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Feminism's Little Problem
IntellectualConservative.com ^ | March 7, 2003 | Brian S. Wise

Posted on 03/09/2003 1:14:55 PM PST by az4vlad

Feminism's next major crusade is sitting at its feet, ignored.

Sadly, my great dissertation on modern feminism, “You’re Adorable When You’re Angry,” went unfinished despite the Great Book Writing Fit of the mid-1990s. The title summed up the conclusion; with feminism’s important battles long since fought and won, the movement has collapsed onto itself, becoming in the process an odd parody of something that once mattered. Conservatives are often asked what they have against feminism – the correct answer is, conservatives don’t hate feminism, but they are annoyed by its modern leanings. Whatever its intentions, all it succeeds in doing these days is providing airtime for very angry women who 1) cannot find happiness in anything, 2) feel disenfranchised by life generally (and men specifically) and 3) would have virtually nothing to say if not for misplaced outrage.

The point is well served by Martha Burk, in the throes of her own outrage, directed at Augusta National (home of the upcoming Masters golf tournament), and CBS to a lesser, but still fierce, degree. Burk’s problem is, there can be no such things as female members at Augusta National; they can play, but they can make no claims to membership. Of course, Augusta cannot be forced to bring women into the fold, it can only be cajoled. Martha Burk’s particular brand of sweet talking involves arranged boycotts of all tournament sponsors and threatened protests, despite the specter of potential arrests. The controversy has been well handled by Augusta and CBS; they will not bend, which is as it should be.

Augusta’s right to select its own membership is acknowledged with a wink – Augusta National is a distinctly Southern institution, founded and legislatively maintained by a few Good Old Boys, some of whom at some point may have actually said, “All right, no women allowed … and while we’re at it, no blacks or Jews, either.” (Hopefully the assertion is conceded by the readership, but as I am sure there will come those voices denying it, I say: Read a little more about Augusta National.) The point Martha Burk would most like you to consider is that there is no difference between racism, anti-Semitism and misogyny, but even the three things written together read like an odd new installment of “One Of These Things Is Not Like the Others” than anything else.

How seriously should one take allegations of misogyny? Well, if you take misogyny at its literal meaning (“a hatred and distrust of women”), then very seriously. Hatred is for religious fanatics and children, a state of mind so vexing it can only come across as empty headed anti-intellectualism, a blatant insult to reason. However, if by misogyny you mean someone who would prefer to partake in social exercises (say, golf) without a lot of women hanging around, then no. There is a difference between hatred and selective indifference; one of modern feminism’s many problems is that it cannot tell there is a difference, therefore it believes that wherever women cannot gain access, a cold blooded hatred thrives.

Meanwhile, honest-to-goodness hatred of women does exist, untouched, in the Arab States, the location troublesome to modern feminism; it would rather badmouth Augusta National than offer concurring opinion on the matter of Arab States, as that sort of speaking out can be easily misunderstood as support for a Republican (and we cannot have that). The Wall Street Journal helpfully prints a column by Kay S. Hymowitz (helpful because it’s good to be occasionally reminded of such things) entitled “The Women Feminists Forgot,” briefly outlining feminism’s little problem: “As the feminists of the Western world take to the streets, there will be no speeches denouncing Saddam Hussein who, in an attempt to garner support from Islamists, accuses female dissidents of adultery and has them stoned to death …. [Instead] of seizing the moment to revive an anemic movement by raising their voices against genuine female oppression, they have given the ultimate illustration of their preference for partisan politics and smug resentments over principles.”

Feminism could struggle from irrelevance by wondering loudly what the administration expects the next Iraqi government to do when Hussein is conquered, and when, as Hymowitz details, young women are murdered “because they have held hands with or kissed a boy or, worse yet, because they have been raped.” If an unsatisfactory answer is given (and there is really only one satisfactory answer: that woman are human beings, and will be afforded the right to exist with as much freedom as men are allowed), then there is nothing unreasonable is saying the administration is offering the wrong answer to what is a very simple question. Augusta National is a pointless crusade, especially when women a world away are much more deserving of the effort, most especially when those who have anointed themselves the protestors of all females will say nothing.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: augustanational; cbs; feminazis; feminism; feminists; golftournament; kayshymowitz; marthaburk; masters; misogyny; women
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1 posted on 03/09/2003 1:14:55 PM PST by az4vlad
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To: az4vlad
I completely support the idea of invading Iraq and overthrowing Saddam.

That having been said, one of the keys to his power has been the legal equality of women in Iraq, as opposed to SA or the Gulf states.

Sure, they have an equal right to be tortured-but there are no burqas, no veils, and women are doctors and teachers, appear on TV, and (as long as they are not political) have a much better life than they do elsewhere in the Arab-Persian world.

2 posted on 03/09/2003 1:28:57 PM PST by Jim Noble
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To: Jim Noble
But Saddam does use rape as a political weapons against women. That's a high price to pay for the right to be a doctor.
3 posted on 03/09/2003 1:51:00 PM PST by A_perfect_lady (Let them eat cake.)
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To: A_perfect_lady
...Saddam does use rape

When I was in High School the saying was:

"Do you know how to avoid being raped?"

