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Uplift or Undermine?: The Manifestation of Internalized Misogyny in

Teenage Girls
Sophia Wilson 2021

Abstract

Preliminary research was conducted on definitions and perceptions of feminism, internalized

misogyny, the experience of a teenage girl in regards to gender dynamics. The following research

questions were developed: How do teenage girls internalize and perpetuate misogyny by

teaching it to other girls and policing other girls through a misogynistic lens? How does

internalized misogyny manifest in their behaviors and interactions with each other? The

researcher hypothesized that girls would have internalized misogyny and it would manifest in a

refusal to identify oneself as a feminist. A survey was created and distributed in order to answer

the research question. The conclusions were reached that teenage girls do have internalized

misogyny, however the majority do not allow it to manifest in harmful or dangerous ways.

I. Introduction and Background Information

The topic of interest for this research project is the manifestation of internalized

misogyny in teenage girls. Some relevant research includes definitions of feminism, hostile and

benevolent sexism, the internalization of sexism, the silencing of women, and learning misogyny

as a teenage girl.

The feminist movement as a whole can be critiqued for being unfocused and split into

many types and factions. A 2000 study by Lorin Basden Arnold asked college students to write a

description of feminism, write a description of feminists, and indicate whether they consider

themselves to be feminists. Though she sorted the definitions by the things they mentioned (such

as equality, rights, acting feminine but strong, and celebrating women as well as positive,
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negative, and neutral everyone still gave different definitions, showing that the definition of

feminism lacks clarity. Arnold also discussed how the negative connotations of the word

‘feminist’ leads to many people being afraid to self-identify as a feminist. Many feel that acting

on feminist beliefs and identifying actively as a feminist has social consequences that they do not

want to face (Arnold). The social construction of reality is in part to blame for these negative

connotations, and Arnold explains that because we create and sustain the meaning of social

phenomena (like ‘feminist’) through social interaction, when our communication about a word

involves negative language, we learn subconsciously that this word has negative connotations.

According to Holly A. Gartler, internalized misogyny can be defined as “a process where

an individual or group internalizes into her core identity and self-concept all or part of the

negative stereotypes and hatred of women.” Misogyny typically presents itself into two types of

sexist events: hostile sexism and benevolent sexism. Gartler observes that hostile sexism (overt

and has been dwindling over time) is a blatantly aggressive negative attitude toward women,

while benevolent sexism (covert, subtle, and increasingly common) is a seemingly positive

attitude toward women, which characterizes them as fragile beings dependent on men.

Benevolent sexism may contribute to women’s adherence to traditional gender roles and is

dangerous because women are less likely to recognize or challenge it (Gartler). The

internalization of these attitudes leads to internalized misogyny, which those women then

perpetuate (Gartler). Gartler sums it up by saying that internalized misogyny is “passive

acceptance of traditional gender roles and unawareness or denial of cultural, institutional, and

individual sexism,” and that “passive acceptance of traditional gender ideologies or denial of

sexism are also indicators of internalized misogyny and these ideas become hegemonic and
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unquestioned, which maintain the status quo.” Internalized misogyny becomes incredibly

dangerous and harmful when perpetuated.

My research question is: How do teenage girls internalize and perpetuate misogyny by

teaching it to other girls and policing other girls through a misogynistic lens? How does

internalized misogyny manifest in their behaviors and interactions with each other? I predict that

my research will show that a majority if not most teenage girls will have internalized misogyny. I

predict that this will be a result of childhood experiences with learning expected gender roles,

growing up with social media, media influence, normalization of sexual harassment and assault,

and being sexualized from a young age. Lastly, I predict that at least some of the young womens’

internalized misogyny will manifest in a refusal to identify oneself as a feminist and judgment of

other girls both for their looks and their sexual actions.

II. Literature Review

The sources studied covered a wide range of topics; however, a wide breadth of

information was necessary to gain the best understanding of how to survey people in order to

answer my research question. Multiple sources discussed the societal expectations of girls and

women, internalized misogyny (its relationship to hostile and benevolent sexism), and society’s

perception of feminists and the feminist movement. Other topics common throughout many

sources are the teenage girl experience, the silencing of women/victim-blaming in the context of

sexual assault and harassment, and the hypersexualization of girls from a young age. The

synthesis of information on these topics provided a solid foundation of knowledge that allowed

me to craft a relevant and worthwhile survey.

