (the "i" in "ifeminist" stands for "individualist"), however this is most definitely an unapologetic feminist group not a women's group such as the Women's Freedom Network which Cathy Young and Christina Hoff Sommers are associated with. The iFeminist emphasis remains on feminism, and there is plenty to disagree with, but let me list a few of the features that make iFeminism unique as a feminist group:

• VAWA. Its very rare to find a feminist who disagrees with the sexism of the US Violence Against Women Act. Wendy McElroy condemns VAWA as gender apartheid.

• Gender wage gap hoax. The iFeminist site has many links and articles pointing out that the wage gap is a natural result of women's choices. In my experience this sort of honesty is unheard of in feminism.

• History. I know of no other feminist site on the net that is honest about the darker side of feminism in the 19th century. Even some men's rights boards seem to go along with the white wash! McElroy traces individualist feminism and the darker side of feminism to its historical roots.

• Censorship. The only feminist board (that I know of) on the internet that doesn't censor non-feminist comments. In fact the only feminist board I've been on that hasn't banned me or censored me!

In my experience any one of these items makes the iFeminist site unique among feminist sites, and worth a mention, but the final straw for me was reading a recent iFeminist newsletter which called attention to a counter-feminist site (in fact a site on the Feminism On Trial webring) run by Rowena, an Australian student with a very sharp line in sarcasm. Rowena's form letter for feminists was quoted with approval, as a joke. Feminism with a sense of humor? About themselves?

Scott's note: Yes, ifeminism.com is a very different group of feminists. In fact, a month or two ago, Wendy asked if she could include mention of Mensactivism.org in one of her newsletters! Her site and philosophy is definitely worth checking out.

NOTICE: This story was migrated from the old software that used to run Mensactivism.org. Unfortunately, user comments did not get included in the migration. However, you may view a copy of the original story, with comments, at the following link:

http://news.mensactivism.org/articles/00/12/21/237213.shtml