flexeminism

A "cafeteria-style" approach to social justice characterized by the selective endorsement of feminist principles when they advance one's personal interests, social standing, or convenience, while disregarding or reverting to traditional patriarchal norms when those norms offer greater personal comfort or reduced obligation.

Key Characteristics:
• Selective Agency: Embracing empowerment to bypass traditional restrictions while invoking traditional gender roles to avoid accountability, responsibility, or labor.
• Situational Equality: Claiming equal rights in professional or public contexts while strategically reinforcing gendered expectations in private, domestic, or financial arrangements.

Etymology:
A portmanteau of flexible (from Latin flexibilis, "manageable") and feminism (from French féminisme, advocating equality of the sexes as a foundational political and social principle. Modeled on terms such as slacktivism, the construction implies a performative or opportunistic relationship to ideology.

Related Terms:
• flexeminist (n./adj.): One who practices flexeminism.
• convenience equity (n.): The broader phenomenon of endorsing parity only when the personal cost of doing so is negligible.

After teaching a seminar on feminist theory, she displayed her flexeminism at home, insisting that her male partner entirely finance their home.

by HotCrossPuns February 23, 2026