Monday, September 8, 2014

A Cruel Summer for Feminists

by tryanmax
As Andrew noted in a recent article, the Democrats are continuing to push the idea of a Republican War on Women in the midterm elections. Unfortunately for them, feminism has proven to be its own worst enemy over the summer, overplaying its hand at almost every opportunity. In case you missed some of the happenings, here is a rundown:

First, they overplayed the victim card in the wake of the Elliot Rodger killings with the #YesAllWomen hashtag. It was meant as a response Rodger’s rambling manifesto, but the formulation was also a preemptive refutation of the “not all men” argument—as in “not all men are murderous psychopaths”—an argument only a feminist could find fault with. Suddenly, every woman on Twitter was a-feared that any man on the street could be her rapist/murderer. A leer or a catcall became enough to send delicate ladies into hyperventilating panic. But the Twitterverse called bullship on such exaggerated paranoia, forcing #YesAllWomen to grudgingly admit that #NotAllMen are lecherous predators, and outing those who refused for the stubborn man-haters they are.

Shortly after that, the Hobby Lobby decision failed to generate backlash despite the best efforts of HuffPo ,Mother Jones, Ms., Jezebel, Salon, etc. etc. etc. I don't know if it's because the ruling just doesn’t affect that many people, or if folks actually figured out that the decision doesn't actually do what its critics claimed. Far from letting Hobby Lobby off the hook for birth control entirely, the decision only exempts Plan-B type emergency contraceptives and some types of IUDs. Either way, feminists were left making judicial activism claims normally associated with conservatives. They were also boo-hooing that gays have more rights than women now, which seems strangely adversarial toward a group that's never been against them.

The same month, a rather small men’s rights conference was held in Detroit that also failed to catalyze a gender war. In the weeks leading up to the event, feminists predicted a writhing nest of white, straight, Christian and, of course, male bigotry. What actually materialized was a racially, orientationally, religiously, and even gender diverse group that discussed subjects like male joblessness, the education gap, and inequities in family law. Mainstream outlets including TIME that sent reporters to confirm their own expectations were instead forced to report that, even though they don’t like it, the MRAs raise some valid points. Darn it!

Next, Women Against Feminism seized the national spotlight. One could not imagine a more grassroots meme. It began on Tumblr and quickly spread to Facebook and Twitter before being highlighted in the press and on TV. The meme features women who post selfies while holding up notebook pages stating why they don't need feminism. Of course, with any grassroots movement, some of the arguments are trite and provide easy fodder for feminist attacks. However, most of the contributors are quite cogent. A common theme among these women is that they don’t need feminism because of its hostility toward any who disagree with it, an argument which immediately spays feminist attacks by confirming them. Women Against Feminism also puts feminism on its heels by forcing it to run to the dictionary to defend its definition, and standing on semantics is never good footing.

Throughout the summer, the left continued to ignore the DNR order on the debunked wage gap myth by rehashing tired arguments. Reports that millennial women earn at near parity to millennial men suggest that this might not be an issue for younger voters. Meanwhile, recent studies showing that the wage gap widens with age serve to underscore what conservatives have been arguing about lifestyle choices all along.

The end of summer means the start of the new school year. Normally, the walls of academia provide a safe haven for feminist ideology to flourish. But this year is a little different. For years, colleges and universities have been on crackdown mode against men accused of sexual misconduct, thanks in no small part to a media-generated crisis of campus rape. But now outlets such as NPR, LA Times and The Boston Globe are reporting a backlash.

Several men accused of and, in some cases, found responsible for sexual misconduct are suing and winning under Title IX, the same law used against them by their schools, claiming their due process rights were violated by low preponderance-of-the-evidence standards and presumptions of guilt. Numbers are hard to come by, but the sudden frequency of these cases has compelled the media to take notice. The coverage wasn’t able to help but expose flaws in feminist reasoning. One prominent activist in the area, Annie Clark, has been cited describing due process as an obstacle to justice in sexual assault cases. This is not a sentiment that most Americans share.

