TitleWhere Are the Antifeminist Evangelicals?: Evangelical Identity, Subcultural Location, and Attitudes toward Feminism
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2004
AuthorsGallagher, SK
JournalGender & Society
Volume18
Issue4
Pagination451 - 472
Date Published2004
ISBN Number0891-2432
Abstract

Based on data from a national survey and personal interviews with more than 300 religiously committed Protestants, this analysis assesses the range and location of attitudes toward feminism among conservative Protestants. Findings suggest that evangelicals are not uniformly antifeminist. Rather, the majority are both supportive and appreciative of the gains of liberal feminism as well as concerned that feminism has gotten off track by promoting an excessive individualism that undermines stable, meaningful, and caring relationships. For most evangelicals, feminism is neither a significant subcultural religious boundary nor a focus of political mobilization or action. Political conservatism, embeddedness in conservative local religious subcultures, belief in husbands’ headship and authority, and affiliation with particular subgroups and denominations help to locate and specify the sources that create, reinforce, and sustain more negative attitudes toward feminism within this diverse religious subculture.