Editor's Note: Male Bashing or What's In a Name? Feminism in the United States Today

Are Feminists man Haters? Feminists' and Nonfeminists' Attitudes Toward Men

“…In surveys of college students, the number of those who identify as feminists ranges from 8% in a sample of African American women university students (Myaskovsky & Wittig, 1997) to 44% in a sample of White women attending a small private liberal arts college (Bullock & Fernald, 2003). The term “feminist” conjures up a variety of images that typically reflect both widespread misunderstanding of feminism and the cloud of negative stereotypes of women who identify themselves as feminists (Farnham, 1996; Yoder, 2003). In some quarters, feminists and feminism have been directly and indirectly blamed for a variety of social problems, including the comparatively lower rate of college entrance of young men (Sommers, 2000), the claimed decline in “manliness” in American culture (Mansfield, 2006), and even the attacks of September 11, 2001 (Falwell, 2001).…”