How do you define "feminism"? #2
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP) and so*many*definitions/differences!
Welcome to #2 of “How do you define ‘feminism’”?
“How do you define ‘feminism’” #1 is here
“How do you define ‘feminism’” #3 is here
As many Tolkien readers know, his first job was on the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) (if you haven’t read The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary, I highly recommend it especially if you’re a lexicography fan).
The OED is an incredible resource because it provides not only definitions (which change over time in many cases!) and etymologies (how the word in question came into English, or originated in Old English) but also quotes from as many types of sources that they can find (and I imagine validate!) from the earliest date to more recent ones, to show how the word was used.
There’s also a whole lot more information, much very specialized, which I seldom look at. If you do not have access through a university or library, a personal subscription is necessary to access all of it: the cost is currently $109 (US) a year; that’s become my birthday present to myself the last two years.
I have been a fan of the Oxford English Dictionary since I discovered it as an English major in the late 1970s when it was a whole shelf of books, way before I knew Tolkien worked on it! And in 1976, what I was reading was the *first edition* (since the second did not come out until 1989):
I know that many of us working in Tolkien studies will look words up in the OED which I discussed in regard to “queer” in The Many Meanings of Queer. But looking up the meanings of a word to use, while a good thing to do, is not the same as analyzing the histories of those words (and how they were, and are, used), and what changed over the years.
So here are my notes from a couple of deep dives into two different Webs of Words! As is often the case with the OED, I find the real richness in the citations (some of which it might be fun to follow up at some point!).
FEMINISM, n, 1989 (OED 2nd ed)
In the second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (1989), the entry for “feminism” was 165 words. The are three definitions with the earliest cited dates being 1851 and 1895 supported by five citations. Two of the three definitions are sexed characteristics (as opposed to a political stance): “The qualities of females” (1851), and the specialized (medical?) meaning: “Path. The development of female secondary sexual characteristics in a male.”
This is the unrevised text of the entry as published in the Second Edition of the OED (1989). It may contain unrevised text that was originally published much earlier.
feminism
(ˈfɛmɪnɪz(ə)m) [f. L. fēmin-a + -ism.]
1. The qualities of females.
1851 in Ogilvie.
2. [After F. féminisme.] Advocacy of the rights of women (based on the theory of equality of the sexes). (Cf. womanism.)
1895 Athenæum 27 Apr. 533/2 Her intellectual evolution and her coquettings with the doctrines of ‘feminism’ are traced with real humour. 1908 Daily Chron. 7 May 4/7 In Germany feminism is openly Socialistic. 1909 Ibid. 29 May 4/4 Suffragists, suffragettes, and all the other phases in the crescendo of feminism.
3. Path. The development of female secondary sexual characteristics in a male.
1882 Syd. Soc. Lex. II, Feminism, the qualities of a female. Also Lorain's term for the arrest of development of the male towards the age of puberty, which gives to it somewhat of the attributes of the female. 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.
FEMINISM, N 2021 (3rd ed)
The third edition of the OED (online) is updated every three months and provides additional information on the revisions. The word “Feminism, n.” was revised (I suspect substantially) in 2021 but last updated in March 2025.
There are still three definitions, but many more citations, a more detailed etymology, and a list of twelve compounds and derivative words (each with their own entry and citations). I don’t include all the citations in the excerpts below (just the ones I found most interesting, although I always include the earliest and most recent).
Each individual definition now has its own citation entry for Works Cited pages which I’ve included (rather than, as we used to do, simply citing the single entry!).
In this entry, the first two definitions are marked as rare/disused; they mirror the ones from the 2nd edition but not in the same order. The third is the most developed and refers to an ideological/socio-political system (not a biological feature). The third also references related terms (“womanism” and “women’s liberation”) with different but related definitions and connotations, especially “womanism” which (as the entry for it points out) was used by Alice Walker to describe Black Feminism as its own project, separate from [White] feminism (brackets used to denote that White was, and is, an unstated default for many). There is also a thumbnail history of western feminist history (there were feminist movements in other countries/regions of the world that are even less known about in the U.S. than our home-grown feminism: see Beyond the West: The Centuries-old Feminisms of India and What is Decolonized Feminism (Unknown Canon, Jo).
FEMINISM n
1 Feminine quality or character; femininity. Now rare. 1841- [4 citations]
1841 Feminism, the qualities of females. Webster's American Dictionary English Language (revised edition) App. 963/1
1898 It is quite different with modern women's books of the introspective type... In them the true spirit of feminism dwells. Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine January 104/2
1915 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. in P. Farrer, Confidential Correspondence on Cross Dressing (1997) 100
“Feminism, N., Sense 1.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, March 2025, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1407055326.