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A recent study by Julia C. Becker looked at the effect of female subtypes on womens’

endorsement of sexist beliefs – especially as sexist beliefs serve to solidify the role of women as

the oppressed group in our patriarchal society. The three subtypes identified were traditional,

non-traditional, and sexual (Becker). The traditional subtype is typically rewarded with

benevolence from men while the non-traditional subtype is often met with hostility (Becker).

Non-traditional women threaten men’s societal status, eliciting that hostile reaction (Becker).

Becker explains that women see men reacting in this way, internalize it, and then treat other

women with this same hostility. Importantly, she also mentioned how many women fear being

perceived as radical (non-traditional) and therefore do not want to be labeled as a feminist.

Becker concluded that female subtypes do influence the level to which women endorse hostile or

benevolent sexism. She also concluded that the endorsement of hostile sexism came from

thinking about non-traditional subtypes and that women who endorse hostile beliefs are not

hostile towards their own subtype but norm-deviant ones. One other key idea that Becker

discussed was how these subtypes “serve to reinforce and maintain existing status differences

between groups,” and “by distinguishing and categorizing female subtypes into “good” (who

support status differences) and “bad” (who threaten status differences), those who identify with

the “good” subtypes can distance themselves from non-traditional subtypes and engage in sexism

against these norm-violating women, thus contributing to the maintenance of gender stereotypes

and power differences between women and men.”

Laura Bates’ book Everyday Sexism discusses the ignorance of sexism, the silencing of

women, and most relevant to my project, the teenage girl experience in relation to sexism and

misogyny. People want to ignore sexism and not talk about it, so they pretend and claim that it

simply doesn’t exist when in reality, sexism is alive and thriving - a fact supported by statistics
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on just about every area of life (Bates). Bates says, “I started wondering whether there might not

be a connection between ours being a society in which so many women become so accustomed

to experiencing gender-based prejudice that they almost fail to even register it anymore," (6).

The silencing of women, specifically victims of sexual assault, harassment, and abuse

contributes to the denial of sexism’s existence. She says that from a young age, girls receive

messaging to keep quiet and distrust themselves - “As girls grow up, these responses start to

skew their own judgment of situations - they learn not to trust themselves and not to make a

fuss,” (Bates 17). The combination of victim-blaming media, dismissive responses of family and

friends, and the normalization of assault in general, converge to create a society where girls and

women learn to fear being silenced by others if they don’t silence themselves first. Around rape

and sexual assault, there is a focus on instructing women to behave “properly” and giving

women ways to “take responsibility to stop themselves from being raped” (Bates 27), when the

focus should be on holding men accountable or programs that prevent rape in the first place

(Bates). There is a “theme of young girls learning early, and even from their parents, that

responsibility for sexual harassment falls on their own shoulders...it is significant that the

silencing starts early... how the impact of learning such 'truths' from the people you trust the most

can cause them to become deeply ingrained--making it much harder for women to realize that

what is happening to them is wrong, or to speak up about it later on," (Bates 30-31).

Laura Bates also writes about the experience of being a girl and the sexist encounters that

start literally from infancy. The manifestation of childhood sexism begins with segregated toys:

pink, soft, cuddly, and domestic for girls, versus blue, hard, sporty, energetic, scientific, and

explorative for boys. The stereotypical female duties are shoved down girls’ throats before age 5.

Media for boys contains options, as a wide variety of interests and activities are represented,
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providing boys “a platform on which they can build their own identities,” (Bates 86). Girls

(children) media is a bombardment of two main things: beauty and domesticity - giving girls

none of that room to explore different things that boys receive (Bates). The priorities of teen

media rarely differ, focusing on fashion, beauty, celebrities, and love life. Bates writes that "the

way that the obsessive focus on girls' looks plays into the dialogue around what they can and

can't do is particularly poisonous. It inserts the self-consciousness of the watched, objectified

women into girls' internal narratives before they would ever have noticed it themselves... And it

teaches them lessons about their own value being measured by their bodies and faces-- lessons

that will stay with them for the rest of their lives," (93-94).

