Feminism: The Masquerade
You’ve got a long way to go, baby. And don’t you forget it.
This oasis of freedom and equality we call the United States? It’s all a mirage, says leftist feminist Jessica Valenti. In fact, “We’re suffering under the mass delusion that women in America have achieved equality.”
Well, thanks for the armchair diagnosis, Jessica, but I won’t play a victim character in the live action role playing game you call feminism.
And that’s exactly what leftist feminism is: an elaborate fantasy world spun from ginned up scare-tistics and cherry-picked anecdotes. Like Trutherism and Birtherism, it provides participants with the safe excitement of an ever so valiant struggle that will last just as long as they feel like playing the game.
Never mind that real threats to women’s equality like Islamic gender apartheid and totalitarianism are no fantasy. When you’re the one making up the rules, the false notion that pregnant women are murdered by their male partners at an alarming rate is an indisputably worthy cause. And how will women understand the true extent of their oppression if someone doesn’t perpetuate the myth (PDF) of a massive gender-based wage gap?
NewsReal’s John L. Work suggests that Jessica Valenti is consumed by anger that causes her to lose all perspective. But I suspect she’s well aware of her carefully chosen perspective.
Jessica is invested in weaving this tapestry of tortured data because it’s rewarding. As long as she can sustain the fantasy, her successes are that much more impressive and her failures are no fault of her own. And of course, convincing American women there’s oppression under every rock and discrimination behind every tree helps build support for leftism, the parent ideology of her bastardized feminism.
One of the most pernicious aspects of leftism is that the individual is subsumed under the group. Individuals who reject their prescribed group identity or victimhood status are seen as toxic to the leftist agenda. And so, black conservatives, gay conservatives, and of course, female conservatives are painted as traitors, pathological self-loathers, or in Jessica Valenti-speak, “delusional.”
Radical feminist Andrea Dworkin once wrote that “feminism is hated because women are hated.” How’s that for a setup? Toe the militant feminist line or be branded a misogynist – your choice.
Jessica Valenti uses the same tactic to preserve the illusion of a righteous feminist struggle. Either you buy what she’s selling, or you’re suffering from psychosis.
But don’t worry. All you have to do is embrace victimhood and all is forgiven.
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Follow Jenn Q. Public on Twitter and read more of her work at JennQPublic.com.
..which explains their great hatred of Sarah Palin. If any woman is to rise to a position of power in politics, it is only one of their own, not a conservative, and certainly not a conservative, Bible-believing mom. She is everything they despise.
Dear Jen,
This is a great article. You have echoed a theme articulated by Jamie Glazov in his Front Page piece, “Thank you, Glenn Beck, for Exposing Communism’s Evils.” He takes a long look at what is considered "victimization" here in the free world, compared to what people suffer at the hands of true oppressors.
http://frontpagemag.com/2010/02/08/thank-you-glen...
He speaks of American Feminists who believe they are oppressed because women can wear swimsuits here on our public beaches. He points out that Honor Killings and Female Mutilation are oppressive, (crimes never bemoaned by radical feminists,) not the ability to don the clothing of one’s choice.
Thank you so much for covering this.
Jeanette
Thank you, Jeanette!
And thanks for pointing out Jamie's piece – he knows just how to go for the jugular of the feminist left. His piece reminds me of the first time I heard of female genital mutilation when I was in college. My friend's professor took a cultural relativist approach, explaining that it wasn't fair for us to judge the practice based on Western values. Eventually I transferred to a different school.
Countries that are free, are not equal. And countries that are equal, are not free.
It's all the same with every identity group. Don't point out that Welfare Dependency is the New Slavery, that "victims" are always and everywhere doomed to dependency, or their whole house of cards comes crumbling down.
Victimhood can only be capitalized through the groupthink mentality. Unless a certain
oppressive activity is institutionalized, one must take responsibility for one’s failures
as well as successes. Other than that, groupthink will always play the blamegame, and
victimhood’s ability to keep one from their full potential will allow for a perpetual
cycle of decline and hopelessness.
Individuality and self-reliance have no place for the victimhood and groupthink mentality.