[From “Was Feminism A Backlash Against Abuse?”]

One claim made by well-meaning rightwingers is that feminism, although a terrible idea that has done significant damage to society, must be understood in the context of backlash against the abuses women suffered by men. This view postulates that feminism is an overreaction against certain ills that women faced and, in order to both understand and properly combat feminism, it must be understood in this situation. While this idea may have (on the surface) some merit, and many early feminists cited abuse as the origin of their work, it as an oversimplification of what actually took place

Before I begin this essay, first let me state that I do not deny that women, at times, faced horrific abuses by men in the pre-feminist world. It was deplorable and there was no excuse for it. But, it is critical to remember that abusive men were, in fact, considered wicked in the West and, more importantly, measures were taken to combat their misbehavior. Yes, it was not a perfect system[…]The major civilization that treated women the best was also the one that birthed feminism[…]
To understand the real origins of feminism we must not look at “the West” for its origins, but a particular area of the West – Yankeedom. A map of the active feminist organizations during the 19th century will show one curious fact – they hit a hard stop at the Mason-Dixon line. Feminism was the interest of Yankee women, not Southern women[…]
I certainly do not deny that women have faced horrific abuses in the past, and while the West was certainly better than the other major civilizations, it was not entirely blameless. However, the rise of modern feminism, and especially its radicalization in the 1960s, cannot be understood as backlash against that abuse[…]Rather, it was (and is) another Yankee attempt to make everyone else like them, the same mentality Southerners have been fighting against for nearly two centuries