Everyday Sexism additionally discusses the normalization of sexual harassment, sexual

assault, and objectification in teenage girls’ lives. Nearly all girls reported sexual harassment to

be common and a part of life, especially sexual name-calling (slut, whore, hoe, slag) (Bates).

Most girls do not call it out when it's happening or report it after the fact because they do not

want to cause a scene/be seen as dramatic, or they simply have no faith that anyone will believe

them (Bates). Schools fail to handle accusations properly, most commonly just dismissing them

and saying that “boys will be boys,” (Bates). Bates writes, “Girls have been socialized into

submission and into acceptance of others’ behavior - even when it invades their personal space,”

(101). The constant silencing and dismissal of these experiences contributes largely to the

internalization of misogyny and sexism. Bates then brought up the disaster of school dress codes

and how “when such dress codes start so young, there begins to be a very valid argument that

schools are not policing "sexy" attire worn by students attempting to be provocative but are in

fact sexualizing students themselves by suggesting that their natural body parts are somehow

titillating or scandalous," (105). Dress codes are not working to create the positive learning
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environment that they claim to - they are forcing and reinforcing strict social gender norms. They

tell girls that their bodies are sexual objects, boys cannot be expected to control their behavior,

and that a boy’s education is more important than a girl’s, and most importantly, that girls are

somehow responsible for provoking harassment from boys. The response of schools further

normalizes girls’ silence, and “then they grow up into young women and adults who don't feel

able to speak up either," (Bates 106-107). Additionally, Bates noted a ‘damned if you do, damned

if you don’t’ type of situation: girls are taught that they are sexual objects but slammed when

they grow up and dress ‘sexy’ or embrace that sexuality.

The internet also has great effects on the experience of a teenage girl and her

internalization of misogyny. From social media to anonymous Q&A sites to scarily-accessible

pornography, the internet is a whole new and massive channel for more messaging about both

girls’ and boys’ societal expectations/roles. Pornography and its availability should be a much

bigger concern, as it is clearly influencing what both boys and girls expect sex and relationships

to be like (Bates cited many stories of both boys and girls believing generally that women are

extremely submissive and men are extremely dominant in sex and relationships) (Bates). We

won’t be able to get rid of pornography on the internet, but Bates says that we should at least be

combatting it as much as possible with true and correct information like sex and relationships

education in school that teaches consent, domestic violence, and healthy relationships. In all,

Everyday Sexism discussed how from childhood to teenagehood, girls learn about being judged

on their looks, the importance of weight loss, that only certain life paths are available to them,

and that sexual assault and harassment are normal parts of life. Bates writes, “the earliest lesson

they learn is that they will be judged not just more harshly than their male peers but on a

different scale altogether," (120).

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III. Project Description

I created a survey that has a mix of qualitative and quantitative questions. The survey

covers the topics of feminist identity, perceptions of feminism, body shaming, hyper-

sexualization and objectification, sexual assault and sexual harassment, and lastly, victim-

blaming or silencing. The second part of the project is an analysis of the survey responses in

order to reach a conclusion about my research question.

I have chosen the method of a survey because it is the most efficient method of gathering

data and allowing people to express themselves free of judgment or identity. It also gives the

participants time to think about their responses and put them into words rather than being put on

the spot and possibly less able to clearly get all their thoughts across. Another benefit of a survey

is that the questions presented in the survey force the reader to think about these ideas, and

maybe they are not ideas that the participant often thinks about or has ever thought about.

