Just a little lesson in chipping away at the patriarchy
other women, as personal as listing the bridesmaids’ advanced academic degrees on the wedding program.
When a woman refuses to yield to a man as they head toward each other on the sidewalk, that’s microfeminism (and also, deliciously, “patriarchy chicken”). When mom tells the day care to call Dad first, that’s microfeminism (even if the day care somehow never manages to remember to call him first). When a co-worker addresses a female colleague before male co-workers on an email, even if she’s the lowest on the org chart, that’s microfeminism, too.
Women and their allies (including dads who intentionally engage other dads in playdate planning) have long been practicing nonrandom acts of microfeminism. but the term and concept went viral in march, when ashley chaney, a content producer and host, posted her own acts of #microfeminism on tiktok. the video has been watched by 2.7 million viewers so far, and thousands of people — nearly 6,400 by may 19 — responded with tips of their own.
one video was called “Hey Girlies.”
“You know how men will walk into a room [filled with men and women] and address them collectively as ‘guys,’ ” the woman says, “and if you ever ask them about that, they’ll be like, ‘Guy is a gender-neutral term,’ so i’ve decided that ‘girly’ is also a gender-neutral term. . . .”
no one thinks calling guys “girlies” or performatively assuming a lawyer or a ceo is female is going to change society. “oh, you went to the doctor. What did she say?”
but microfeminism can be a “gateway drug” to more substantive activism and organizing, said Jennifer Pozner, founder of Women in media & news and the author of a forthcoming graphic novel about media literacy.
“feminism has always been about many things,” she said. “the explicitly political side of the movement includes organizing for electoral, economic, and civil rights, as well as bodily autonomy.
“but it has also included dayto-day small acts of rebellion against sexist gender norms. So ‘microfeminism’ is that second part, where we exist in a world that is often riddled with double standards and dismissive, and even illegal, treatment of women, and we have to navigate that in ways that allow us to take our power back.”
a 2020 survey by the Pew Research center found that about 6 in 10 US women say “feminist” describes them very (19 percent) or somewhat (42 percent) well.
but even women who identify as feminists do not always include all women — or other people who have been left out of the power structure — in their activism, said Heather mcclean, a certified diversity professional and a former director of development operations and policy at the barack obama foundation.
“White women will look out for each other and think a panel or a conference or meeting space is diverse because there are a lot of women,” she said, “but there won’t be any women of color. or they won’t recognize their own complicity in silencing women of color in spaces.”
“these types of conversations absolutely need to include nonbinary people, as well as others in the lGbtQ+ community, and people with disabilities, and people with different education levels, financial stability, and religions, and ages, and and and . . .” she said.
mecca Jamilah Sullivan, a professor of english at Georgetown University and author of the novel “big Girl,” defines her own acts of microfeminism as trying to claim what she shouldn’t have to fight for in the first place.
“for me as a bigger black queer woman, occupying space in general feels like an act of resistance,” she said.
“the choice to leave or enter an elevator first, to choose the best treadmill at the gym even if it’s at the front, to use the armrest on the plane even when a smaller seat mate — often a white male — has tried to claim it, i see all these as acts of everyday feminism rooted in long traditions of black women’s resistance.”
Some acts of microfeminism, meanwhile, are so surreptitious their punch isn’t felt until after the warrior is long gone.
Skye Shirley, founder of lupercal, a female-focused latin reading group, likes to reshelve books from the “feminist studies” section into general philosophy, history, or wherever women’s contributions are ignored, she said.
“a lot of small things can add up,” she said. “micro is macro.”