Meanwhile, some enterprising young women decided to confront college sexual assaults head-on by inventing a date rape drug detecting nail polish. Feminists everywhere rushed to praise the empowering innovation. Just kidding. They were livid, attacking the invention as promoting "rape culture" by putting the onus for rape on women. In other words, they'd rather see more women raped than take steps to protect themselves. But this is nothing new. Feminists always attack suggestions that women display any agency over their own well being.

Correction: The date rape drug detecting nail polish, called Undercover Colors, was actually invented by a group of men at NCSU. Still, this may help explain why the criticism was an order of magnitude above some of the other inventions linked to. After all, how dare a man do anything to help a woman. How patronizing!

The interesting thing about feminism’s bad summer is that it looks a lot like in-fighting. On social media, women have taken on women. On Hobby Lobby, the feminists positioned themselves against gays. In academia, Title IX is pitted against itself. Even the MRA’s keynote speaker was former NOW-NYC board member Warren Farrell whose liberal, if not feminist, credentials remain solidly intact. Conservatives and Republicans have been remarkably absent from gender politics this season. On this day, the War on Women looks like a war from within.

29 comments:

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, Excellent breakdown of the implosion of feminism this summer. This is the problem with crazy -- it can't keep itself focused on ideas that the public finds acceptable and it spouts off insane pet peeves and lunatic theories that send people rushing away in droves.

To the above, I would add that there has been an intellectual war between pro-sex feminists and puritanical (probably lesbian) anti-sex feminists. Both groups are made up of dinosaurs who haven't been relevant in years, and they both think they are fighting for the future of feminism, even though I see no evidence that anyone younger than 60 is listening to either.

At this point, the only places where I still see feminists with any influence is women's studies departments, some parts of the legal community, and in some newsrooms. But in the meantime, the rest of womanhood has moved on. You can see this all over the culture.

AndrewPrice said...

BTW, if you ever get the chance, check out the Today show for a couple days and pay attention to what they do and don't talk about. A decade ago, this was a bastion of man-hating feminism with topics like how women should put their careers before having kids, why single-motherhood was the ideal choice, and stories about spouse-abuse and date rape. These days, it's about baking cookies, how to dress sexy, how to have better sex, and who are the hottest celebrities. And tens of millions of women are watching this.

Kit said...

The core problem with campuses and campus rape is that it seems they either do one of two things: Railroad the guy in an unfair system or sweep it under the rug.

This leads me to a startling conclusion: An organization whose disciplinary system was devised to handle cases of plagiarism and defecating on the Quad is probably not suited to deal with acts such as rape.

Anthony said...

I'm not sure Democrats are going to have much success getting women to the polls this election cycle, but I suspect the issue they will have the most luck with is abortion (barring a stupid comment from someone high profile, always a possibility).

All they are going to need is a few of the right woman thrown in jail. Anti-abortion laws are wisely aimed at the people who carry them out (usually doctors) rather than the mothers, but as clinics get shut down cases like the one below are going to increase in frequency, which is going to be interesting to watch.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/07/ann-whalen-abortion-daughter_n_5777120.html

A Pennsylvania woman has been sentenced to up to 18 months in prison for obtaining so-called abortion pills online and providing them to her teenage daughter to end her pregnancy.

Jennifer Ann Whalen, 39, of Washingtonville, a single mother who works as a nursing home aide, pleaded guilty in August to obtaining the miscarriage-inducing pills from an online site in Europe for her daughter, 16, who did not want to have the child.

tryanmax said...

Andrew, something else that slipped my mind, mainly because I don't give a hoot about the MTV VMAs. As per ususal, the awards show featured skimpy costumes and suggestive gyrations. However, when this is done in front of a giant lit sign declaring "FEMINIST" as Beyoncé did it, it garners much praise from feminists. This, in turn, garnered feminists much well-deserved ridicule for tossing buckets of sludge into their already murky philosophy.

tryanmax said...

Kit, that is absolutely the problem, which is why feminists want to take over campus disciplinary boards. One of feminism's core tenets is that sexual assault is grossly under-reported. For this, they blame due process, standards of evidence, and especially the right to face an accuser rather than the obvious: it just ain't happenin'. Campus kangaroo courts, er, disciplinary boards aren't subject to such standards.