This project will be illuminating to those who see it because we often do not realize that

we have internalized misogyny, and if my hypothesis is correct, this will show that we are all

subject to it even when we think we are not. I chose teenage girls to focus on because the teenage

years are such a formative time of life, and I want to bring awareness to how internalized

misogyny, feminism, and gender dynamics play a role in it. This project will also build on the

research others have done by providing evidence and data about the topics presented in the

survey in a specific group of people that I personally have not seen any research on yet. It also

reacts to the preliminary research I have done because I had to synthesize and combine all of that

research and all of the different ideas in order to determine what to evaluate and include in the

survey.
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The intended audience is teenage girls. This project aims to show them that they may be

doing things they do not even realize or have unconscious beliefs. I feel that they are the right

audience because if they can see the results and the meaning of the results, then it could cause

them to change their behavior or their thinking. And if they do not change, they will at least be

more aware of these ideas functioning in real life, and even that can make a difference. If they

can have this realization now, in these formative years, then it could really change their thinking

and they could become different women than they would have been, and treat other people in a

different way than they may have before.

IV. Methods and Tools

The first step was to formulate the survey questions. In order to do that, I looked to my

preliminary research and decided that the survey should include the following topics: feminist

identity, perceptions of feminism, body shaming, hyper-sexualization and objectification, sexual

assault and sexual harassment, and lastly, victim-blaming or silencing. My research informed me

that all of these were fixtures of a teenage girls’ experience or important gender dynamics that

could potentially be manifestations of internalized misogyny or contributors to the internalization

of misogyny. I designed the survey for only girls to be able to fill it out. The survey was a

mixture of qualitative and quantitative, including both open-ended questions (“please elaborate”,

“why or why not”, etc.) and close-ended questions (yes/no, rating scale). I then created a Google

Form and inputted all of the questions (See Appendix A for the full survey). I ensured that the

survey was completely anonymous and let participants know that their identity would be

unknown, so they could share anything they wanted without worrying. I also added the

following trigger warning: “This survey contains questions about personal history with sexual
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assault and sexual harassment. If you are not ready to answer or are uncomfortable answering

questions regarding those topics, please skip the last two questions and write in 'NA' instead.”

The next step was distribution. The first method of distribution was via “Tolog Message”.

I sent out the link to all the members of the senior class and asked them to fill out the survey.

Then, since I am not able to message entire other grades, I asked Ms. Murphy to share the link

with the freshman, sophomore, and junior classes. Ms. Murphy asked for a short blurb about my

project to include in her message, and I wrote: “My SRP is about the manifestations of

internalized misogyny in teenage girls. This survey will help me gather data to determine these

manifestations as well as understand the perspectives of teenage girls on feminism and other

gender studies-related topics.” Thus, the 9th, 10th, and 11th graders had an idea about what the

survey was about whereas the 12th graders did not. Lastly, I employed my Instagram story and

Snapchat story to distribute the survey and ask girls and female-aligning people to fill it out.

Seven days after the first distribution, I received 42 total responses. The final step was to

analyze the results, which I did with the help of Google Forms. (See Appendix B for the

complete record of survey responses).

V. Findings/Results

I received responses from a variety of ages (see Figure 1) and many more all-girls school

students than coed school students (see Figure 2). 38 respondents attend/attended all-girls school

while only 4 respondents attend/attended coed school.

Figure 1:
13 - 0 respondents
14 - 1 respondent
15 - 3 respondents
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16 - 8 respondents
17 - 18 respondents
18 - 8 respondents
19 - 4 respondents

Figure 2:
All girls - 38 respondents
COED - 4 respondents

38 respondents said that they do identify themselves as feminists, and 4 said they do not.

The 4 that said “no” attend all-girls school, and of those 4, two were 18 years old, one was 17

years old, and one was 15 years old. When asked to explain why or why not, the responses from

those who answered “yes” focused on the fact that they believe women and men should be equal

and that women should have the same rights as men. Other reasonings for identifying oneself as

a feminist included being pro-choice, believing in gender equity, believing that it is important for

women to support other women, wanting to dismantle misogyny and the patriarchy, and

believing that women should no longer have to stay within the societal expectation of gender

roles. Reasoning from those who do not identify as a feminist included not wanting to be labeled

as a feminist, believing that the movement is too dramatic, and believing that the feminist

movement actually leads to more separation among the genders.

The next question asked if they identified themselves as feminists around other boys or

men. 32 said they do, and 9 said they do not. Out of the respondents who said no, 6 previously
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identified themselves as feminists and 3 previously identified themselves not as feminists.

