How Feminism Is Like A Corporation
I've learned a lot from Dr. Barbara Oakley, who spoke here in LA at Center For Inquiry, about how fundamentalism isn't just something practiced by the religious, but extends to many spheres. Matthew Reisz interviews her for Times Higher Education:
Oakley suggests that we hear rather too much about the self-serving nature of corporations, given that "many other organisations behave in precisely the same way."Feminism can be thought of as like a corporation. It's interested in its constituents. Well-meaning feminists are often trained only to see a certain way, only to support their constituents. That is partly what underlies the spurious research on battered-woman syndrome. Anyone who questions whether battered women are only simple victims is put in the pillory and crucified.
"There are young, inexperienced women who fall in love with a man and are put in a battering situation, but there is nothing wrong with them more than simple bad luck. That's absolutely possible and my heart goes out to them. But there's also a sizeable group - perhaps 40 to 50 per cent of battered women - who are themselves as much involved in the battering as the man. That simply isn't discussed; it's considered to be 'blaming the victim'. But in fact it's being more perceptive about the difference between real victims and those who portray themselves as victims.
"We need to take off the ideological blinders if we are to forge the intelligent interventions that can make a dramatic difference in these women's lives. We need more scientifically based research in this area to help tease out what is actually going on."
Oakley's recent books, both of which I highly recommend, are Cold-Blooded Kindness and Evil Genes.
Oh, and if you happen to live in Detroit and attend Oakland University, take Oakley's class for undergrads in how things work. Nobody has ever made telling people how their refrigerator functions more fascinating. P.S. Per Barb, dust off the coils in back and your fridge will use less energy.
Cammy.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at September 12, 2011 10:55 PM
Fuggit, Hef's too old to sue anybody at this point. Playboy Magazine, May 1995, on the Simpson murders:
Salon, 9/15/97—
There's an interview out there, maybe in one of the books, wherein Cammy describes the emotional exchange at work in these relationships in considerable detail.
We all know what it's like to date someone –hopefully only for that first cup of coffee, and then never again– who has weird energy about fighting, or fidelity, or about conversation itself.
I'm convinced that most of these people find each other. They put out a vibe, and the marketplace answers the call.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at September 12, 2011 11:15 PM
"Well-meaning feminists" - how oxymoronic
Redrajesh at September 13, 2011 4:48 AM
Don't be bitter, Jeshy
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at September 13, 2011 4:53 AM
Too late for that Crid. Anyone who dares offer a contrary opinion is "bitter" anymore. Misogynists aren't born, they're made.
Sio at September 13, 2011 6:45 AM
I'm sure that Barbara Oakley is smart as hell, but she seems to be making the same mistake that a lot of well meaning women make about Feminism. They assume that Feminists have the same goals that they do, but are too ardent or too orthodox. This is evident by her comparison of Feminism to a corporation, which is a neutral entity.
Feminism is objectively a hate ideology. If you were to postulate an ideology called Meninism and ascribed the same beliefs and agendas that Feminists hold, but substituted the sexes, there would be no question that you were dealing with a hate ideology. Even Feminists recognize this, which is why they argue that women can't be held to that standard because of their social status. Feminism seeks to advantage women and harm men. It's really that simple.
Let's stop pretending that there is some mythical Good Feminism that can be redeemed.
nerber at September 13, 2011 7:17 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/09/13/how_feminism_is.html#comment-2478070">comment from nerberDon't assume that Barbara Oakley is making assumptions about anything. It's sometimes necessary to soft-pedal things when you talk to the media. If you read her books (or are lucky enough to be able to attend one of her talks), you'll see that she questions things other people wouldn't even begin to think to question.
By the way, Oakley does an incredible takedown of Lenore Walker's widely accepted but scientific methodologically bankrupt work on battered women in EVIL GENES.
Amy Alkon at September 13, 2011 7:37 AM
Feminism is partisan, too.
Feminism treats successful liberal women as idols while treating successful conservative women as insignificant dolts.
Nick at September 13, 2011 7:49 AM
"Feminism seeks to advantage women and harm men. It's really that simple"
It's not quite that simple. Think Chappaquiddick. A man can leave a young woman to drown in the back seat of his car while he saves his own fat ass, and the likes of NOW will still call him a hero if he uses his political power to expand the nanny state in the way they like. And no man alive generates as much unhinged hatred from the feminist establishment as do self-made conservative women like Maggie Thatcher & Sarah Palin. We're talking about Marxism in a dress here - feminism as a means to a political end, not as an end in itself.
Martin at September 13, 2011 10:29 AM
No, I find that a good majority of "feminists" are simply parrots, emulating the ideology of a few. Often colleges and parents teach these things to susceptible young ladies. These ladies are usually very privileged and are not used to thinking about only themselves. They are also never taught to use simple logic to every "fact". Such as the statistics on unreported rape, because if the rapes are unreported...how can you tell how many there are? Unfortunately, the lack of the parental teaching of compassion and the lack of logic, make them very susceptible to this presented hate philosophy.
Cat at September 13, 2011 12:56 PM
"No, I find that a good majority of "feminists" are simply parrots, emulating the ideology of a few."
From whence came Limbaugh's "feminazi". I'm far from a fan of his, frankly I haven't been able to stand him for years, but I anger when people misquote or purposely distort what he said. He was talking about a vanguard (a mixed metaphor) of feminists who were setting the agenda for the followers, who accepted unthinkingly while perhaps uncomfortably such excrement as "all sex is rape". Put that in your head and eventually rape is something less than what it should mean, not to mention instilling an expanding misandry of many fronts.
Ariel at September 13, 2011 5:06 PM
To add to that, there's a lot of truth to the statement that feminism (post-modern feminism, at least) is just leftism packaged to appeal to women. Pretty much all of the 20th-century civil rights movements wound up being hijacked by Marxists. They came pretty close to rendering the whole concept of civil rights meaningless (which was their intent), and that's one reason we've got so much moral confusion today about what our Constitutional rights are.
Cousin Dave at September 13, 2011 6:38 PM
> Anyone who dares offer a contrary opinion is
> "bitter" anymore. Misogynists aren't born,
> they're made.
You've folded this over too many times, and I can't tell which side of the bill is facing out: What are you trying to say?
I bet there are a lotta courageous, stoic, hard-working, thoughtful, warm women out there who want good things to happen for our entire species, but who might disagree with you and me on any number of points.
Other people might possibly in some crazy-deep extraction of wickedly improbable outcomes during a tornado over an earthquake in a shitstorm of solar flares have something, some whisperless sideways of a glance of a something, to offer human civilization as we move forward.
Feminism has done more for the last two centuries of human life than anything else (with the possible but uncertain exception of germ theory). It's something you should essentially be ready to kill to sustain. Mock the goofballs if you must; but I doubt you have a better way to bring more genius into the human project than feminism.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at September 13, 2011 6:42 PM
I wish I'd done a better job with that blog comment.
Important themes:
[A.] You don't know everything. Have some humility.
[2.] Don't mock feminism recklessly.
Summary: Don't mock anything recklessly.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at September 14, 2011 2:13 PM
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