2. Medicine. The appearance of female secondary sexual characteristics in a male individual; feminization. Now rare or disused. 1875- [3 citations]
1875 These attributes M. Lorrain designates by the terms infantilism and feminism. Medical Times & Gazette 24 July 105/1
1907 Feminism in man on the other hand is characterized by masculine genital organs, little developed, feminine attitude and gait, large pelvis, prominent hips, [etc.]. Med. Fortnightly 25 July 352/1
1945 The symptoms of adrenal virilism and feminism are caused by an excessive production of androgen or oestrogen by the adrenal. H. Burrows, Biological Actions of Sex Hormones xxiii. 453
“Feminism, N., Sense 2.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, March 2025, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1205650814.medicine
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. 1893– [7 citations]
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.
1893 Questions relative to the ‘Rights of Women’ are the order of the day, and Feminism gains ground from year to year in all civilized countries. Literary Digest 1 April 591/1
1909 Suffragists, suffragettes, and all the other phases in the crescendo of feminism. Daily Chronicle 29 May 4/4
1913 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. ‘R. West’ in Clarion 14 November 5/2 1
1950 Unlike sociologists and other tractarians, writers of fiction have recognized feminism as lying deeper than the demand for economic opportunity or political enfranchisement. J. L. Jessup, Faith of Our Feminists i. 10
1971 In the radical feminist view, the new feminism is not just the revival of a serious political movement for social equality. S. Firestone, Dialectic of Sex ii. 16
2011 Nowadays, saying bad stuff about men is not how feminism conducts itself. Guardian 15 January 33/5
“Feminism, N., Sense 3.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, March 2025, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/6092042326.
Etymology
Summary
A borrowing from Latin, combined with an English element.
Etymons: Latin fēmina, ‑ism suffix.
< 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).
“Feminism, N., Etymology.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, March 2025, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/5719779464.e
Compounds & Derived Words
These are listed chronologically (from earliest to most recent in the dictionary). In the OED, you can click on the first words to to go the entry; the text after each dash is the start of the definition provided.
anti-feminism, n. 1900–Originally: opposition or hostility to women. Now…
radical feminism, n. 1912–Advocacy of radical left-wing measures designed…
lesbian feminism, n. 1972–Advocacy of lesbianism as a political choice…
first-wave feminism, n. 1974–(Within the women's liberation or feminist…
second-wave feminism, n. 1974–(Within the women's liberation or feminist…
anarcha-feminism, n. 1976–eA socio-political theory and movement which…
ecofeminism, n. 1980–A socio-political theory and movement which…
post-feminism, n. 1983–An ethos of the period following the feminism…
third-wave feminism, n. 1987–A period of diverse strands of feminist activity…2
gender feminism, n. 1991–Advocacy of the view that the differences between…
cyberfeminism, n. 1992–A feminist movement concerned with countering the…
FEMINIST, ADJ. AND N
This entry was last revised March 2012 and modified in March 2024.3
ADJECTIVE
Of, relating to, or advocating the rights and equality of women. Cf. feminism n. 3. 1852– [6 citations}
1852 Our attention has happened to fall upon Mrs. E. O. Smith, who is, we are informed, among the most moderate of the feminist reformers! Debow's Review vol. 13 269
1898 The lady Parliamentary reporter is the latest development of the feminist movement in New Zealand. Daily Chronicle 15 October 5/1
1955 Certainly in America, our lives are easier, freer, more open to opportunities, thanks—among other things—to the Feminist battles. A. M. Lindbergh, Gift from Sea iii. 51
1980 Basic to much recent feminist practice has been the idea of sisterhood, which..involves a determination among members of the women's movement to work together as equals. J. R. Richards, Sceptical Feminist i. 28
1999 Now, 40 years after pioneering remote-working and high-powered careers for women, she should be hailed as a true feminist heroine. Financial Times 9 October (Weekend Magazine) 34
“Feminist, Adj.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, March 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1052830563.noun
NOUN 1887– [6 citations]
An advocate or supporter of the rights and equality of women.
Often used specifically of women.
eco-, post-, radical feminist, etc.: see the first element.
