What Feminism's Become
The talk of equal rights hovers around the edges, but feminism now involves women demanding to be treated like eggshells instead of equals.
What's that? Personal responsibility and accountability? Please.
From a Cathy Young piece at Heat Street about Lena Dunham's post-sex cry of rape -- well, when the guy wasn't all that attractive (and...yickypoo...was a Republican to boot):
So what's the takeaway from Dunham's "survivor" story? Basically this: Any drunk sex, even with "enthusiastic consent," can be rewritten as rape if one party (usually the woman) feels disgusted by it and decides that "it didn't feel like a choice." That's not a good message to women or to men, and it's not a good way to inspire confidence in anti-rape initiatives.
Here's what being an adult woman should be like -- mistakes and all -- from one of my favorite pieces of writing, a 1961 Vogue essay by Joan Didion, "On Self-Respect":
Although the careless, suicidal Julian English in Appointment in Samarra and the careless, incurably dishonest Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby seem equally improbable candidates for self-respect, Jordan Baker had it, Julian English did not. With that genius for accommodation more often seen in women than in men, Jordan took her own measure, made her own peace, avoided threats to that peace: "I hate careless people," she told Nick Carraway. "It takes two to make an accident."Like Jordan Baker, people with self-respect have the courage of their mistakes. They know the price of things. If they choose to commit adultery, they do not then go running, in an access of bad conscience, to receive absolution from the wronged parties; nor do they complain unduly of the unfairness, the undeserved embarrassment, of being named corespondent. If they choose to forego their work--say it is screenwriting--in favor of sitting around the Algonquin bar, they do not then wonder bitterly why the Hacketts, and not they, did Anne Frank.
In brief, people with self-respect exhibit a certain toughness, a kind of moral nerve; they display what was once called character, a quality which, although approved in the abstract, sometimes loses ground to other, more instantly negotiable virtues. The measure of its slipping prestige is that one tends to think of it only in connection with homely children and with United States senators who have been defeated, preferably in the primary, for re-election. Nonetheless, character--the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life--is the source from which self-respect springs.
IMO Dunham's alleged rape story was an event of pure fiction so she could claim victim status to promote books sales and personal publicity. What passes for feminism today is a cult of victimhood founded on the idea that all women having sex are being raped, and any questions about the facts is forbidden victim shaming.
Wfjag at September 3, 2016 3:12 AM
If only Andrea Dworkin had lived to see what she had wrought. She'd be pleased as punch.
Patrick at September 3, 2016 5:17 AM
Identity politics is a very important part of being in a group so people create an identity that matches the stated needs of that group.
For the "group", filtering out those that lie to join is important only if membership is more important than the number of members.
Feminism, "rape culture", #BLM and, to me the DNC, the number of members equates to their validity so are important so falsehood is acceptable.
Interesting that the "information" is out there but so many ignore it because it interferes w/their "identity".
Bob in Texas at September 3, 2016 5:47 AM
People on the fringe also latch onto any group with which they can claim affiliation to gain the perceived benefits of association. The lunatic left latched onto the Occupy movement to take advantage of the publicity that group was generating. Likewise, racist groups hoping to appeal to mainline conservatives self-identified with the Tea Party movement. Both parasites helped destroy their hosts.
Conan the Grammarian at September 3, 2016 7:21 AM
Question: What is the difference between today's "snowflake/victim feminists" and a 15 year old girl with entitlement issues?
Answer: The 15 year old may eventually grow up and reach emotional majority.
Jay at September 3, 2016 8:21 AM
Oops; should read maturity. Damn autocorrect.
Jay at September 3, 2016 8:37 AM
All very true, Amy, but you miss the more important point which is female power. The whole point of feminist special pleading regarding sex is to place in the hands of women the power to imprison men (or remove them from college campuses). That is the concept behind their "definition" of rape as existing post facto in the minds of women. It's the concept behind the vast expansion of the "definition" of rape and sexual assault. It's the concept behind "believe the woman." It's the concept behind "affirmative consent." It's the concept behind feminist outrage at the Ghomeshi acquittal. It's the concept behind the "Dear Colleague" letter. It's the concept behind the new prohibition at the University of Texas against police asking rape complainants questions that might produce contradictory answers. Etc.
Robert Franklin at September 3, 2016 11:02 AM
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