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Why doesn't men's rights activists call themselves masculinists? Easy way to use language to redefine feminism as a women-only thing. Easy points. And then conv
by tormeh 12y ago
Why doesn't men's rights activists call themselves masculinists? Easy way to use language to redefine feminism as a women-only thing. Easy points. And then conventional feminism could be redefined as equalism or whatever and the language pedantic in me would rest easy.
- innguest 12y agoBecause that's wrong derivation? pro-woman -> woman in Latin is femina -> feminism pro-man -> man in Latin is vir -> virilism (sounds stupid). That's why.
- shkkmo 12y agoI doubt that's actually why, but it is an interesting fact to know.
- LukeShu 12y agoBut "mās" is also Latin for man? We see that used with feminine/masculine. Is there a reason it would be different in this case?
- innguest 12y agoYes, there is a reason. woman -> femina, related to women -> femininus man -> vir, related to men -> mas As you can see it seems even the Romans did not like to make derivations from the old, old word "vir" (also see etymology for "world"). Feminine is from 'femininus', not 'femina'. Masculine is from 'mas' -> 'masculus' (diminutive of 'mas') -> 'masculinus', not 'vir'. 'Mas' was never used to mean "man", only "male". If instead of "feminism", the movement were called "femininism", then the opposite would indeed be "masculinism" as you suggest. But the opposite of "feminism" must be "virilism".