1887 The question over which the fight arose was the admission of male delegates, and after a very close vote..the Liberalists beat the Feminists. Bury & Norwich Post 1 March 4/5
1897 If all husbands were sent to gaol for trivial assaults on their wives, there would not be enough prisons to contain them. Yet this is exactly what our Feminists are aiming at. Social-Democrat July 205
1966 It is about forty years since the pioneer feminists, several of whom were men, raised such a rumpus by rattling the cage bars. B. Brophy, Don't never Forget 38
1976 Men (when not being intimidated by puritanical feminists) are at worst only ‘insensitive to women's rights’. Mother Jones August 2/2
2008 We still call ourselves feminists and insist—vehemently, even—that we're independent and self-sufficient. Atlantic Monthly March 78/1
“Feminist, N.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, March 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1185921504.
Compounds and Derivative Words
feministic, adj. 1852–
anti-feminist, n. & adj. 1899–A person who is opposed to feminism, sexual…
radical feminist, adj. & n. 1905–adj. Reflecting or promoting radical feminism…
unfeminist, adj. 1918–Not feminist; contrary to or not in accordance…
post-feminist, n. & adj. 1919–Originally: a woman who rejects traditional…
pre-feminist, adj. 1933–Of, designating, or characteristic of a period…
proto-feminist, adj. & n. 1951–
neo-feminist, n. & adj. 1969–
lesbian feminist, n. & adj. 1971–a n. A supporter of lesbian feminism;
anarcha-feminist, n. & adj. 1974–a. n. A person who is both an anarchist and a…
fem, adj.³ 1975–Of, relating to, or advocating the rights and…
ultra-feminist, n. 1979–
ecofeminist, adj. & n. 1980–Of, relating to, or characteristic of…
femocrat, n. 1981–An influential female civil servant or…
feminazi, n. 1987–slang (chiefly North American) (derogatory). A…
Link (requires access through institution or personal account)
And now, moving to another type of reference work, one I used to recommend regularly to my students, especially majors and early graduate students, as being useful for people starting to learn the ins and outs of theoretical terms (words that often had more general meanings as well!) because it covered many areas of critical theory, was developed, created, curated, and run by academics, and was open-access/free to all, with superb bibliographies and excellent metadata.
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy currently lists 235 “documents” in response to the search term “feminism,” and 360 documents in response to the search term “feminist.” In contrast, there 626 documents for “women’s liberation,” and 6 documents for “womanist.” I suspect there is likely to be overlap between those different search results but no way would I try to establish that.
I am sharing the information information above about this resource and the excerpts below *not* because I think everybody should read or have read everything they are talking about (I sure haven’t — my areas involves feminist and gender approaches (methodologies) in the context of humanities/literary studies and, often, even more specifically in the context of feminisms within sff communities).
What I want to be able to explain (at much less length, of course!) in the book is the extent to which “feminisms,” historically and today, consist of complex webs of ideas, beliefs, and political activities (some of which are in conflict with each other as the “Compounds and Derivatives above show!); and, that as the OED citations document, are over a century old as part of public (print) media; but that (as Part #3 will show with the feminist medievalists, older than that if you count “proto-feminist” ideas about “women” by women in earlier periods); and, that as the SEP entry explains fairly early on, have multiple definitions.
The first document for “feminist” is on “Feminist Philosophy” and is an excellent introduction, overview, and explanation of the topic in the context of the discipline of philosophy.
First published Thu Jun 28, 2018; substantive revision Fri Jul 14, 2023
This entry provides an introduction to the feminist philosophy section of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP). Overseen by a board of feminist philosophers, this section primarily takes up feminist philosophy of the twentieth and twenty-first century. It has three subsections of entries (as can be seen in Table of Contents under “feminist philosophy”): (1) approaches to feminist philosophy, (2) feminist interventions in philosophy, and (3) feminist philosophical topics. By “approaches to feminist philosophy” we mean the main philosophical approaches such as analytic, continental, psychoanalytic, pragmatist, and various intersections. We see these as methodologies that can be fruitfully employed to engage philosophically issues of feminist concern. The second group of entries, feminist interventions in philosophy, includes entries on how feminist philosophers have intervened in and begun to transform traditional philosophical areas such as aesthetics, ethics, the history of philosophy, metaphysics, and political philosophy. Entries in the third group, feminist philosophical topics, take up concepts and matters that traditional philosophy has either overlooked or undertheorized, including autonomy, the body, objectification, sex and gender, and reproduction. In short, this third group of entries shows how feminist philosophers have rendered philosophical previously un-problematized topics, such as the body, class and work, disability, the family, human trafficking, reproduction, the self, sex work, and sexuality. Entries in this third group also show how a particularly feminist lens refashions issues of globalization, human rights, popular culture, race and racism, and science. Following a brief overview of feminism as a political and intellectual movement, we provide an overview of these three parts of the feminist section of the SEP.
