feminism, n. Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈfɛmᵻnɪz(ə)m/ , U.S. /ˈfɛməˌnɪzəm/ Etymology: < classical Latin fēmina woman (see female n.) + -ism suffix. In sense 2 after French féminisme (in medicine) feminization (1871 or earlier). In sense 3 after feminist adj.; compare also French féminisme (1896 or earlier), Catalan feminisme (c1910), Spanish feminismo (1898 or earlier), Portuguese feminismo (1905), Italian femminismo (1896). 1. Feminine quality or character; femininity. Now rare. 1841 Webster's Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. (rev. ed.) App. 963/1 Feminism, the qualities of females. 1857 J. Millhouse New Eng. & Ital. Dict. (ed. 2) II. 224/2 Femminezza, feminality, feminism. 1898 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Jan. 104/2 It is quite different with modern women's books of the introspective type... In them the true spirit of feminism dwells. 1915 in P. Farrer Confid. Corr. on Cross Dressing (1997) 100 As a male corset wearer and with a strong strain of feminism in my nature, I have had some years' experience of corset wearing and the use of girls' clothing. 2. Med. The appearance of female secondary sexual characteristics in a male individual; feminization. Now rare or disused. 1875 Med. Times & Gaz. 24 July 105/1 These attributes M. Lorrain designates by the terms infantilism and feminism. 1907 Med. Fortn. 25 July 352/1 Feminism in man on the other hand is characterized by masculine genital organs, little developed, feminine attitude and gait, large pelvis, prominent hips, [etc.]. 1945 H. Burrows Biol. Actions Sex Hormones xxiii. 453 The symptoms of adrenal virilism and feminism are caused by an excessive production of androgen or oestrogen by the adrenal. 3. Advocacy of equality of the sexes and the establishment of the political, social, and economic rights of the female sex; the movement associated with this (see note below). Cf. womanism n., women's liberation n., femininism n. post-, radical feminism: see the first element. The issue of rights for women first became prominent during the French and American revolutions in the late 18th cent., with regard especially to property rights, the marriage relationship, and the right to vote. In Britain it was not until the emergence of the suffragette movement in the late 19th cent. that there was significant political change. A ‘second wave’ of feminism arose in the 1960s, concerned especially with economic and social discrimination, with an emphasis on unity and sisterhood. A more diverse ‘third wave’ is sometimes considered to have arisen in the 1980s and 1990s, as a reaction against the perceived lack of focus on class and race issues in earlier movements. 1895 Athenæum 27 Apr. 533/2 Her intellectual evolution and her coquettings with the doctrines of ‘feminism’ are traced with real humour. 1897 Daily News 6 Sept. 8/6 You alluded, Mr. Goldwin Smith, somewhat disparagingly, to that phase of feminism which is so curious a feature of the present day. 1909 Daily Chron. 29 May 4/4 Suffragists, suffragettes, and all the other phases in the crescendo of feminism. 1913 ‘R. West’ in Clarion 14 Nov. 5/2, I myself have never been able to find out precisely what Feminism is: I only know that people call me a Feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute. 1950 J. L. Jessup Faith of Our Feminists i. 10 Unlike sociologists and other tractarians, writers of fiction have recognized feminism as lying deeper than the demand for economic opportunity or political enfranchisement. 1971 S. Firestone Dialectic of Sex ii. 16 In the radical feminist view, the new feminism is not just the revival of a serious political movement for social equality. 2011 Guardian 15 Jan. 33/5 Nowadays, saying bad stuff about men is not how feminism conducts itself.
