50 Women Share The Unhinged Microfeminisms They Use To Support Women And Annoy Men
Interview With ExpertWhen you start paying attention to how the world treats women, it’s hard not to notice the constant stream of unfairness built into everyday life.
Naturally, that realization can make you angry, and honestly, it should. But what do you do with that frustration? How do you push back against a system that feels so deeply entrenched?
Sure, there are big things you can do: educate yourself, speak up, sign petitions, and demand change from institutions. But sometimes, resistance starts with the little things.
Enter microfeminism—small, everyday acts that quietly support women and challenge the patriarchy. And if you're looking for ideas, we’ve got you covered.
These are some of the most delightfully unhinged microfeminist habits women shared under a viral TikTok by Tori Dunlap. Scroll through and take notes, or better yet, start a few of your own.
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I don’t do subtle. But in the ER when the dad doesn’t know their child’s basic information or medical history, even insurance provider, I never laugh & smile w/ them to smooth it over. I make them sit in their shame like a mother would be treated if she did the same
If a man starts getting angry or rude at work I say something like "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to make you emotional"
this is very basic but ✨ask them to explain misogynistic jokes✨and then say “I don’t get it, why is that funny?” and watch them scramble for the answer
Microfeminism can be fun, petty, serious, or even a little chaotic. But how impactful are these small acts in the grand scheme of things?
To find out, Bored Panda reached out to Alex Schudy, known as the Career Queen on TikTok, for her perspective. And in her view, they’re absolutely worth it.
“Microfeminism is a critical part of the larger feminist movement because these actions feel truly realistic for the individual person to tackle—women can use them in their everyday life, daily behaviors, and choices. Over time, I think that these micro-actions compound and create the foundation for broader feminist change,” she told us.
I love to tell men who are having men tantrums at work that its ok to have big feelings and their feelings are valid but this isn't the place to process their emotions
I’m a travel agent and I always book the flights to pair the child with the husband
I'm a yearbook editor and for all the Womens sports I simply have the sports name, but for the means I put “boys” in front of each of them (ie soccer and boys soccer)
Of course, staying consistently devoted to the feminist cause isn’t always easy. Actively pushing back against the patriarchy, educating yourself and others, and making intentional changes can quickly become overwhelming.
That’s why Schudy encourages finding balance and choosing your battles wisely—and why she believes microfeminism is so useful.
“I think grounding yourself in the fact that even small moments matter is key in the face of criticism. Not every moment requires a full confrontation—sometimes the most powerful microfeminist act is simply supporting someone else, modeling confidence, or refusing to shrink yourself,” she said.
“Plus, one of the most powerful ways to sustain your energy with this movement is surrounding yourself with a community that shares the same values; this helps ensure that you don’t feel alone,” she added.
Whenever a dad says he’s “babysitting the kids” or “watching the kids” I say, “oh so you mean you’re just parenting?”
Whenever the dad comes in with the kid to the hospital and doesn't have any basic information, I have him call up his wife and write down all the information in front of me and ask him to memorize it. Like what do you mean you don't know what their ALLERGIES are?
I’m a middle school teacher and when I have heavy lifting or need to open a jar (I teach art), I always get a girl to help me! And I make a big deal of how strong she is.
This is so wholesome. Raising the next generation of strong women! 💪🏽
Schudy also shared how she practices microfeminism in her own life.
“I’ve found that building and portraying my own confidence has been a highly powerful form of microfeminism. On top of that, another that I practice regularly is giving credit to women publicly and intentionally—especially in work settings where women’s contributions are often overlooked,” she revealed.
“I also have intentionally stopped viewing other women as competition in professional settings; instead, my microfeminist act is to foster a community of women to learn and absorb from.”
if a man tells me his baby mama is crazy i ask him what size shoes his kids wear
teaching my daughter to speak up when people interrupt her with "excuse me, I'm speaking" and with "I will accept your apology but not your behavior"
I was in a meeting, and colleague presented his perspective. I started to explain a different one, and he started talking over the top of me. My response was to say, "You have already explained your thinking. Allow me the cutesy of explaining mine. When I have finished I'll be more than happy to accept questions."
asking male authors in Q&As how their writing has changed since becoming a father.
