A century for women on top

Back in my misspent youth I dated a young lady from Smith College, a bastion of 1970s radical feminism if there ever was one. She presented me with a T-shirt in honor of their centennial celebration with the slogan "A Century of Women on Top". Happily I learned that the double-entendre was both intentional and appropriate.

I bring this up because today's top story on Memeorandum emphasizes just how out of touch modern feminists are. Tuesday's primary election can quite rightly be described as The Day the Women Roared. For starters, the next senator elected in California will be a woman. And across the country, the women busted out:

Nikki Haley has an excellent chance of becoming the first female governor of South Carolina with her thumping victory in the primary. Sharron Angle also has an excellent chance of knocking off Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. In California, two successful women, Whitman and Fiorina, will carry the Republican banner for governor and senator. Susana Martinez is the Republican gubernatorial nominee in New Mexico, and if she wins, which polls show as likely, she will be the first female Latino governer in American history. In neighboring Arizona, Jan Brewer has become a hero to Republicans for standing up with grace, wit, and courage to the leftist establishment media and to President Obama. In nearby Oklahoma, polls show Congresswoman Mary Fallin as likely to be the next governor.

This appears to be the Century for Women on Top.

So, where are the feminists? The rah-rah sisterhood is in the corner, whinging.

I'm not surprised that the only primary race to be noted by Feministing is Kamala Harris' victory in the Democratic race for California attorney general or that the comments on a straightforward who's-who post at Jezebel are full of bile regarding Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman. But it is disappointing that many liberal women don't even seem to want the GOP to have strong female candidates. As Sara Libby wrote in Slate yesterday, "Do you still cheer if the ceiling is crashed by two conservative businesswomen?"

No, apparently you don't cheer for conservative women. In fact, according to Former New Yorker editor Tina Brown, these victorious women are a "blow to feminism". Cassy Fiano explains:

One would think that feminists would rejoice to see women victorious in political elections. But today's feminism is not after equality; the movement has been hijacked by rabid fascist feminists. These new feminists require that, in order to be a "real" feminist, you have to walk in lock step with them, toe the fascist feminist line, and never disagree with them on a single issue. And their stance on every issue is always, of course, liberal. They want unlimited taxpayer-funded abortions available right up until the moment of birth, universal health care, universal day care, open borders, a weaker military, massive welfare systems, the government taking the place of fathers in families — basically anything you can think of to destroy western civilization.

We see the same knee-jerk reaction in response to other successful women who fail to toe the party line. They speculate endlessly on the authenticity of Sarah Palin's breasts but denounce any attempt to discern the meaning behind Elena Kagan's sensible shoes. My favorite feminist rushed to defend Helen Thomas but is strangely silent after Tuesday's election.

I believe this behavior is because the last vestiges of 1970s radical feminism are threatened by powerful conservative women. These are women who have succeeded without paying homage to the goddesses of liberal feminism. Their success was achieved based on merit, not victimology. And most importantly, they don't worship at the alter of abortion. A successful woman who dares to be pro-life is anathema to Official Feminism.

And so, the only way to preserve the purity of feminism is to demean the women who do not conform. Cassy Fiano again:

And so, they'll engage in... misogyny! They'll demean conservative women, insult them, refuse to defend them when they're attacked, smeared, and sexualized, and sometimes even take part in the abuse. All of the misogynistic rage on the part of fascist feminists is always in the name of feminism, because somehow, people like Jessica Valenti, Melissa McEwan, Amanda Marcotte, and this Tina Brown have become feminism's gatekeepers. Believe abortion is wrong, like, say, Sarah Palin? Even though Palin is intelligent, powerful, accomplished, and empowered, they'll still discredit her. They'll scream in outrage about Palin calling herself a feminist, and all because she has the audacity to be pro-life. They engage in sexism to defeat her, just because she thinks for herself instead of letting Valenti & Co. dictate how she should think.

It's shameful really. The feminists aren't out to advance the cause of modern women. They're out to advance the radical agenda of NOW, Emily's List, Code Pink, and International A.N.S.W.E.R. The only problem is, most American women (and men) don't agree with that agenda. So what we're seeing are the death throes of radical feminism as actual 21^st century women bypass them in the race to the top.

Posted at 11:19 by Chris Wysocki   [/feminists]   Comments | Perm Link |
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