The Desperate Deception of Modern Feminism

Bitter haters, disillusioned by their own self-inflicted unhappiness and unwilling to mend their damaged psychological wounds, are selling women a bill of goods.

I grew up as one might imagine the youngest and only girl in a sports-oriented family would: a tomboy who had a never-ending supply of used boys’ clothes, a competitive nature, and a healthy imagination. Role models (both of what to do, and what not to do) were in ample supply. My parents both worked full time and gave my brothers and me the greatest childhood of which any kid would be jealous. We never had any idea of the financial struggles they dealt with as my father took a risk starting his own business with no safety net, having the responsibility of a wife, young kids, and a mortgage. Although we grew up working class and didn’t have the name-brand…anything, we had our parents’ devotion and dedication and support. We could do anything we could put our minds to. My being a girl made that message no different.

Being female isn’t an exclusionary part of my identity. My being a girl, and now a woman, was never to be used as an excuse for cowardice or timidity, or to be a crutch for self-pity. Having such a mindset was essential to success in college, crucial to surviving Marine Corps’ Officer Candidate School and the Marines, and allowed me to thrive in my professional and personal life. There have been many challenges along the way - and perhaps being a woman has made some aspects of the journey more difficult - but to have resolve and determination makes the challenge more worthy of pursuit.

Contrast that with the messaging of modern feminism in which the lure and deceit are that of indulging victimhood. Modern feminism has turned the noble idea that women are capable of pursuing the things to which they were called and twisting it into a sort of egalitarian pipe dream: feminists offered promises of unreserved happiness to women who reject traditional gender roles out of spite for the so-called Patriarchal American society, and if a woman did not feel fulfilled by delaying marriage and a family it must be the construct of a sexist society in which all of a woman’s needs can’t be fulfilled by pursuing some ‘personal enlightenment’ through a career.

The feminist movement took a radical turn when it turned from a message acknowledging the inherent strength of women and our capacity to contribute to the diversity of ideas and skills in society, to a herd mentality dictated by a select progressive elite who chained women to the anchor of a perpetual victim class. It paved the way to use gender as a way to avoid responsibility for poor life choices, to use it as an excuse to not pursue one’s potential, and as a weapon to silence critics who happen to be of the opposite sex. The movement was hijacked by bitter haters, disillusioned by their own self-inflicted unhappiness and unwilling to mend their damaged psychological wounds. Most found it easier to blame their misery on a vague Patriarchy bogeyman than joining the fray as the suffragettes did a generation earlier, and many found masochistic comfort in the company of fellow virulent discontents. They often see strong, independent conservative voices as enablers of sexism and perpetuating the oppression of women. They vilify indispensable leaders like Phyllis Schlafly who, with gloriously brutal truth said, “The feminist movement taught women to see themselves as victims of an oppressive patriarchy...Self-imposed victimhood is not a recipe for happiness.”

I went to a political conference while I was in college put on by Young America’s Foundation. For one event, the young men and women were grouped into separate conference rooms. They did this to speak to the different viewpoints each group would encounter as conservatives out in the political world. Women were given a presentation by the Clare Boothe Luce Center. It wasn’t a radical feminist screed on the evils of a patriarchal society. There were no fist-raising chants of “The Future is Female.” It was a primer on the contributions of the voices of conservatism’s leading ladies. The lesson was to be strong about your convictions and your ideas. It resonated with me. It echoed the voice of my father who told me I could do anything I wanted because I was strong and determined. It echoed my mother who told me being different than my brothers didn’t mean I was less than them.

How tragic it is for women who bought into the notion that to be equal is to be exactly the same. What message are the quota-warriors sending who insist on filling exactly fifty percent of boardroom chairs or congressional seats with women’s butts just to fulfill an arbitrary requirement? It means exactly the opposite of modern feminism’s propaganda: you are only valuable as a gender, not your ideas. This is where the mask comes off and modern feminism was exposed as a tool of the left. It stretches from behind the Resolute Desk in Bill Clinton’s Oval Office and extends to Michelle Obama leveling criticism at women who voted for Donald Trump in 2016, saying with thinly-veiled contempt at The United States of Women summit, “What is going on in our heads where we let that (Trump win) happen. So I do wonder what are young girls dreaming about.”

Young girls are dreaming about being champions of their ideas because they are good ideas; that their voices are heard and valued because of their content, not their gender; that they won’t be a traitor to their sex because they don’t hold the proper progressive ideas or choose to be stay-at-home mothers raising kids and laying the foundation for a free and prosperous generation of thinkers and doers and fighters.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, head-bitch of the Squad said, “Ultimately, this is about women’s power. When women are in control of their sexuality, it threatens a core element underpinning right-wing ideology: patriarchy. It’s a brutal form of oppression to seize control of the one essential thing a person should command: their own body.” Rich coming from someone who uses her body as a walking billboard for socialist hypocrisy, then hides behind it when criticized for glib obliviousness. My Grandma Joan, who was a real-life Rosie the Riveter during WWII but went back to being a housewife after the war would disagree - and probably recommend Rep. Ocasio-Cortez take a short walk off a long pier.

Women do have agency in their bodies; as do men. Why society tries to shun biology (and human nature) is a topic I’ll address in my next post. It’s a straightforward issue complicated by cowards and fools.

Modern feminists exist to drown out and silence any dissent within their ranks, desperately trying to maintain power by convincing women they are born victims, therefore entitled to special protections and privileges. This is inflicting irreparable damage to whole generations who believe a message that to be equal to men, women must be the same as men. We should embrace and celebrate what makes men and women different - how each contributes to society, the community, and their families with their unique strengths and abilities.  It’s wrong to condition women into lives of low expectations by convincing them they are judged solely on their gender. The tired, bitter, suffocating rage of feminists desperately needs a new generation of victims. We need to deny them their source and empower young women by encouraging them to follow their hearts and minds because they are women, not despite it.