Midwife here. When a woman comes in clearly in labor and in pain, I always ask the man with her (their partners) for her information — like who her doctor is, when she’s due, whether she has any allergies, her date of birth, etc. A lot of them can’t answer, so I ask, ‘Oh sorry, I didn’t ask — who are you to her? » Same thing when they’re on their phones during labor — I don’t give them a choice. They have to come help their wife or hold their child.
Wow. That there are some guys out there that would need to be told to put their phones down to help with the birth of their child?! Ugh.
I work at a school and when i have to call parents to pick up their sick kid i call the dad first
I introduce my friends and their husbands (in that order) and add a superficial adjective before the husband... this is Jane and her beautiful husband Joe.
Best part is the little smile the guys get when introduced like this 😊
I'm tall (6'1") and wear high heels to work, so I'm about 6'4"-6'5". Then I stand when talking to the men so they have to look up.
This is a true power play at it's finest!! At my last job, the women always wore flats just because otherwise they'd be taller than the 5' 6" (male) CEO. I purposely always wore 5" heels on the days I knew he was there. I only lasted 3 months at that masogynistic héllhole, but when I left there were a lot more women wearing heels!
I say “sorry i don’t have any change” to guys calling me or whistling at me on the street
I say "Hey, how are ya. Good? Good." Head high; walking as assertively as f**k, looking them dead in the eye, single nod, no smile -- and going about my business. It always throws them off. Invariably, I get respect. It makes it so easy for me to walk down that street; because I then OWN it. There was a time in Miami Beach when every other street was construction; so unless you put an end to cat calling, you can get pretty uncomfortable. Act shy, or scared, or flirty -- and it gets worse. Look those f*****s directly in the eye, nod like a gangsta, walk like a boss and all of a sudden to them you're a real human being acknowledging their humanity.
If I sit next to a man on an airplane I copy his spacial awareness exactly
Perfect time for some man spreading of my own. Amazing how much space a 5' woman can take up 😂
Not me, but my husband’s a real estate agent and always puts the wife first on the contract.
And as a former realtor, always assume the wife is the decision maker. Because we are.
I pretend I’ve never heard of the men’s version of sports. “Oh the nba?? Is that like the wnba but for boys?? So nice to give them a go”
Is it microfeminism to keep my last name after marrying my husband? I kept my last name… and don’t correct people right away when they write my last name after his first name… 😎 then when I do, I say: „no sorry, he has a different last name. Didn’t take mine when we married“
I work in pediatrics. when asking questions about the kiddo, I make stronggg eye contact with the dad. 9/10 times he looks at the mom for an answer. I dont break eye contact with him. Just raise my eyebrows in confusion why he doesn't know the last time and how much the baby ate. 🤨
I love the fact that there are so many more women in all professions.
I never hide my period pads, carry them in the open with me when going to the work toilet to change them. Is that feminism? :) i think it should be completely normal
My husband and I both work at the same paper mill and one of our coworkers always refers to us as “Jessica and her husband” instead of “Greg and his wife” and it makes me so happy every time I hear it.
I ask men "Do you work?" instead of what do you do for work.
When my nephew was born my brother quit his job to stay home with the baby. His wife makes more money, so it just made sense. He's always super proud to tell people she makes more money than he does. :)
Not really microfeminism but I only go to female doctors and practitioners now🥰 men never believed my pain and symptoms so I don’t believe that they are capable of passing their exams
I had the opposite experience when it came to endometriosis. 3 different female doctors dismissed and belittled my pain. It was a male GYN who finally helped me. Wish I had seen him sooner.
Ask my kindergarten students what dad cooked for dinner last night and get v shocked if they say their mom cooked.
