When thinking about it, the backlash came when an opportunist tried to create a political party around feminism...
Before that, we saw politicians in established parties trying to ride that hype wagon.
A pity such an important field has so much sh-t. To paraphrase a Swedish expression: Where pathos go in, reason go out.
Edit: On consideration, if you don't have honesty you don't have anything. There are so many more ways to be completely wrong than close to correct, so any flirting with idealists will generally create more damage than the idealists can ever solve. I'll take a stand on zero-tolerance of dishonesty. (That said, don't paint all feminists with the same brush. It is not like they are flat Earthers all of them.)
I'm enough on the fence that I voted you and the GP up. I do see where this is coming from.
A bit of the background:
Part of the local backlash was when a woman's house organization's boss stupidly came out as a heavy man hater during an interview. Now, some feminist arguments are exaggerated propaganda, but consider what kind of men she had interaction with daily... I can understand her opinion.
(A relative of mine has volunteered for a woman's house for a few decades and have some shocking stories. After those discussions, I realized how people e.g. can turn racist.)