Lax standards make campus boards perfect for realizing feminist fantasies wherein female accusers are simply taken at their word. It also helps explain why feminists oppose women taking action for their own safety, as most measures would double at providing or collecting evidence. Ruining a young man's educational and career prospects serves as a consolation prize since they can't seize the legal system.

Some critics have blamed Title IX itself, but in fairness, the law is equitably written in regards to this subject. It is the current administration bringing pressure to bear to execute it in a biased manner. That makes suing the schools under the very same law the perfect response.

BevfromNYC said...

Anthony - There has to much more to the story of the woman who was jailed for giving her daughter an abortion pill than just inducing a miscarriage. Some of the details that missing are "how pregnant was she" and was she arrested for illegally obtaining a prescription or banned drug. The press is making out as if she is being held just for the induced abortion because the closest clinic was 75 miles away (about an hours drive). I will wait for further investigation...

BevfromNYC said...

Tryanmax - I think the feminist establishment are having a tough time holding on to young woman with the same old '60's memes of subjugation and discrimination. I suspect that women under 30 are able to fully realize their potential. They are in every field they choose and there are more females graduating from our colleges and universities than men. They are competing equally (and getting paid equally) with their male counterparts and have been for a long time. [They can thank me later] What is happening more is that women are choosing to delay their careers for children. Whereas, my generation chose to delay children for our careers. They are smarter and better educated and more free than any generation of women and they know it.

Btw, they are becoming more conservative too. You will see it in the fashion styles coming up - longer skirts, higher waists on pants, less skin showing...there is a theory to that, but I won't bore you.

tryanmax said...

Anthony, I suspect you're right about abortion, but not because the issue resonates a certain way with women. According to Gallup, women are equally divided on the issue, as is virtually every non-partisan demographic. Rather, there are about 17% of voters who will only vote for a candidate who shares their views on abortion. That number is also about evenly split between pro-choice and pro-life voters. This gives pro-choice candidates the easy advantage because there are more grades of pro-choice than of pro-life. The offset, however, might be that Americans believe the population to be more pro-choice than it really is. Thus, a pro-choice push may actually motivate pro-life voters more than the intended group, especially in a midterm where conservative issues fare better.

On the European abortion pills, that will be interesting to watch. On one hand, such instances could rile up pro-choice voters. On the other hand, I don't see a serious candidate on either side suggesting we ease regulations involving drug purchases from overseas via the internet. It's difficult to raise a cause without a proposed solution, and it's hard to vilify your opponent for not doing what you won't do either.

On the subject, a failure I see on the pro-life side is to charactarize legislation limiting the types of facilities allowed to perform abortions as a pro-women's health maneuver. The soundbyte is already written, as I've already heard it, albeit rarely. "The last thing we want is to move the back-alley indoors." Correcting this oversight could unseat the pro-choice movement as the defenders of women's health, a posture they've leveraged to claim moral authority.

BevfromNYC said...

Actually, Tryanmax, what will unseat the Pro-choice movement is when conservatives start supporting accessible birth control methods over condemning abortion. You know, making the need for abortions rare. We are sorely lacking in the message for preventative part of the equation...

tryanmax said...

Bev, that is a major undercurrent to all the trouble feminism has had over the summer. The leaders all seem like old bitties, telling people to read the dictionary and such. Their crusade against sexual assault plays as worse than prudish. They've pushed beyond "all sex is rape" and into "the culture is rape!" The ones that try to seem hip by praising Beyoncé as a model feminist seem confused and hypocritical. (Bey herself gets a pass b/c no one expects too much.) And, of course, their insistence that women should do nothing to protect themselves is both ugly and dispowering.

tryanmax said...

Bev, I'll agree insofar as it's a messaging problem. I suspect the Dems shifted from abortion to birth control is because movement on the former has stalled in either direction.

The reality is that Republican opposition to birth control is a bugaboo beyond the question of who pays. I don't see much evidence that the same bugaboo still looms large, especially after Hobby Lobby fizzled into nothing. The vast majority of birth control rhetoric is focused on the pill. If efforts to put the pill OTC are successful, that's gonna kill it. No one likes talking about IUDs or sterilization.

