Feminism is a movement which seeks respect and equality for all genders, but particularly women both under law and culturally.
Although improvements have been made, particularly in the last 50-100 years, people of different genders are not always treated equally. Our social, economic, and political systems are systematically biased against women in many different ways. Some of these systematic biases against women have the side effect of harming people of other genders, but they are still biases against women.
Feminists come in all shapes, sizes, colours, ages, and genders. There is likewise a wide range of political thought and ways of expressing feminism. Not all feminists think alike, but if you support the idea of respect and equality for women, then you are a feminist.
Contents
Background reading
The Geek Feminism wiki does not generally cover introductory feminist topics. Therefore, if you're not familiar with feminism, we recommend you follow some of these links to learn about feminism and help us avoid Feminism 101 discussions.
- Feminism on Wikipedia (general background and history)
- a pre-101 introduction on Go Make Me A Sandwich
- Finally a Feminism 101 Blog describing common concepts, political positions and misconceptions about feminism. Discussions between women about issues are sometimes interrupted by men who want to have issues broken down and explained from the beginning, which can derail the conversation. This page is designed to be the place to have those elementary discussions instead.
- “Check my what?” On privilege and what we can do about it
Men who are interested in geek feminism or in supporting women in geek communities may particularly like to check out our list of Resources for men.
Concepts
The following pages on this wiki explain important feminist concepts and terms that you might encounter.
Essential concepts
Other concepts
- Accountability
- Agency
- Androcentrism
- Confirmation bias
- Gender and sex
- Gender binary
- Internalized sexism
- Intersectionality
- Lived experience
- Male gaze
- Nothing about us without us
- Objectification
- Othering
- Rape culture
- Reverse sexism
- Victim blaming
Geek feminism terms
The above concepts are used fairly widely in feminist discussion. There are also some terms, laws, anecdotes and similar surrounding geek feminism and online feminist discussion, less widely known and often of more recent coinage, which you may find useful to know:
- Bechdel test
- Bingo cards
- Feminist cookie
- Grunch
- Hive vagina
- Magical Man Sparkles
- Moff's law
- Privilege checklists
- Spoons
- Unicorn Law
External resources
Jargon lists:
Topic lists:
