Summary: Questions about the origins of common narratives about feminism and sports, and the problem of non-existent narratives about anti-feminists.

Photo by Flickr user librarykyle. Used under a Creative Commons license.

Another persistent myth about feminism, to go along with the ones about how the goal is to turn all women into lesbians, to burn bras, to have Helen Reddy to rewrite the national anthem, and make us all change our unisex clothes in unisex bathrooms, is that it’s all about man-hating.

What’s funny is that you’ll hear it most often from the same sort of people who get exasperated when a clueless newbie claims NASCAR is all about the car crashes or that American-style football is all mindless violence.

Where would you get the idea that the complexities, the comradeship, the social/spectator elements, the strategy, the drama, the traditions, the personalities, and everything else that makes either auto racing or football more than latter-day Circus Maximus spectacle? Why from the same place they get the idea that feminism is all about, I dunno, eating babies or something.

30-second clips on the evening news. Snarky commentary handed down by peers. Bewildering and maybe embarrassing first encounters. Situation comedies. And, particularly and perhaps primarily, agitation from opponents. And of course from self-selecting, self-organizing online echo chambers.

In the real world it’s a little more complicated.

p.s. Yeah, there are feminists who genuinely hate men. Most (the middle of the bell-shaped curve) don’t. On the other hand even more anti-feminists who hate men even more. Oddly you don’t hear too much about them. It’s not part of the script so they don’t exist. (Clue: ask an anti-feminist their opinion of men who want to date their daughter/sister/mother/neighbor/etc.)