I'm 6 feet tall and sometimes I tell men I'm only 5'10"
I have a woman tattooed on my arm and everytime someone asks me who it is I say God
Yahweh (who evolved into the Christian "God") is quite young in the context of mythology. I think the first known reference is about 1700BC which is after some of the Greek pantheon, not to mention the mesopotamian gods like Tiamat. So the tattooed woman god? How about good ol' Mother Nature? (or Mother Earth if you prefer)
Monthly periods for years and years, labour pain, menopause…God is definitely a man!
The original world for God in the Old Testament was neuter. It was only made male when it was translated, so this would be just as valid as assuming God is male.
I agree with what you're saying, but that's a very disrespectful way to say it. You can be an atheist without being rude and condescending.
Load More Replies...Play women’s sports on the tv for my dogs when I’m not home. Boost ratings, increase pay!
i always serve food to my grandmother before my granfather (It IS a really really tiny microfeminism)
Assume the drink with the fruit and the umbrella is the man’s order
If it's my husband, it usually is. He's finally comfortable enough in his masculinity. And I take credit for that, lol🍹
I email like a man. Direct, no excited punctuation. No niceties. Just straightforward.
When I do this, I’m just considered rude, blunt, lacking in social skills. I am wired to cut through bǔllshǐt and get right to the point. I hate being expected to beat around the bush.
When I have to announce a promotion at work, I make sure I highlight how OVERQUALIFIED the women are compared to the men in their SAME exact position.
Point out every mistake our construction team makes and say it’s okay because they “don’t have a woman’s eye for detail”
That'll p*** them off and you'll have a hostile environment. I don't know what you should do to point out the errors, but that isn't it.
Constantly asking them if they have kids and if not when they will be having kids
When my boss asks me to hire a third party service (consultants, lawyers, appraisers, etc.) I only contact women ✨
Walking down the street I don’t get out of the way for a man.
That's following the old rules. Men were told to step aside for a lady,
i lowkey assume every single person on the internet is female (idk if this counts or not 😭😭)
immediately assuming men are talking about women's sports instead of men's
That's a good one. Let the guys do the spluttering. Although, *is* there a women's NFL ?
If a couple doesn’t share a last name, we send mail and cards assuming the female’s last name for the family.
To be fair, she's probably the one that will read it and remember it anyways.
Going to get my doctorate so I’ll be addressed before my husband
I correct anyone who calls her Kamala with “you mean Harris”
I prefer former Vice President Harris or even better, "Should've Been President Harris"
I review and stamp construction documents and submittals in pink so they know a woman is the one correcting their work
I intentionally use really girly words or phrases when I password protect a spreadsheet or something else at work, because otherwise the password always gets out and people screw up my spreadsheets or whatever it is. Make the password PrettyGlitterUnicorn and no guy on the floor will say it out loud.
i say ma’am but never sir. they enjoy sir a little too much for my taste.
Women dislike being called "Ma'am" - that's for Grandma. Being called "Miss" makes my eyes light up.
Listed the wife first on all my wedding invites regardless of how we knew the couple. Even my husband’s groomsmen
Engineer here!! I make every model and all my notes and drawings pink :)
Don't assign a color to one gender. I know plenty of people (Both women and men) who love the color :)
When I was working in a supermarket I never scanned a single pack of tampons or pads because we shouldn’t have to pay for it 😎
I’m a server and I ask the men what their kids want to eat
i call male politicians by their first names only
not really feminism but i constantly blame the fact that a man probably designed something when an error or design flaw appears
I dont think this is microfeminism, but I say at least on a weekly basis “men used to go to war and now their wives are paying the bills”
not rlly feminism but if im in traffic ill only let cars in if a woman is driving
I found most of the list amusing. But this one is stupid. Not letting people in, and driving competitively instead of cooperatively, just created traffic issues for everyone on the road--including those other women you're supposedly trying to be nice to.
microfeminism is too weak for me. i’ve upgraded to full blown misandry.
I have a small message to all the future commenters who will say that many exemple are just petty and unnecessary rude. Yes, but you have to understand that we are tired and angry (especially with the whole right-wing rise in the world right now). So yes we are petty, we are sometimes mean, but it's been decades, centuries of fighting and we are tired, tired to see that the things our mothers and grandmothers were fighting against are coming back in full force. We're too tired to be sad, so now we're angry because it's what we have left to keep keep the strength to fight back.