In addition to the feminist philosophy section of the SEP, there are also a number of entries on women in the history of philosophy, for example, on Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Astell, Jane Addams, Rosa Luxemburg, Simone de Beauvoir, Iris Murdoch, and others. Additionally, dozens of other entries throughout the SEP discuss facets of feminist philosophy, including, to name just a handful, the entries on global justice, respect, contemporary Africana philosophy, multiculturalism, privacy, and Latinx philosophy.
One can also browse the “Table of Contents,” starting with the “F” section which lists 37 entries grouped by the three categories listed above (feminist philosophy, approaches; feminist philosophy, interventions; and feminist philosophy, topics).
There’s no entry for “literature” which is included in the entry on Feminist Aesthetics!
My second graduate course in linguistics (a discipline which can often be found lurking in “English” or “Literature and Languages” departments!) was on lexicography (how dictionaries are compiled!). One of the articles which I loved was about how people generally resisted using dictionaries as any sort of authority for how they spoke (I seem to recall some data on how most people used dictionaries to look words up for Scrabble or other word-games!). And of course there’s the huge prescriptivist vs. descriptivist conflict/debate which played out in the U.S. during the 1960s over Webster’s Third (which I recall because my father refused to buy it: I LOVED the huge Webster’s unabridged 2nd edition which lived in the den, on its own shelf, for easy reference—my parents let us read any book we wanted but insisted we look up the words we did already know instead of asking them although we also used it to settle Scrabble debates)!
So it’s not surprising that many people simply use the word “feminist” (or related words) without ever defining any of them (such as Tolkien complaining about “American sanitation, morale-pep, feminism, and mass production” which he foresaw spreading all over the world after WWII ended [Letter #53, to Christopher Tolkien, 9 December 1943, p. 91 Revised and Expanded Letters] [and I would not say he was wrong, though I don’t think we got feminism out as much as one might like :>] which, if you read the complete context reads to me a lot like a generalized complaint about likely American dominance and technology overall rather than a specific attack on “feminism” which it is often used to support!). And in general conversation, letters, informal contexts, sure.
But I would expect a bit more when an academic writing for a specialized audience engages (in the context of peer-reviewed scholarship which is what this series of posts focuses on) than just using the word without definition (or, at best, with a standard dictionary definition) because as Tolkien knew, words and their meanings and their histories *matter.* And, although the programs are now coming under attack (and were fairly controversial and underfunded for all the decades of my professional life), there are academic programs and publications relating to feminism and gender which exist who have developed specific terms of art that can be used in work on the topic even if the scholar in question is not a “feminist.”
And yet they are ignored . . . . (if the scholars in question even know they exist; it could be that said scholars are so ignorant that they have no idea what does exist out there). . . .
R. West is in fact Rebecca West! And information about her, as well as a link to other citations from her in the OED is given in “Citation Details.”
People debate whether or not a fourth wave of feminism has started recently; the “waves’ are a popular way of explaining the development of feminisms, but I’m not sure how useful they are (or how US-centric they are), but that’s a whole other issue that I have no desire whatsoever to get into these days.
The text of the 2nd edition (1989) of the OED:
This is the unrevised text of the entry as published in the Second Edition of the OED (1989). It may contain unrevised text that was originally published much earlier.
feminist, a. and n.
(ˈfɛmɪnɪst) Also ˈfemininist. [ad. F. féministe, f. L. fēmina woman: see -ist.]
A. adj. Of or pertaining to feminism, or to women. B. n. An advocate of feminism.
1894 Daily News 12 Oct. 5/5 What our Paris Correspondent describes as a ‘Feminist’ group is being formed in the French Chamber of Deputies. 1895 Critic 2 Feb. 90/2 The writer depicts Ford as the deepest ‘femininist’ in the Shakespearian constellation. 1898 Daily Chron. 15 Oct. 5/1 The lady Parliamentary reporter is the latest development of the feminist movement in New Zealand. 1904 Athenæum 26 Nov. 730/2 There have been feminists who claimed George Eliot as the rival of Thackeray. 1920 W. J. Locke House of Baltazar v. 56 We're out of this feminist hurly-burly. 1930 Manch. Guardian 15 Sept. 7/7 Feminists are rare birds in Russia.
Hence femiˈnistic, feminiˈnistic adjs.
1902 Beerbohm Around Theatres (1924) I. 365 Ibsen's femininistic propaganda. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 11 Sept. 6/3 Some thinkers in Hungary anticipate feministic developments even in Turkey. 1912 Englishwoman Mar. 261 This society is only feministic in so far as it strives to give women better opportunities.
https://feminisminindia.com/section/history/