Chauvinism (
IPA:
/'ʃoʊ.vəˌnɪzm̩/) is extreme and unreasoning partisanship on behalf of a group to which one belongs, especially when the partisanship includes malice and hatred towards a rival group.
Jingoism is a similar term of British derivation. A frequent contemporary use of the term in English is
male chauvinism, which refers to the belief that males are superior to females. A less common term
female chauvinism could mean the opposite of male chauvinism, the belief that females are superior to males, or it could refer to females who replicate male chauvinism and sexist stereotypes, as seen in
Ariel Levy's book,
Female Chauvinist Pigs.
Etymology
The term is derived from the undocumented
Nicolas Chauvin, whose
legend made him out to be a soldier under
Napoleon Bonaparte. He served in the Wars of Revolution (1798-1800) and the
Napoleonic Wars and was wounded seventeen times and severely disabled. Despite its unpopularity in Restoration France, he was an ardent Bonapartist and was often seen wearing a violet in his lapel, the symbol of his deposed Emperor. He remained fanatically loyal despite his poverty and disability and the abuse he suffered.
Many writers and historians falsely attribute to Chauvin the exploits of other Bonapartists. It is claimed he served in the Old Guard at
Waterloo (unlikely considering his age and the severity of his disabilities). When the Old Guard was surrounded and made its last stand at Le Belle Alliance, he supposedly shouted in defiance to a call for their honorable surrender: "
The Old Guard dies but does not surrender!", implying blind and unquestioned zeal to one's country [or other group of reference]. {This apocriphal phrase is actually attributed to the Old Guard's commander, who was also supposed to have answered "
Merde!" ("Shit!"). Recent historical research has revealed that the Old Guard were never asked by the British and Allied forces if they wanted to surrender and never asked for quarter, so both quotes are believed false.}
The origin and early usage indicate that
chauvinisme was coined to describe excessive
nationalism, and the original French term retains this meaning today. The term entered public use due to a
satirical treatment of Chauvin in the
French play La Cocarde Tricolore (The Tricolore Cockade).
Chauvinism as nationalism
In "Imperialism, Nationalism, Chauvinism", in
The Review of Politics 7.4, (October 1945), p. 457,
Hannah Arendt describes the concept:
- Chauvinism is an almost natural product of the national concept insofar as it springs directly from the old idea of the "national mission." ... (A) nation's mission might be interpreted precisely as bringing its light to other, less fortunate peoples that, for whatever reason, have miraculously been left by history without a national mission. As long as this concept did not develop into the ideology of chauvinism and remained in the rather vague realm of national or even nationalistic pride, it frequently resulted in a high sense of responsibility for the welfare of backward peoples.
(See, for example,
white man's burden.)
The word does not require a judgment that the chauvinist is right or wrong in his opinion, only that he is blind and unreasoning in coming to it, ignoring any facts which might temper his fervor. In modern use, however, it is often used pejoratively to imply that the chauvinist is both unreasoning and wrong.
Male chauvinism
Male chauvinism is a term used to describe the belief that
males are superior to
females. The word "chauvinist" was originally used to describe one who has a fanatical
loyalty in one's country. The word was later applied by the "
women's liberation movement" in the
1960s and used to describe men who believe women are inferior, speak to them as inferiors, or treat them negatively based solely upon their gender. The
slur "chauvinist pig" has been reclaimed by some men as a
jocular personal rebuttal or tolerance of such accusations.
Female chauvinism
Female chauvinism can refer to two things. It can be the belief that
females are superior to
males. It can also refer to women who replicate male chauvinism and sexist stereotypes.
According to popular writers
Nathanson and Young, what they see as 'ideological' feminism is chauvinistic as well as misandric. They assert that many so-called 'ideological' feminists have claimed that "women are psychologically, morally, spiritually, intellectually, and biologically superior to men"
[1]. They also assert that these feminists consider knowledge created by women to be superior to that created by men.
[2]
Wendy McElroy claims that in some "
gender feminist" views, all men are considered un-reformable rapists, wife-beating brutes and useless as partners or fathers to women
[3]. McElroy and other authors such as Camille Paglia claim that gender feminists view women as innocent victims who never make irresponsible or morally questionable choices
[4]. Other feminists such as Kate Fillion have started questioning the idea that women are always innocent victims of relationship problems and men always the guilty victimizers
[5].
Ariel Levy uses the term in another sense in the title of her book,
Female Chauvinist Pigs. She claims that many young women in the United States are replicating male chauvinism and sexist stereotypes about women in their embrace of "raunch culture" and traditionally masculine attributes
[6].
See also
References
External links
- Female Chauvinism:
International Phonetic Alphabet
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.
The International
Phonetic Alphabet
History
Nonstandard symbols
Extended IPA
Naming conventions
IPA for English The
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Jingoism is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as "extreme patriotism in the form of aggressive foreign policy".[1] In practice, it refers to sections of the general public who advocate the use of threats or of actual force against other countries in order to
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Ariel Levy (born October 17, 1974) is a contributing editor at New York magazine and author of the book . Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Vogue, Slate, Men's Journal and Blender.