Reasoning for those who responded yes to this question included believing that they should not

hide or change their beliefs based on their audience or who they are around, not caring what

boys/men think of them, being very proud of their feminist identity, and believing that it is part

of their job as a feminist to help boys/men understand the true definition of feminism. One girl

wrote that she “is not afraid of their judgement or vocalizing my beliefs and I want them to know

I believe in equality. I think anyone who views feminism negatively does not understand its true

mission, or has an incorrect picture of it in their heads,” (Anonymous). Another wrote the

following: “I think they need to hear it the most. Many guys I know have little to no access to

feminist ideology (women who will talk with them/media bias in algorithms) and won't seek it

out. They are important discussions that need to happen & I have no shame in identifying as a

feminist with men, I want equal rights for all, I'm not trying to put women above men. I try to

stay respectful to their point of view in these discussions and share mine in a way they might be

more inclined to be moved by,” (Anonymous). Respondents who said they do not identify

themselves as feminists around other boys or men stated that boys would think they were

annoying, it would attract too much attention, or that it would turn into a whole discussion and

they “don’t always feel like defending [their] rights constantly,” (Anonymous).

The next question asked if they identified themselves as feminist around other girls or

women. 38 said yes, and 4 said no. “Yes” respondents explained that this is because being around

other girls makes them feel empowered, there is much less risk of getting into an argument

(compared to doing so with boys/men), and that they feel a sense of community due to the shared

experiences of many women. “No” respondents explained that they simply are not passionate

about the topic, or that they are not feminists in the first place.
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The next question asks, “To you, what connotation does the word or idea “feminist”

have?” Some responded very literally to this question and thought about their own feelings in

regards to the term; however, others considered the general societal connotations instead. See

Figure 3 for the data and reasonings. One thing important to note is that some respondents who

selected options on the positive end were quick to point out that they did not want to associate

themselves with radical feminists who “take things too far.”

Figure 3
Option # of # of feminists Reasonings
selections vs.
non-feminists

Extremely negative 0 - -

Negative 3 2 feminists People think that it means that women want to be

1 non-feminist better than men
Being called a feminist is an insult from some
people
The word “feminist” feels angry and dramatic

Slightly negative 12 9 feminists Seems like anti-men

3 non-feminists Generally seen as a negative thing in society
The word implies fighting/outrage/the angry
feminist stereotype
Feminists are a corrupt group who are not working
towards their goal in an effective way. They only
post on social media to be trendy and are not
actually accomplishing anything
Some feminists are too dramatic and take things
too far
The modern feminist movement is extreme and
disrespectful
Feminists are seen as aggressive, annoying,
stubborn, pushy, know-it-alls, and victimize
themselves
People will always find something negative about
the movement to excuse themselves from
supporting it

Moderate (no 3 3 feminists -

connotation)

Slightly positive 5 5 feminists Feminism is a good thing for society as it is

creating progress
Being a feminist is something to be proud of
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Positive 11 11 feminists People who think feminism is bad do not truly

understand what the goal is and what it is about

Extremely Positive 8 8 feminists Being a feminist is extremely empowering

Surroundings have influenced their views of
feminism (growing up around empowered women
and people who identify themselves as feminists)

The following section asked respondents if they had ever received negative feedback

from a girl/woman or a boy/man about their feminist identity. The results and reasoning can be

seen in Figure 4.

Figure 4
Question Responses Elaborations/Personal Accounts

Negative 18 - yes Participant told that her beliefs go against her religion
Feedback From 15 - no Participant told her that men should stick with the harder subjects
“How do you expect to get a boyfriend if you’re this
a Girl/Woman 9 - I’m not sure opinionated?”
A woman was insistent that the pay gap does not exist
Participant told that she is over-exaggerating the difficulties that
women face
“Why do you need to degrade men to feel better?”
“Why can’t you just leave the work to the men and create an easy
life for yourself?” when the participant stated that she wanted to
work in technology
Participant told that she was not a real feminist simply because
she did not repost feminist content on her social media