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, I find the Beyonce thing humorous. It's actually the likely death knell for feminism itself. In effect, "feminism" is not a name to be marketed, just like Che or even communism. Basically, kids will embrace it as something cool to put on t-shirts and to call themselves while they have zero understanding of its meaning and zero desire to actually experience its doctrine. In effect, this is how ideologies move onto the ash heap of history... as marketing props stripped of all their substance.

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax and Bev, On the birth control issue, I agree with Bev to a large degree in that I think conservatives need to stop trying to fighting birth control and separate that from the abortion issue. They are of such a different magnitude that combining them is downright stupid, and trying to ban birth control comes across as deeply out of touch with the country.

That said, I honestly think the public has made up its mind on abortion. Everything I see says that 80% of the public (1) want it legal, but with restrictions, (2) those restrictions should require some thought before the procedure and regulations for safety, but not as a proxy for shutting it down, and (3) they don't want to pay for it.

tryanmax said...

Andrew, yeah, when something becomes a slogan, it loses all meaning. Pretty soon, we'll be seeing "FEMINIST" emblazoned across the backs of hotpants.

tryanmax said...

Andrew, I must ask, where is it that Republicans are trying to ban birth control? I understand that defunding Planned Parenthood and supporting religious exemptions get construed as such, but the divide on those other issues is so narrow it's not worth flopping in hopes of a birth control boost.

As far as combining birth control and abortion goes, maybe Republicans could separate the two, but they'd have to start every conversation on the topic with "let's separate the two," which would immediately be followed by a spate of attacks about how stupid it is to separate the two. Dems are dependent on the connection. To wit, the lead from a WaPo opposition piece to OTC birth control under the headline "Don't be fooled..." makes note that all four GOP senate contenders who have taken the position "oppose abortion rights." Connection made.

The OTC strategy has a much better chance of breaking the link than any rhetorical effort--which is probably why liberal outlets are already slandering it. Maybe Republicans could combine it with an effort to reverse the Obamacare ban on using flexible-spending for OTC drugs. That would apply to emergency contraception, as well. And like I said, when the conversation is limited to IUDs and sterilization...well that's just icky.

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, As far as I can tell, the problem really began with Rick Santorum. He was accused in 2011/12 of tying birth control to abortion and of wanting to ban both. When he was asked to debunk this, he started acting cagey and wouldn't answer the question directly. Then he started talking on the campaign trail about "the evils of abortion AND birth control." This cemented the idea that he absolutely wanted to ban birth control as well.

At the same time, you still periodically get articles from religious right types who talk about the availability of birth control being the reason for "the collapse of society." Whether or not these guys are mainstream, that I can't say, but the fact they keep saying this stuff just keeps the idea alive.

In terms of separating the two, I think because of the above, the GOP needs to actively make it clear they aren't trying to ban birth control. That's something that Bobby Jindal and some of the other governors have actually done. Specifically, they've pushed to make birth control more available to (1) reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and (2) eliminate the justification for forcing religious groups to provide such things through their insurance.

Unfortunately, the result has been that these guys have largely been called RINOs or accused of being "pro-choice" by religious right groups.

Tennessee Jed said...

nice article tryanmax!. I care about feminists only to the extent they would influence a given election. Generally, I don't think they do unless certain feminazis get pissed enough at a Democrat to sit home. They are generally activists, though, which means they can almost always be counted on to rally around a Dem if a given election is important enough and close enough

BevfromNYC said...

Kit - In my mind and experience, the only solution is to create a bright line. College campuses need to go back to same-sex dorms. The experiment with co-ed dorms is apparently a failure. Call me old-fashioned, but it may be the only way. I was in college when they began co-ed dorm living. But if there is such a problem with rape on campus, it's time to go back to the dark ages. No men allowed in women's dorms and no women in men's dorms. I don't remember this problem when I was in college. Of course, we could drink legally at 18 too and had on-campus bars. Yes, bars/taverns that sold liquor right on campus. Were we more responsible? I don't know. But we certainly were more protected.

