"I'm not a feminist, but..."

    This study was conducted as a result of consistent negative reactions encountered by the researcher when the terms "feminism" or "feminist" were used in conversations with other people. The purpose of this exploratory and descriptive study was to examine whether a sample of students attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa during the Fall 1998 session identify themselves as feminists, what their levels of support are for different classifications of feminist ideals, what their perceptions of feminism and feminists are, and what, if anything, contributes to the formation of those perceptions. Gamma was used to measure levels of association between whether respondents identify themselves as feminists and their 1) sex,
2) support for fundamental feminist ideals, and 3) levels of support for various classifications of feminist ideals. Results show a moderate positive relationship between whether respondents identify themselves as feminists and their 1) sex, and 2) support for revalorist ideals. Contingency coefficients and gamma were used to measure the levels of association between respondents' perceptions of feminism and feminists and various demographic variables. There is a moderate positive relationship between respondents' perceptions of feminism and feminists and the sex of respondents.

Background	Questionnaire	Findings	Discussion	Recommendations	References