Negative 29 - yes Participant told that feminism is just a way for women to feel
Feedback from 4 - no better about themselves
Boys saying that nothing is actually wrong (there is no inequality)
a Boy/Man 9 - I’m not sure and thus no need for feminism
Participant told that because women can vote, things are equal
Boys constantly dismiss women for standing up for their beliefs
(eye rolling, dismissive comments like “what more do you want”)
Boys being just generally ignorant to the movement due to the
belief that it does not affect them
Participants told that feminists over-exaggerate and that they are
just trying to degrade men
Participant made to feel aggressive and annoying
Participant called a “feminazi”

The next two questions were about words and phrases participants have heard from

others in regards to “feminism” and “feminist”. There were far too many responses to list every
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single one, but overall, the words and phrases were negative, insulting, and implied a dislike or

distrust of feminism and feminists. For both “feminism” and “feminist”, the following were

popular responses: political, female empowerment, radical, dangerous, leftist, aggressive,

women’s rights, extreme, and surprisingly (as well as not part of the majority but still popular),

important, and necessary. I made them two separate questions as I thought that people might put

different responses and some participants did, but many put the same answer for both questions.

The following section was about body shaming, hyper-sexualization, sexual assault and

harassment, and victim blaming. Participants had the option to respond NA if they were

uncomfortable answering.

The body shaming question responses consisted of 4 NAs, 3 people who had not been

body shamed themselves but had witnessed it happen to other people, and everyone else had

experienced body shaming. Nearly every respondent shared stories of how they personally had

been body shamed, whether it was for being too fat or too skinny, gaining weight or losing

weight, eating too much or eating not enough, being “flat-chested” or not having “a butt”, or

having too big of a butt. They had even received comments about not having clear skin, having

hair on her arms, and “looking gross,” (Anonymous). Many described how their experiences had

led to body dysmorphia and eating disorders. They had been shamed and picked apart by friends,

family, and strangers. The hyper-sexualization question responses were 11 NAs and everyone

else had personal accounts to share. Girls described being sexualized as young as 8, 10, and 11

years old as well as in 4th and 5th grade. Many more accounts talked about things that had

happened in middle school. Girls and young women had been cat-called, recorded on a cell

phone, solicited for nude photos, ranked “hottest to ugliest” by middle school boys, groped, and

discussed sexually behind their backs. One participant shared, “I think I have been sexualized my
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entire life, not only by other people, but also by myself. When you are a young girl, it feels like

your entire worth is connected to your beauty and sexuality,” (Anonymous). Another wrote, “I've

been cat-called and it makes me feel like I'm in danger because the people who are doing that

feel they have enough power over me that they can comment on my attractiveness,”

(Anonymous).

The sexual assault and sexual harassment question received 13 NAs, 9 simple “no”s, and

all others contained personal accounts. There were stories of all kinds ranging from inappropriate

casual comments to cat-calling to groping to rape. Some girls did not realize that they had been

sexually harassed or assaulted at the time of the event, thinking it was a normal occurrence.

Some had chosen to tell the people in their lives about what had happened while others felt they

had to keep it to themselves. They often feared being seen as overdramatic or ruining a friend or

family dynamic (if the abuser was a friend or family member). Just a few mentioned police being

involved, and one said that her case was still up in the air - her rapist could walk away

completely free. Highly related was the victim blaming question, which received 14 NA

responses, 7 “no”s, and everyone else once again depicting their personal experiences. Quite a

few people said that they themselves had not experienced victim blaming but had definitely seen

it happen to a friend or someone they knew, and if not that, someone on social media.

My hypothesis was partially correct and partially incorrect. I was correct in that a

majority of teenage girls likely have internalized misogyny. The personal accounts of the

participants throughout the entire survey were mostly misogynistic events, and my preliminary

research informed me that repeated misogynistic events in one’s life will cause one to internalize

misogyny. Thus, I can surmise that many of the teenage girls at the least have internalized some

level of misogyny. The part of my hypothesis that was incorrect was about the manifestations of
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their internalized misogyny. Rather than refusing to identify oneself as a feminist, the large

majority (38 out of 42) did identify themselves as feminists. The majority actively fight against

misogyny and sexism not only by identifying themselves as feminists but by speaking up about

the things they believe in to all people and refusing to conceal their beliefs based on their

audience or surroundings. The minority, however, did align with my hypothesis by refusing to

identify oneself as a feminist as well as looking down upon women who are feminists.