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, The problem isn't actually an increase in misbehavior, it's a definitional issue. Basically, college feminists are redefining things as rape and harassment which never would have been considered that in the past. Thus, for example, you get ideas like consensual sex becoming rape if the woman decides to withdraw her consent after the fact. "Force" has been redefined to include things like "pressure," which includes asking again after being told no even though nothing about that could reasonably be called pressure.

BevfromNYC said...

Andrew - I agree with you 100%. It is not an increase in behavior and it IS a definition issue. "Rape" is now defined as any kind of "sexual harassment" that is now consensual or non-consensual after the fact. No offense, but when have boys NOT tried to "pressure" a girl?

The difference is the mixed messages from girls and the media. And the message from Beyonce et al. is that girls want it as much as the boys. It is very grey these days. I was told (maybe old-fashionably so) to protect yourself against unwanted advances, Stay in control and don't put yourself in a vulnerable/victim situation. Don't drink yourself into a freakin' stupor. The other issue is that when you go to some guys room (or apartment) or invite some guy to your place that is an invitation. And too many times I read how young women drink themselves into near blindness and something happens that at the break of day they regret. And then they need an out. Yes, I know, I blame the victim, but you know, don't make yourself a potential victim. A real feminist wouldn't...

Btw, that doesn't excuse boys for their behavior and taking advantage. If someone drugs you, that's "rape". But most of time, it's the women out of control by their own behavior and the inevitable "walk of shame" which I see every Saturday morning in NYC between 7 and 8am during now and the end of May. I have very little sympathy for the accusers. It hurts the cause for women who have really been raped against their will and by real force.

That's why I say, solve the problem of "consent" by not making it an issue and go back to same-sex dorms and maybe curfews. It creates a bright line between after-the-fact regret and real assault. Old-fashioned, but it worked.

tryanmax said...

Andrew, I get what you're saying. The religious right has combined the two for decades and Santorum gave them a bigger voice than they ever should have had. I don't see any other voices keeping it alive. Everything seems to keep pointing back to the last election. I think the OTC proposal is the right move to break that link and maybe drive off the 5%* who think birth control is evil. Plus, it puts Dems in the hard position of opposing what they're recently on record demanding.

*Gallup reports 90% of Americans find birth control morally acceptable. I'm assuming the remainder splits evenly between the parties.

tryanmax said...

T Jed, elections are probably where feminists have the most influence. Their sway over the culture has been nil for some time. That said, this summer has increased feminism's prominence in a negative way. We've seen a contingent emerge who are actually proud to say they oppose feminism, meaning we could see it's efforts actually motivating the opposition in the next few elections.

tryanmax said...

Bev, co-ed dorms, co-ed bathrooms, and now some are even pushing for co-ed rooms make all this campus rape paranoia truly laughable. If it were really the epidemic it's been made out to be, women's enrollment in higher learning should be dropping, not rising. Certainly, they should be clamoring to return to the "dark ages." In fact, I wonder if this is a factor in declining male enrollment?

tryanmax said...

Andrew, the standard that is being pushed now is not just explicit consent, but enthusiastic consent which, as you maybe guessed, isn't all that well defined beyond saying that's what men should want. News Flash: that is what men want, but when 12 yeses and a no means "no," nobody is quite sure just how enthusiastic someone is meant to be. What next? Delirious consent?

tryanmax said...

Bev, don't forget the double-standard that surrounds drunken sex. Feminists would have you believe that women lose all control once a drop of alcohol passes their lips while men retain full control of their faculties no matter how many beers they shotgun.

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, Well said. I agree completely.

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, I agree. I think this is a fringe issue that only a handful of religious right types have pushed, but no serious Republican has embraced. And only the left and this handful of fringers are keeping it alive in the hopes of making it true. Hopefully, the new Republican position does finally make this issue moot.

In terms of the poll, by the way, I do believe that number. I see zero interest in anyone trying to fight "birth control." Abortion, yes, but not birth control.

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, I think delirious consent sounds about right! LOL!

Seriously, this whole issue would be a joke if it weren't for the fact that sometimes colleges go on witch hunts after innocent people on these issues. The idea that someone can change their mind and turn a consensual act into a crime is Orwellian.

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