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Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture is a 2005 book by Ariel Levy which critiques modern feminist culture in America. Levy argues that America's sexed-up culture not only objectifies women, it encourages women to objectify themselves.
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Nicolas Chauvin (possibly b. Rochefort, France, c. 1790) was a semi-mythical soldier and patriot who served in the First Army of the French Republic and subsequently in La Grande Armee of Napoleon Bonaparte. His name is the origin of the term chauvinism.
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legend (Latin, legenda, "things to be read") is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude.
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Napoléon I
Emperor of the French
Napoleon in His Study by Jacques-Louis David (1812)
Reign 20 March 1804–6 April 1814
1 March 1815–22 June 1815
Coronation 2 December 1804
Full name Napoléon Bonaparte
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Top: Battle of Austerlitz
Bottom: Battle of Waterloo
Date c.1803–1815
Location Europe, Atlantic Ocean, Río de la Plata, Indian Ocean
Result Coalition victory, Congress of Vienna
Combatants
Austria[a]
Portugal
Prussia
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Seventh Coalition:
United Kingdom
Prussia
United Netherlands
Hanover
Nassau
Brunswick
Commanders
Napoleon Bonaparte,
Michel Ney Duke of Wellington,
Gebhard von Blücher
Strength
73,000 67,000 Anglo-Allies
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Nationalism is a term that refers to a doctrine[1] or political movement[2] that holds that a nation—usually defined in terms of ethnicity or culture—has the right to constitute an independent or autonomous political community based on a shared
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Satire (from Latin satura, not from the Greek mythological figure satyr[1]) is a literary genre, chiefly literary and dramatic, in which human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision,
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MottoLiberté, Égalité, Fraternité"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"
Anthem"
La Marseillaise"
..... Click the link for more information. play or stageplay, written by a playwright, or dramatist, is a form of literature, almost always consisting of dialogue between characters, intended for performance rather than reading.
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Hannah Arendt (October 14, 1906 – December 4, 1975) was a German Jewish political theorist. She has often been described as a philosopher, although she always refused that label on the grounds that philosophy is concerned with "man in the singular".
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The White Man's Burden" is a poem by the English (or Anglo-Indian[1]) poet Rudyard Kipling. It was originally published in the popular magazine McClure's in 1899, with the subtitle The United States and the Philippine Islands.
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Male (♂) refers to the sex of an organism, or part of an organism, which produces small mobile gametes, called spermatozoa. Each spermatozoon can fuse with a larger female gamete or ovum, in the process of fertilisation.
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Female (♀) is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces ova (egg cells). The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon is produced by the male.
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Loyalty is faithfulness or a devotion to a person or cause.
Social and cultural
Loyalty evolved as devotion for one's family, gene-group and friends. Loyalty comes most naturally amongst small groups or tribes where the prospect of the whole casting out the individual
..... Click the link for more information. Feminism is an ideology focusing on equality of the sexes.[1] Feminism comprises a number of social, cultural and political movements, theories and moral philosophies concerned with gender inequalities and discrimination against women.
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Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1930s 1940s 1950s - 1960s - 1970s 1980s 1990s
1960 1961 1962 1963 1964
1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
- -
-
Their 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive.
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Slur:
- Slur, a term of disparagement
- Slur (phonology): slurring means "not to enunciate words normally or clearly".
- Slur (music), a symbol in Western musical notation indicating that the notes it embraces are to be played legato (smoothly).
..... Click the link for more information. A joke is a short story or ironic depiction of a situation communicated with the intent of being humorous. It can also be used a slang term for a person who is not taken seriously by others in general or is known as being a failure.
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Female (♀) is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces ova (egg cells). The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon is produced by the male.
..... Click the link for more information.
Male (♂) refers to the sex of an organism, or part of an organism, which produces small mobile gametes, called spermatozoa. Each spermatozoon can fuse with a larger female gamete or ovum, in the process of fertilisation.
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Authors Paul Nathanson and Katherine K. Young are collaborators on a series of books on the subject of misandry, which they consider to be a form of prejudice and discrimination that has become institutionalized in North American society.
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Wendy McElroy (born 1951) is a Canadian individualist anarchist and individualist feminist. Among feminists, she distinguishes herself as being sex-positive: defending the availability of pornography and condemning anti-pornography feminism campaigns.
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Equity feminism and gender feminism are terms coined by Christina Hoff Sommers in her book Who Stole Feminism?.[]
Equity feminism
Hoff Sommers describes Equity feminism as an ideology that aims for full civil and legal equality and distinguish it from
..... Click the link for more information. Ariel Levy (born October 17, 1974) is a contributing editor at New York magazine and author of the book . Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Vogue, Slate, Men's Journal and Blender.
..... Click the link for more information.
Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture is a 2005 book by Ariel Levy which critiques modern feminist culture in America. Levy argues that America's sexed-up culture not only objectifies women, it encourages women to objectify themselves.
..... Click the link for more information.
Han chauvinism (Simplified Chinese: 大汉族主义, 汉沙文主义; Traditional Chinese:
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