‘Ifeminists’ have no problem with sexual harassment, oppose affirmative action, and think there’s nothing sexist about porn. Meet a new women’s group that seeks to prop up male power.

Who’s Co-Opting Feminism?
By Christy Burbridge

Are you an ifeminist? Take this quiz to find out.”

I click on the link. ‘Interesting,’ I think to myself. ‘This will be an entertaining yet informative way to kill an idle ten minutes before my class.’

But what is “ifeminism,” anyway? More than likely, we are all at least somewhat familiar with liberal feminism, radial feminism, ecofeminism, and a whole host of others. But I for one had never even heard of ifeminism. Curious to learn about it, I happened upon a website called ifeminists and read the introduction.

I came to discover that Ifeminism, formally known as “Individualist Feminism,” premises itself on the goal equal rights between the genders. That makes perfect sense to me. After all, isn’t that our goal? So does that make me an ifeminist? I didn’t see why not.

But as I continued to read, I began to feel less and less sure. States Wendy McElroy, the founder of ifeminism.com: “Ifeminists believe that freedom and diversity benefit women, whether or not the choices that particular women make are politically correct. They respect all sexual choices, from motherhood to porn.”

According to ifeminism, “freedom and choice do not threaten women. Government and orthodoxy do.” Functioning within a libertarian, post second-wave politic, ifeminists propose that women are both intelligent and empowered enough to know what is right for them. They believe that telling women what is or is not best for them by enacting legislation against pornography is “paternalistic” to women who choose to work in the sex-industry, and affirmative action only “embeds gender privilege” for women in the law.

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