How to distinguish between feminists and radical feminists?

[Anonymous]

I have no problem with feminist people, but it is the radical feminists I have very much problem with.

So, girls... how to spot a one?
Because I am a guy and will eventually get a wife or a girlfriend, I need to be very careful about it. I need to find out discreetly whether the girl I am with is a normal one or a good one, a feminist one, or a radfem so that I can press the STOP button before the damage is done.

Hence, basically directed towards girls, but guys can also hop in to answer!

[Cherry234]

I'd say a feminist (a normal feminist) is a person who believes in women and men having the same opportunities (like being paid the same for the work they do) and believing men and women are equal (meaning no one gender is superior to the other). I also believe that a person who really is a feminist believes that women should make their own choices.

Like if a woman wants to be a doctor, a lawyer, or a CEO, she should pursue those careers. Or if she wants to be a stay-at-home mother then she should be allowed that option. But the radical feminists I believe are the ones who only care about their rights and don't care about the basic rights of men or about other groups' rights (like custody laws that favor mothers over fathers, paternal leave, suicide rates in men, domestic violence against men, men who are accused of rape, etc.).

I'd also say if they make political statements just to draw attention (like a woman refusing to shave as an act of going against the "patriarchy") then that's another sign. I find those types to be very annoying. Also, a dead give away is if a "radical feminist" is really misandrist. Those people aren't really feminist, they really just hate men.

[Sirenboobzilla]

Radical feminists take the platform of feminism and blow it out of proportion and, as @MCheetah put it, lays blame on men for effectively everything to the point where if you breathe in their presence, you're a detriment to women.

In my opinion, any woman who would rather belittle and shame a man just for being a man is a waste of breath. Same for men who shame and belittle women

[MCheetah]

Their entire ideology is hating men and blaming men for all problems in society (as well as hating women and thinking of them as weak and helpless). Calling a feminist a "radical feminist" is like calling someone a "radical Nazi" or "an extreme murderer."

Feminists believe in a HATEFUL IDEOLOGY! End of story! Why do incels automatically get believed as being hateful people, and yet, female incels, feminists, don't? (It's because of the over 170 years of institutional power and influence they've had on Western society, but I already know that.)

I'm so sick of this gaslighting that feminism isn't an awful, man-hating ideology, as if it hasn't literally always been. People need to know their history on how awful and misandrist Susan B Anthony and Millicent Fawcett really were, and how women WEREN'T "weak and properties of men" like revisionist historians like to lie about.

And yes, I know OP asked girls on this question, but I'm still sick of people pretending like feminism is "just about women's equality." It literally NEVER was!

It's not that hard to read up on the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 and hear what they really thought about all men.

[hahahmm]

It's like saying, "I don't like spoiled food but half spoiled food is okay." Around 50% of women don't consider themselves feminists at all. That word basically means radical today.

It's easy to spot feminists.. they're the ones who either try and look masculine in various ways or who act masculine. Anything a woman does to detract from her femininity can be a clue.

[Anonymous]

Try to get them to give up the word feminist in favour of 'advocate of equality' on the basis that the term feminist has been repurposed to mean misandrist.

If it is the principle they care about, they should be willing to change the terms to better understood terms but if they are a radical they will cling to the term feminist.

No guarantees that this will work but its the guide I use.

[LilyoftheLake]

I would just ask their views on feminism! Radical feminists will pop right out!

Or maybe hold a door for her? Buy her flowers? Again, radical feminists will probably react.

[SaltyBeaches]

I don't really distinguish between them anymore. You either support modern feminism or you don't, and I don't.

[OlderAndWiser]

Start talking about politics and conservative vs. liberal agendas and a radical feminist won't be able to contain her hostility; she will erupt like Vesuvius.

[fonduegirl]

It can be very tricky. It's good as telling sociopaths apart from psychopaths.

[fonduegirl]

That is, they're extremely similar. I have never met a person who could give a solid diffence between socios and psychos, unless the person had psychology education in bg.

[fonduegirl]

You can start by knowing the limits.

[fonduegirl]

by the way, are u a feminist yourself?

[Asker]

Neutral you can say. Not here and not there.

[fonduegirl]

That's cool

[sirderpsalot123]

You're better off avoiding anyone who identifies as a feminist. They don't give a shit about you.

[ODC2112]

There is no any difference.

[LimitedBenefits101]

there's no difference

feminist=cancer

[In_Trance]

same shit