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Feminist Infiltration into the Conservative
Ranks?
It was one of those claims that only a feminist
could dream up: “A 2005 U.N. Population Fund
report found that 70% of married women in India
were victims of beatings or rape.” Despite the
lack of credibility of anything that comes from the
United Nations, this straight-faced claim actually
made its way into a front-page article last week in
the Washington Times.
That, despite the fact that the research shows
Indian women are the gender more likely to abuse.
Plus, no one could track down the UN report that
supposedly made the claim. [www.mediaradar.org/alert20061113.php
 ]
The Washington Times is certainly no feminist
rag. So what’s going on here?
In the wake of the November 7 electoral debacle,
conservatives are doing a lot of soul-searching.
Maybe it’s time to assess whether the feminist
ideology has been allowed to invidiously dilute the
conservative message.
There was a time, of course, when the
women’s movement held the moral high ground.
Susan B. Anthony not only championed women’s
right to vote, but also took a principled stand
against abortion.
But after Anthony died in 1906, her movement
fell under the sway of a group of neo-Marxist women
who dubbed themselves “feminists.” The
Misses of Misery asserted that everything that is
wrong in the world can be blamed on the vast
anti-woman conspiracy they call the patriarchy.
Here’s Gloria Steinem: “Overthrowing
capitalism is too small for us. We must overthrow
the whole... patriarchy.”
For years, conservatives have underestimated the
dogged determination of the women’s libbers to
undermine everything that is good and right in our
society: the inviolability of life, sanctity of the
family, free speech, opportunities not quotas, law
based on due process, and limited role of
government.
Let’s be perfectly plain about it: Feminism
is the antithesis of everything conservatism stands
for.
Thankfully, some in the conservative ranks have
bravely spoken out against the rad-fem jihad,
including Phyllis Schlafly, Ann Coulter, Laura
Schlessinger, Catherine Seipp, Kathryn Jean Lopez,
and Myrna Blyth.
But why are there only six, not 600 conservative
women on the list? And what about conservative men?
Are the conservative no-shows intimidated or merely
complacent? Why haven’t the mainstream
conservative organizations come out four-square
against radical feminism?
To be sure, one reason is that the conservative
movement has become beholden to the electoral
imperatives of the Republican party, fearing that
any criticism of feminism might stir a backlash on
election day. This fear is misplaced, however, as
only a quarter of American women call themselves
feminist, and 22% of women say that being called a
feminist would be an “insult.”
[www.ifeminists.net/introduction/editorials/2004/0811roberts.html
]
Another reason is that many conservative men
– especially politicians and newspaper editors
-- confuse ladies-first chivalry with becoming
water-carriers for the latest feminist
myth-de-jour.
It’s time that these guys wise-up to the
feminist bait-and-switch. These gals claim to be
the complete equals to men. But voice any doubts
about their ideology, and they lapse into a
pathetic cocoon of hurt feelings.
And then there are those ladies who claim to be
straight-laced conservatives, but bristle with an
anti-male hostility or spread poisonous gender
myths.
Take conservative columnist Suzanne Fields who
had the habit of making nasty asides about men.
Finally her readers objected en masse, their
letters appearing under an editorial headline that
took exception to Fields’ “Anti-Male
Diatribe.”
And then there’s marriage maven Maggie
Gallagher who never passes on the opportunity to
diss men. Once Gallagher claimed that,
“battering is largely a male prerogative, the
way a tiny fraction of evil men seek to control the
women they sleep with.”
Really, Mrs. Gallagher?
Try telling that to the family of Dennis
McGlothin of Peoria County, Ill., who last week was
run over and killed by his ex-wife Krystle. Just to
make her point, the woman also rammed his pickup
truck and smashed his windows.
This case is not an aberration. Psychologist
Renee McDonald has found that American wives are
twice as likely as their husbands to engage in
severe domestic violence. [www.smu.edu/experts/study-documents/family-violence-study-may2006.pdf
]
A few months ago Washington Times
editor-in-chief Wesley Pruden reflected on the
feminist opportunists who seize on military sex
scandals to push for women in front-line combat
positions. Prudent ridiculed the flat-footed
military brass as “Powerful men who know
better are unable to stand up to the stamp of
little feminist feet.”
It’s time that conservatives found the
moral courage and personal gumption to say
‘no’ to the latest feminist demands, lest
we bequeath to our children and grandchildren an
unruly and emasculated culture.
See Books,
Issues
Carey
Roberts probes and lampoons political correctness.
His work has been published frequently in the
Washington Times, Townhall.com, LewRockwell.com,
ifeminists.net, Intellectual Conservative, and
elsewhere. He is a staff reporter for the New Media
Network. You can contact him at E-Mail
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