fear·wash·ing | /ˈfɪərˌwɒʃ.ɪŋ/ 🙀 noun— #Fearwashing is the manufacturing of visceral panic about an “other” to distract from institutional failures and control populations 😱
by IndecentDisclosure February 27, 2026
Get the Fearwashing mug.1. When a female character in any work of fiction who, in previous works, had very large bosoms is suddenly made to have much smaller ones in newer works. Generally associated with video games.
2. Catch all term to describe the attempts of feminists and other social justice interested groups to manipulate entertainment media into removing sexual content.
2. Catch all term to describe the attempts of feminists and other social justice interested groups to manipulate entertainment media into removing sexual content.
Example 1: Tifa Lockhart, Lara Croft, and Sonya Blade have all been flatwashed.
Example 2: Feminists argue that the slave leia scene from starwars should be edited or removed because of misogynistic content. This is an example of the second definition of flatwashing.
Example 2: Feminists argue that the slave leia scene from starwars should be edited or removed because of misogynistic content. This is an example of the second definition of flatwashing.
by Dingledorgle September 26, 2019
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Femwashing is when companies use marketing to capitalize women's rights and equality. Similar to greenwashing, where an organization presents an image of heighten environmental awareness, or pinkwashing, where companies present themselves to be LGBT friendly or progressive, femwashing uses messaging of women's rights for capitalistic gains. It sells “freedom” and “equality” as capitalistic forms of liberation, and at its core, it is profiting off the patriarchy.
Femwashing is when companies use marketing to capitalize women's rights and equality. Did you see how REI started using marketing "women's empowerment" to sell their outdoor gear? Yet the company doesn't even have equal women in its senior leadership or equitable family leave policies for its store employees!
by StealthFem October 4, 2017
Get the femwashing mug.The act of making a male character in a movie, female. Usually this happens to properties that were once popular.
The femwashing of Sherlock Holmes threw me for a loop. I never expected Watson, Sherlock's sidekick to be a female in Elementary and not only that a Chinese American.
by doodyman February 8, 2017
Get the Femwashing mug.Have you been smokin the fatwashington?
by Germ the Germy Germinator November 10, 2003
Get the FatWashington mug.The act of replacing established, traditionally male roles in stories, television, film or other media with females solely for the purpose of increasing female presence while reducing that of males.
As the decision to replace the male roles with an all female cast clearly wasn't aimed at improving the film, the snewest Ghostbusters film was a clear case of femwashing.
by Realequality October 11, 2018
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