Feminazi

Feminazi is a term used pejoratively in popular culture to describe either feminists who are perceived as extreme or radical, women who are perceived to seek superiority over men, rather than equality, or in some cases, to describe all feminists.

The earliest known use of the word dates from 1989 and it was popularized by politically conservative radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh in the early 1990s. It is a portmanteau of the nouns feminist and Nazi. The online version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the term as used in a "usually disparaging" manner, to describe "an extreme or militant feminist".

Etymology and usage

In his 1992 book The Way Things Ought to Be, Limbaugh credited his friend Tom Hazlett, professor of economics at the University of California at Davis, with coining the term. In the book, Limbaugh also stated that the word refers to unspecified women whose goal is to allow as many abortions as possible, saying at one point that there were fewer than 25 "true feminazis" in the U.S. Limbaugh has used the term to refer to members of the National Center for Women and Policing, the Feminist Majority Foundation, the National Organization for Women, and other organizations at the March for Women's Lives, a large pro-choice demonstration.