The UK's Iona Institute for Religion and Society conducted a survey of members of NetMums, Britain's largest women's website, and found that just one in seven women describe themselves as a feminist. Even among women over the age of 45, only a quarter said they would describe themselves as a feminist.
A third of those polled (28%) said they believe radical feminism is "too aggressive" toward men and a quarter (24%) say it's no longer a positive label for women. One in five described feminism as "old fashioned" and "not relevant" to their generation.
This is especially true among young women ages 25 to 29. Less than one in 10 (9%) say they identified with the typical idea of feminism.
Church teaching on the dignity of women seems to have taken hold among today's women with two in five saying they want to "celebrate difference" rather than be equal to men. One in six (17%) say feminism has gone too far in oppressing men and "losing sight of the natural roles of men and women."
A whopping 69 percent said that the top priority for modern women should be to reinstate the value of motherhood and 58 percent said they think feminism should be about giving women a "real choice over their family, career and lives" rather than being about equal pay and equal rights.
"Social commentators have dubbed this new movement 'FeMEnism' as it gives women the right to live very varied lives without judgment from their peers - rather than be dictated to by the 70's-style 'sisterhood' with a solitary viewpoint," the Institute reports.
NetMums founder Siobhan Freegard said: "As the UK's biggest women's website with over a million women logging on each week, we are best placed to work out what young women want now. The study starkly shows modern women feel traditional Feminism is no longer working for them, as it's aggressive, divisive and doesn't take into account their personal circumstances.
"Modern women simply don't view men as 'the enemy' - instead men are their partners, their fathers, their brothers and their sons to be loved and cherished. And it's clear there is no longer a 'battle of the sexes' but a coming together of the sexes to make society work for everyone in it."
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