The amount of misogyny that the majority have experienced compared to the amount that

they allow it to affect them is rather surprising and uplifting. Despite the media and others

painting feminism and feminists in a negative light, and despite being body shamed,

hyper-sexualized, and sexually assaulted and harassed, these teenage girls were incredibly

resilient. Women in the past seem to have allowed their internalized misogyny to manifest in

ways that oppressed other women and continued the cycle, but the majority of these teenage girls

have done the opposite. They allow their internalized misogyny to fuel their desire and passion

for social change, leading them to become feminists.

One final observation that stands out to me is that those participants who identify as

feminists constantly talked about how people who hate feminists or do not support feminism

most likely do not truly understand what it is and what its goals actually are. Therefore, I

conclude that more clear, easily understandable, and accurate information and messaging about

the feminist movement is absolutely necessary in order to improve the way it is perceived by

society as a whole.

VI. Conclusion/Reflection/Recommendations
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Overall, I feel that my project was successful and I came to fairly solid conclusions.

However, I may have tried to take on too broad a range of topics in my survey. This led to a

survey that was over two times the recommended length, which also led to an unexpected

amount of response analysis. I could have gone deeper into the responses and gotten more

information with the responses I received, but this project simply was not meant for that. (For

example, I could have extracted a conclusion about people's ages in relation to their beliefs, but

that would have required a much more detailed and involved data analysis and I do not think I

am prepared to do that). Someone in the future could use the data that I collected and do that

very specific analysis and could draw conclusions from it that I was unable to.

Additionally, I was concerned about the number of responses I received being low, and I

think it really was low, but it ended up working out because receiving more responses would

have once again led to a much lengthier data analysis and conclusion drawing. I would have

liked to draw a conclusion about the relationship between going to an all-girls school vs. a coed

school and one’s beliefs about feminism, but the number of all-girls school respondents I

received was much higher than coed school respondents, so I simply could not accurately

conclude anything from that. In the future, someone could do a similar survey but get the same

number of all-girls school teenagers and coed school teenagers. I think the conclusions I came to

were highly affected by the fact that 38 out of 42 respondents attend all-girls school. I would

hypothesize that teenage girls at coed school might act closer to the way the minority in my

study did - a majority within that group might allow their internalized misogyny to manifest as

the refusal to identify as a feminist and putting down other girls behind their backs.

I, as a researcher, was truly surprised by the conclusions I drew in the end. My hypothesis

about the girls’ behavior was the opposite of what they did. Perhaps I allowed my own
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internalized misogyny to influence the way I hypothesized, in that I looked down on other

teenage girls and almost subconsciously tried to assert my superiority because I am a feminist

aware of my internalized misogyny but the participants are ignorant towards feminism and

unaware of the misogyny they are perpetuating (of course, this was not at all the case).

I, as a feminist and not as a researcher, was so inspired by the results and responses that

came from this project. I wish I could have included everything the respondents wrote because

they were truly insightful and changed the way I think about feminism. About the definition of

feminism, one participant wrote, “It truly is just a way for [women] to express how they support

other [women],” (Anonymous). I thought she put it in such a beautiful and simple way that

captures what feminism is about for so many women. I as a fellow feminist was so proud of the

conclusions that I as a researcher was able to draw. They give me hope that we truly can make

progress and we can do it in small steps, starting with the simple refusal to allow our internalized

misogyny to dictate the way we treat other girls. We can change the pattern, we can change our

behavior, and we can break the cycle of oppression that women have faced for thousands of

years.
 Wilson 20

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Appendix A

Full survey that was distributed to participants: https://forms.gle/jYvsoxeXxdkX3zL28

Appendix B

Raw survey data/responses:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rrZrmoB7lbFPb01HNpggVRwRpPsLEM_e1XsTmey8

Snk/edit?usp=sharing