I prefer to know someone’s character before I condemn them. If they are misogynistic, then I will be their worst enemy. But someone who isn’t part of the problem should not be punished.
Load More Replies...I grew up in a home that was equally ran by my parents, Jean, my Mum was a fighter for equal rights, and feminism began at home. She was and still is Jean first, Mum to Gavin and Steven and married to Dave after that. We all had jobs in the house, my brother and I were taught how to cook, use the washing machine and other household jobs from a young age. My Dad knew all of our info for hospital, I fractured my skull at a young age and that meant plenty of check ups so Dad often took me and he knew every detail. I am now a Dad to a daughter, 14, and I encourage her to point out the inconsistencies that she comes across, she may be small (well she used to be!) but she is a feisty individual and she will be telling it as she sees it, I’ll be stood right there with her.
Female here, I stopped reading around #22. Microfeminism, according to Webster Dictionary, is not even a real word. Reading the 22 or so examples it seems to me that it's an excuse for women to rude and petty towards men. It just reinforces negative stereotypes.
I was thinking something very similar. None of these seem to advance the cause of feminism and some actively harm it.
Load More Replies...Once again terrible premise. Thankfully title is inaccurate but it isn't feminist to have the goal of annoying men. The goal is equality, if fighting patriarchy is annoying someone, then that's a by product
But I do think sometimes the little things that annoy some men can be helpful, if it makes them think about WHY it's annoying to them and what point is being made.
Load More Replies...My son isn't 4 yet. He's trying his best to understand this world and build models and rules in his little head. I always correct my husband (and myself, and we talked and he agreed and we're fine) when someone assumes gender roles, like when husband says that a man is driving the excavator I add 'or a woman'. Always. It's important to keep his mind open and develop his critical eye on the world. We were raised with so many divisions. I hope he'll represent the next generation of men, those comfortable with their masculinity and who respect everybody.
All those fathers that know nothing about their own children. That makes me irrationally annoyed. 😠
I could tell you most of that stuff about my nieces and nephews but some dudes don't even know it for their own children?? For shame!
Load More Replies...Why did i read this list? I knew before it would be just a lot of hateful men bad things
Yup. The title of this list should be "misandrist microaggressions" if it was being honest and accurate. A few were okay but most were pretty obviously misandrist.
Load More Replies...After putting up with men's BS for over 60 years (started working at age 16, am now 76.) I will totally do this.
I'm a CPA and when I prepare tax returns, the woman's name is first on the return.
My one is when a man complains about his wife is to point out that divorce is legal and no-one should be trapped in an unhappy marriage. If you love your wife, don't diss her behind her back. If you don't love her, seek an end to the marriage.
Sadly men have everything to lose in a divorce and women have everything to gain. It's a sexist (against men) system that obviously you have no idea exists.
Load More Replies...having bad memories doesnt make someone bad person why is yall being so mean about that? if i dont remember something about someone chances are i wont remember that about myself either and i genuinely cant help it. (yes i am girl not all girls got the super memory that remembers things like anniversary or whatever i cant even remember my own birthday) also i dont understand being mean to someone for their gender what would that even solve?
Alright this may be a pie in the sky hope. We're all aware that women have to work harder than men and men have more rights than we do. However we have one luxury men don't. We can show compassion in public,cry in public tell our friends we love them without risk being judged. I know that sounds tiny but it hit hard when one of my boys (I work with kids) was upset and I asked him what was wrong. You know what he said he needed to cry but his dad told him that strong boys don't cry. It broke my heart and I hope men are able to feel free enough to show emotions without worrying about being judged.
What a lot of silliness this was. So many people hung up on gender. Who cares ? We're all people who should respect and look out for one another.
Take your transphobia and shove it where the sun never shine.
