Extremists don’t demean the message
Christina Stephens, Opinion Editor
A sign that once hung on my freshman year dorm room door most accurately sums up the reasons I consider myself a feminist. It read, “Feminism is the radical notion that women are people too.”
While this is not the most technical definition of a feminist, it sums up the movement’s purpose better than any dictionary definition ever could. It doesn’t pit men versus women, doesn’t call for an angry coup d’etat to take over the government, it simply espouses the undeniable truth that all women, all people, should have uniform rights and responsibilities. Despite the popular view, men can be feminists, Republicans can be feminists, female homemakers can be feminists and your grandparents can be feminist.
Some groups argue that the National Organization of Women has somehow taken hold of the movement, thus meaning any reasonable woman should deny that she is a feminist and perhaps go back to her knitting.
That’s totally bunk. Extremist groups exist in every movement. Take the current state of affairs, for example.
A handful of Republican representatives successfully petitioned for changing the name of “French fries” to “Freedom fries” to protest France’s opposition to war in Iraq.
Are we to believe that all Republicans want to promote xenophobia, are against the freedom to dissent and willing to export all French products back to Europe?
What about anti-feminist Conservative columnist and author Ann Coulter? She wrote in her Sept. 12, 2001 column that the United States didn’t need an international coalition against terrorism. What did she suggest? “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity,” Coulter wrote.
Am I to assume all Conservatives hate non-Christians and want to rid the world of other religions, such as Islam, due to the shameful actions of a small handful of their members? Certainly this is not the case.
What about Catholic priests? Should the world assume that all Catholic priests are molesters because a few high-profile cases have indicated that some priests sexually abuse children? Definitely not.
Yet many anti-feminists rally against the feminist movement because it fights for reproductive rights, including abortion, and gay and lesbian rights. This simply does not make sense.
Opponents also often bastardize NOW’s stances. Take its stance against government legislation that would require public libraries to implement Internet filters to block obscene content. This stance clearly is in favor of free speech because these filters, according to the American Library Association, would block much legitimate content and not just pornography. NOW’s opponents instead paint this as in favor of allowing children to view pornography, which is absurd, because NOW’s New York City chapter rallied against Larry Flynt, the publisher of the pornographic “Hustler” magazine, saying his publication features “demeaning pornographic portrayals of women and racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic cartoons and jokes,” according to a NOW press release. You decide. Is NOW pro-pornography or against censorship? The choice is clear.
One anti-feminist group, the Independent Women’s Forum, rallies against how feminists devalue Valentine’s Day and turned it into a day devoted to hating men by sponsoring performances of Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues.”
Reasonable people who’ve viewed this play understand that it celebrates and analyzes women’s sexual experiences, which includes talking about their vaginas. Perhaps this anti-feminist group of women would rather live in a dreamworld without violence against women, instead of the reality that we live in, where the Rape and Incest National Network reports that every two minutes someone (either male or female) is sexually assaulted.
I think we’d all like to live in that world, but rallying against the culture that allows men to view women as sex objects ripe for the taking is a better way to prevent sexual assault than working against a terribly commercialized and practically meaningless holiday such as Valentine’s Day.
So, rather than demonizing a movement that simply hopes to bring all people, regardless of gender, equal rights, anti-feminists should examine their own value systems. Feminism is about viewing a world in a gender-neutral setting, where the fact that a person lives — and not that he or she has a penis or vagina — determines his or her rights.
Radicals hijacked a good thing
Jason Doré, Columnist
More than seven out of 10 women interviewed in a CBS News poll said they would not identify themselves as a feminist. Throughout the 1990s there was a steady decline of women who would identify themselves as a feminist. Without the feminist movement, women may never have gotten the right to vote or be considered equal in the work place. The women of today owe a great deal of their way of life to the feminist movement. Why would the vast majority of women resist being the feminist label?
The answer may lie with those who are seen as the leaders of today’s feminist movement. Every time a women’s issue comes to the forefront and a response is needed, media outlets rush to the National Organization of Women for answers. NOW certainly should not be seen as representative of all women.
It spent $5,292,025 in the 2000 campaign season to support pro-choice Democratic candidates. NOW supports all abortion rights, including partial-birth abortion and unrestricted access to pornography in libraries.
How can they be seen as the voice of women? What about women who are Republican, pro-life or oppose children having access to pornography in libraries? Extreme groups such as NOW and Emily’s List have hijacked the feminist movement for political gain.
While NOW was quick to condemn former Republican Senator Bob Packwood for allegations of sexual harassment, they gave unquestioning support to Bill Clinton throughout all the allegations of his sexual misconduct.
Even the League of Women Voters has gotten into the act of political activism beyond the promotion of equality for women. In 2000, they spent $4,620,246 to lobby on behalf of gun control, abortion access, universal health care and increased power for the United Nations.
These groups best demonstrated their hypocrisy at a recent protest against war in Iraq. On March 8, feminist groups gathered in front of the White House to hold a protest called Code Pink: Women’s Pre-Emptive Strike for Peace.
Iraq denies women basic rights and freedoms. They are no longer allowed to work outside the home. An Amnesty International report documented the beheading of 50 young Baghdad women. The group who beheaded the women was led by Saddam’s son Uday Hussein.
An Iraqi woman whose dad was murdered for opposing Hussein, Safia al-Souhail, spoke at the International Alliance for Justice. She said, “We are here begging the support of the free world to liberate us from the nightmare we have been living in for the past three decades.”
NOW and other groups are moved by political motives and are not concerned about advancing the women’s right. These groups would rather turn a blind eye to the horrific treatment of Iraqi women than support the Bush administration.
Today’s feminist leaders have taken extreme stands that push away many who support equality for women. Most women do not see men as the enemy, but many militant feminists have made careers of attacking men and masculinity.
“The cult of masculinity is the basis of very violent, fascist regime … We need to raise our sons more like our daughters, with empathy, flexibility, patience and compassion,” said noted feminist leader Gloria Steinem.
Feminist leaders often attack traditional femininity, marriage, stay-at-home mothers and other traditional institutions. All of this is done in an attempt to create an independent woman, but more often they are more successful at creating the image of a woman as a victim.
Women have taken great strides to improve their roles in society. There now are more women in college than men, and women live an average of six to seven years longer than men. It would be hard to show women as a downtrodden oppressed class in American society.
That being said, discrimination still does exists, and injustices against women happen worldwide. The feminist movement needs to re-examine its original goals. It should stop looking to promote one agenda or one party, but should promote free treatment and no discrimination for all women regardless of their political philosophies. Once today’s feminist movement begins to represent all women and becomes more concerned with achievement than victimization, all women will be proud to call themselves a feminist.