"Relax and enjoy it."

That is what the Feminists are saying.

4 posted on 03/09/2003 1:57:22 PM PST by Dan(9698)
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To: az4vlad
Good article. It presents the hypocracy and twisted goals of the feminist-left. Like the UN, they have become irrelevent.
5 posted on 03/09/2003 1:59:18 PM PST by meyer
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To: az4vlad
Martha Burke as head of the feminists should be removed from NOW for her tireless crusade to disrupt a private club with male membership...hardly a noble effort and one that is befitting some school girl who wants to have a cause and create a tempest in a tea-pot.

However the article fails to point out that Muslim women are a fairly content bunch left alone to deal with their culture as they know it. Just this past week Charlotte Beers, our new undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, more or less washed her hands of trying to “sell America” to the world’s Muslims and Arabs, she gets both praise and pans for her efforts.

Aside from being stoned to death for whatever, do Americans realize that Muslim women, once in their homes and behind closed doors – the burkas come off and other attire is worn, sometimes even western. That the women have precious little equality or quality on the city streets, they are the rulers of their homes, and who are we to tell them to look up to someone like Martha Burke. Only in industrialized countries do the women demand equal everything and then only a small percentage of them; 30% of females do in America, the rest of us non-feminists ( but damn fine women we are) seem to do splendidly in this “man’s world” and that is because we are Really Women and we mostly like men and enjoy their company.

Ergo, Martha Burke and her silly irrelevant sophomoric followers just might want to take up another line of work.

Charlotte Beers tried and did some good introducing things like education to the masses but until their countries are run by the Rule Of Law and not dictators or other repressive governments, they haven’t got a chance at a true democracy or freedom...as for Martha, golf courses seem far more important than Rule of Law, no matter to whom the laws apply.............

6 posted on 03/09/2003 2:22:13 PM PST by yoe
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To: az4vlad
All that I know is that I've spend my entire life being derided and degraded because of my race and my gender, and now I'm supposed to leap up and "defend my country" against the dreaded Iraq.

I've got a great idea. Since people like me have borne the brunt of EVERY WAR EVER FOUGHT by this country, why now allow the feminists and the minorities to go and fight this one? I'll be glad to stay home safe and out of harm's way while "G.I. Jane" and her feminist and multicultural pals go and fight this one. Deal?
7 posted on 03/09/2003 2:22:44 PM PST by Billy_bob_bob ("He who will not reason is a bigot;He who cannot is a fool;He who dares not is a slave." W. Drummond)
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To: az4vlad
Hatred is for religious fanatics and children

hmmmm.

We're all francophiles now.

8 posted on 03/09/2003 2:30:39 PM PST by cornelis
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To: Billy_bob_bob
I think you make a valid point but I think that truthfully the notion of what I consider feminism is being able to stay home with your kids without Hillary Clinton's demoralizing crack about 'staying home and baking cookies"(excuse me, she had nannies and didn't do it herself!) NOT HAVING AN ABORTION and even serving in the military not to be a man but to offer yourself for duty to your country.
This Augusta thing is stupid. I've lived in Augusta and no body cares!!!
9 posted on 03/09/2003 2:57:01 PM PST by mingwah
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To: Dan(9698)
When I was in High School the saying was:

"Do you know how to avoid being raped?"

"Relax and enjoy it."

Was this at an all-male boarding school?

10 posted on 03/09/2003 3:38:10 PM PST by opinionator
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To: Billy_bob_bob
I counsel you to moderation, my son.
Why not let the opening rounds of the war be fought by the feminists first? I envision a Lesbian Legion led by Hillary, Janet, and Rosie O'Donnell. The men's auxiliary could be led by Bill Clinton and Phil Donohue. The cruel, male-dominated regular armed forces could use a little extra time to train without them, and sorta get themselves organized and do male-bonding stuff.

Let these ferocious amazons duke it out until the casualties of the Lesbian Legion add up to the number of casualties suffered by your much-maligned race and sex (btw,"Gender" is a grammatical term, the use of which has been appropriated by the left. Sort of like "Gay") in all our wars combined. Should take about 30 days, but I would insist on verifying the body count. At that point, I would recommend that some of the armed and organized fellows then step in, but in a very nice way, of course.

I hope you will see your way clear to endorsing this compromise. I wouldn't want your children to think you were politically incorrect.

11 posted on 03/09/2003 4:25:01 PM PST by Kenny Bunk
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To: yoe
Only in industrialized countries do the women demand equal everything and then only a small percentage of them; 30% of females do in America, the rest of us non-feminists ( but damn fine women we are) seem to do splendidly in this “man’s world” and that is because we are Really Women and we mostly like men and enjoy their company.

You must be very young. You have an idea of "equality" that is totally addled by the modern feminists crusades for things like women at Augusta, Title IX, and whatever.
It really hasn't been that long since women in this country were barred from many jobs, couldn't get credit or even bank accounts without a male co-signer, and couldn't find housing on their own except in women's boarding houses.