Load More Replies...I have a small message to all the future commenters who will say that many exemple are just petty and unnecessary rude. Yes, but you have to understand that we are tired and angry (especially with the whole right-wing rise in the world right now). So yes we are petty, we are sometimes mean, but it's been decades, centuries of fighting and we are tired, tired to see that the things our mothers and grandmothers were fighting against are coming back in full force. We're too tired to be sad, so now we're angry because it's what we have left to keep keep the strength to fight back.
I prefer to know someone’s character before I condemn them. If they are misogynistic, then I will be their worst enemy. But someone who isn’t part of the problem should not be punished.
Load More Replies...I grew up in a home that was equally ran by my parents, Jean, my Mum was a fighter for equal rights, and feminism began at home. She was and still is Jean first, Mum to Gavin and Steven and married to Dave after that. We all had jobs in the house, my brother and I were taught how to cook, use the washing machine and other household jobs from a young age. My Dad knew all of our info for hospital, I fractured my skull at a young age and that meant plenty of check ups so Dad often took me and he knew every detail. I am now a Dad to a daughter, 14, and I encourage her to point out the inconsistencies that she comes across, she may be small (well she used to be!) but she is a feisty individual and she will be telling it as she sees it, I’ll be stood right there with her.
Female here, I stopped reading around #22. Microfeminism, according to Webster Dictionary, is not even a real word. Reading the 22 or so examples it seems to me that it's an excuse for women to rude and petty towards men. It just reinforces negative stereotypes.
I was thinking something very similar. None of these seem to advance the cause of feminism and some actively harm it.
Load More Replies...Once again terrible premise. Thankfully title is inaccurate but it isn't feminist to have the goal of annoying men. The goal is equality, if fighting patriarchy is annoying someone, then that's a by product
But I do think sometimes the little things that annoy some men can be helpful, if it makes them think about WHY it's annoying to them and what point is being made.
Load More Replies...My son isn't 4 yet. He's trying his best to understand this world and build models and rules in his little head. I always correct my husband (and myself, and we talked and he agreed and we're fine) when someone assumes gender roles, like when husband says that a man is driving the excavator I add 'or a woman'. Always. It's important to keep his mind open and develop his critical eye on the world. We were raised with so many divisions. I hope he'll represent the next generation of men, those comfortable with their masculinity and who respect everybody.
All those fathers that know nothing about their own children. That makes me irrationally annoyed. 😠
I could tell you most of that stuff about my nieces and nephews but some dudes don't even know it for their own children?? For shame!
Load More Replies...Why did i read this list? I knew before it would be just a lot of hateful men bad things
Yup. The title of this list should be "misandrist microaggressions" if it was being honest and accurate. A few were okay but most were pretty obviously misandrist.
Load More Replies...After putting up with men's BS for over 60 years (started working at age 16, am now 76.) I will totally do this.
I'm a CPA and when I prepare tax returns, the woman's name is first on the return.
My one is when a man complains about his wife is to point out that divorce is legal and no-one should be trapped in an unhappy marriage. If you love your wife, don't diss her behind her back. If you don't love her, seek an end to the marriage.
Sadly men have everything to lose in a divorce and women have everything to gain. It's a sexist (against men) system that obviously you have no idea exists.
Load More Replies...having bad memories doesnt make someone bad person why is yall being so mean about that? if i dont remember something about someone chances are i wont remember that about myself either and i genuinely cant help it. (yes i am girl not all girls got the super memory that remembers things like anniversary or whatever i cant even remember my own birthday) also i dont understand being mean to someone for their gender what would that even solve?
Alright this may be a pie in the sky hope. We're all aware that women have to work harder than men and men have more rights than we do. However we have one luxury men don't. We can show compassion in public,cry in public tell our friends we love them without risk being judged. I know that sounds tiny but it hit hard when one of my boys (I work with kids) was upset and I asked him what was wrong. You know what he said he needed to cry but his dad told him that strong boys don't cry. It broke my heart and I hope men are able to feel free enough to show emotions without worrying about being judged.
What a lot of silliness this was. So many people hung up on gender. Who cares ? We're all people who should respect and look out for one another.
Take your transphobia and shove it where the sun never shine.
Load More Replies...
