Straw feminism is a straw man argument whereby exaggerated or fabricated elements of feminism are used in an attempt to refute and / or derail feminist arguments. A Straw Feminist then is a fabricated character used by those arguing against feminism to devalue and derail feminist arguments. Straw feminism often incorporates oversimplifications, misrepresentations and stereotypes of feminism in order to easily discredit feminism as a whole. These beliefs or practices are then exaggerated and made into the Straw Feminist. Straw Feminism is employed in everything from television shows and films to news shows.
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Philosophical background
The straw man argument is the basis of Straw Feminism and the Straw Feminist. The straw man argument is one where the impression is given that a claim is being refuted when actually the claim being argued against was never raised or is an exaggeration of the original claim.
Structure
The Straw Feminist argument would appear in the following format:
- Person 1 argues a feminist point X
- Person 2 argues against a point Y as if it were point X. Point Y may be related to point X, but it regards a different matter or is a distorted version of point X.
- Person 2 declares that because of their argument against point Y, point X is invalid or incorrect.