You can't imagine how limiting life like that is, but trust me, you wouldn't want to live it. Women in third world countries still have to live like that.

Martha Burke is a silly twit; but so are you. There's more to equality than burkas and membership at Augusta.

12 posted on 03/09/2003 4:29:07 PM PST by speekinout
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To: Billy_bob_bob
"I've got a great idea. Since people like me have borne the brunt of EVERY WAR EVER FOUGHT by this country, why now allow the feminists and the minorities to go and fight this one? I'll be glad to stay home safe and out of harm's way while "G.I. Jane" and her feminist and multicultural pals go and fight this one. Deal?"

Most of the country seems to believe that women are in combat fighting for our freedoms - a right previously denied them by an oppressive paternalism. The statement “American men and women fighting in Iraq” is becoming common. As if men and women fill the same roles in war.

It is part of the Feminist doctrine that women must be relieved of that burdensome idea that women owe anything to men. The idea that American women owe every freedom they enjoy, to an American man, is repugnant to them.

As women become less indebted to men, then men will be a lot less inclined to want to go to war to protect them. And that is why American men go to war, to protect American women - the lives they value more than their own. Not so anymore, for we are equals.

Soldiers don’t go to war with a picture of President Bush, or the Constitution in their pockets, it will be with a picture of his wife or girl friend and the families of which these women are the heart and soul.

One day there will be a war, and the men wont show up. For the women they used to go to war for, will then be the reason they wont. We are already hearing the reasons loud and clear.
13 posted on 03/09/2003 4:43:42 PM PST by Search4Truth (Power perceived, is power achieved.)
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To: az4vlad
Blah, blah, blah. What happened to radical feminism was the 2004 election. Losing the House, the Senate, and the Executive Branch in addition to having a conservative Supreme Court has sucked most of the air out of the leftwing PR balloon. Deprived of automatic press coverage inasmuch as their opinion doesn't count for squat, the Clintonophilic fillies seemed to have jumped their particular shark about the time of the impeachement, and have no where to go but down...and not on me.
14 posted on 03/09/2003 5:01:59 PM PST by gcruse (When choosing between two evils, pick the one you haven't tried yet.)
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To: gcruse
Ooops. 2004 = 2002.
15 posted on 03/09/2003 5:03:59 PM PST by gcruse (When choosing between two evils, pick the one you haven't tried yet.)
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To: Dan(9698)
A Republican Candidate (Clayton Moore?) lost to Ann Richards in the 1990 Texas Gubernatorial election for making that remark.
16 posted on 03/09/2003 5:55:33 PM PST by Clemenza (East side, West side, all around the town. Tripping the light fantastic on the sidewalks of New York)
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To: Clemenza
I guess I had better be careful what I say if I ever run for office in Texas.
17 posted on 03/09/2003 8:54:49 PM PST by Dan(9698)
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To: Kenny Bunk
I bet the Lesbian Legion wouldn't last 4 minutes against a demi- company of U.S. Marines.

Oh, you thought they would fight for the US? What kind of weed were you smoking?
18 posted on 03/09/2003 9:39:56 PM PST by donmeaker (Time is Relative, at least in my family.)
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To: Kenny Bunk
"Let these ferocious amazons duke it out until the casualties of the Lesbian Legion..."

You mean "dyke" it out don't you?!

Like the Democratic Party, NOW, is going tit's up under the leadership of the Clintons.

19 posted on 03/09/2003 10:14:09 PM PST by WellsFargo94
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To: speekinout
It really hasn't been that long since women in this country were barred from many jobs, couldn't get credit or even bank accounts without a male co-signer, and couldn't find housing on their own except in women's boarding houses. You can't imagine how limiting life like that is, but trust me, you wouldn't want to live it. Women in third world countries still have to live like that. Martha Burke is a silly twit; but so are you. There's more to equality than burkas and membership at Augusta.

LOL, priceless...and I agree 100%. Today's "feminists" are so dedicated to forcing their way into golf clubs, etc. that they've ignored or forgotten the real purpose of the feminist movement - the elevation of women from the status of chattle.

For instance, on the say-so of a male relative, a woman in the United States, not so many years ago, could be incarcerated indefinitely in a mental institution. She had no defense, no rights. Her children and her inheritance would be taken from her, and she would be denied any opportunity to dispute charges leveled against her.

In America, we women enjoy the efforts and sacrifices of our ancestral mothers. Today's battle is not against Augusta National (who gives a rat's rump if women are allowed or not!?), but against forces that continue to degrade, injure, maime and murder women globally.

I will never forget the image of the moslem woman kneeling at the feet of a man as he blew her brains out. Her crime? Possibly the wind pushed her burqua aside for an instant and an ankle was revealed, or perhaps she laughed at the wrong moment, or maybe she went outside her home without a male escort...whatever the reason, you can be certain the infraction was insignificant.

This is the real war that feminists should be waging.

20 posted on 03/09/2003 10:49:13 PM PST by Aracelis (Oh, evolve!)
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