(quoted from CNN.com)
Excuse me? You call "Woman! Git me mah biskit!" rednecks benevolently sexist? And you call men who believe that a lot of women attempt to abuse the women's rights movement to achieve superiority over men rather than equality alongside men hostile? Here's what I have to say to you, madam*:
Because unfortunately it's true that there are a great number of women in this country who have undermined what the women's rights movement was originally about and who have transformed it into something akin to the innocuous-sounding "black pride" movement promoted by hostile groups like the Black Panthers of the 1960s and '70s. There's "pride" and there's "don't trust Whitey" reverse racism. Similarly, there's "women's rights" and then there's "the world would be a better place without men; we should all embrace our inner lesbian**; and did you know that science has proven that we don't even need men? that we can just clone women forever?" misanthropy. Women's rights, awesome. Misanthropy, not awesome. And unfortunately, this researcher is a huge misanthrope. Either that, or she made a very poor choice of words.
* Any person, man or woman, who claims that a man who says "a woman's place is in the kitchen" is more benevolent / is less misogynistic than a man who believes that some women seek to subjugate men is a fool.
** I'm all in favor of women discovering they are straight, gay, bi, etc; I'm not at all in favor of feminazis indoctrinating women into viewing heterosexual relationships as bad, evil, sick, the work of chauvinist pigs dominating mousy women, etc. The feminazis who steer women into misanthropic lesbian relationships are just as evil in my book as the homophobes who steer their lesbian daughters into marriage with straight men. If a woman is straight, great. If she's a lesbian, great. She shouldn't be told what she is or what she should be by some hate-filled misanthrope.
2 comments:
I think in this context, "benevolent sexism" is used to describe men who think a woman's place is at home because they believe it is the optimal role for the woman's own good, whereas men who believe women are conniving and domineering have a more "hostile," paranoid view of women. There seem to be other responses labeled under these headings, so I assume they make up the difference.
I'd guess this researcher just made a poor choice of words --the article makes her demeanor and conclusions sound reasonable. "Misanthrope" and "feminazi" sound much too harsh.
While I don't doubt there are and have been factions of women's rights extremists, I have to say, "feminazi" is such a strong word! I can't say I've ever really come in contact with someone deserving of the label. I feel like it's a bogeyman term made up by the rightwing. I've been mocked and chided by black panthers in New York, but never by women's rights extremists in Boston or elsewhere (although I shouldn't pretend that I'm that well traveled) Even the black panthers and their wizard robes are kind of a fringe, non-existent bogeyman --at least, nowadays.
Since I'm inclined to ramble at this late hour, I'll also say that I take some issue with the premise that extremists undermine their movements. At least, I don't think that's settled sociological theory. If anything, I sometimes think we owe a great deal to the efforts of the Susan B Anthonys or the Malcolm Xs of the world who push their issues into the faces of the status quo and force us to confront them. For instance, I don't really like Michael Moore, but I appreciate what he does and I think merely "shaking things up" is an important step toward making progress.
Personally, I reserve my disdain for groups like the Log Cabin Republicans and the Independent Women's Forum, groups that work against their own interests and favor regressive philosophies. Then again, even those goofballs sometimes do a good job of making headlines and shining a light on a problem (usually in the most ironic ways!)
If you don't think anyone is deserving of such a label, you obviously don't remember the time I blogged about this book.
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