Feminism, American Style
The Tiny Elite
It’s certainly a cozy thing to be an American feminist. You nestle yourself into trouble-free zones to discuss the oppression of the female sex, while not actually risking anything. How very noble and genuine, the struggle for women’s “rights” (in a country which affords you everything) isn’t.
I am thoroughly frustrated by feminism in general, and its false premise that the sexes should be “equal.” (Hint: They never will be.) But even more exasperating than the endless screeching over myths like the 77-cents-per-every-dollar-a-man-makes, is the very idea that the ultimate fight for females should occur within the United States. What arrogant notions that, firstly, we as American females have a rough go of it, and secondly, that our voices should be heard above others living in actual oppression.
You don’t have to look far to realize that victimhood is the flavor of the moment in America. Deeming oneself a victim delivers an afforded reverence, especially if said victimhood is biologically based. We see it in social media driven parades which brandish the cry that “all men are potential rapists.” This pits sex against sex and drives the spotlight away from the real issue, respect vs disrespect, regardless of who is on either side. Currently, radical social objectives such as subsidized birth control, and the concerted push to deflate masculinity, have piggybacked off of the question for equivalency, and a new strain of civil rights-like fighting continues. The focus of American feminists is biological equality, which they’ve molded into an entire movement against oppression. They fail to accept that nature discriminates from day one, and develop a fanatical resistance to their natural state.
In a recent article on The Nation entitled ‘Does Feminism Have a Class Problem?’, feminists themselves discuss the obvious inequality of their own fight for…equality:
“Too often, discussions about so-called culture problems like abortion access and domestic violence lack the economic context necessary to appreciate their true causes and repercussions. When topics such as the pay gap or workplace discrimination come up, coverage is often superficial and focused on the experiences of a tiny elite.”
The tiny elite. In all actuality, this is how American feminists should be categorized. They are the elite in terms of having everything, yet rabidly seeking to demonstrate they still lack. The truth? They lack nothing. Ask a feminist about the opportunities she has not been granted in the United States of America, and her only retort will be “We’re still not equal.” She will be unable to catalog opportunities that are denied to American women, in direct opposition to those such as Malala Yousafzai. This brave, young Pakistani girl was shot in the head by the Taliban in response to resisting their tyranny related to her passionate fight for the education of females. Or stories from India and Pakistan, which chronicle the brutal treatment of women who are gang-raped, killed, and hung, where “a lawmaker from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party described rape as a social crime, saying ‘sometimes it’s right, sometimes it’s wrong.’ ”
Meanwhile, American feminists themselves wonder :
“What happened? The wave of feminism starting in the 60′s and 70′s was so full of promise. How could we possibly have become — or become know as — a group working largely for the interests of elite white women?”
Allow me to answer that, dear, pondering feminists. Your group, which you reference with nostalgia, moved from the promise of its inception and entrenched itself in social progressivism long before present time. The commitment you romanticize found its life on August 18, 1920 with the ratification of the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing you, your sisters, and even myself, the right to vote.
Feminists in the USA, blinded by an ideology that forces them to see everything through the lens of gender, see a land overflowing with plenty, and question why there are not additional entitlements. Females in developing countries seek fundamentals, and understand what it is like to have their natural rights, like the freedom to pursue their own happiness, denied to them. In America, we enjoy 2014. The environments of those countries still seeking freedom (or having just newly discovered it) for female voices, are back at the starting line American suffragettes passed almost 94 years ago. Their struggle for a voice is undoubtedly overpowered by the louder, more prominent voices of American feminists who seek neither the fundamental nor the fair, in favor of a militant thirst for the superfluous.
American feminists, YOU are the tiny elite — bellowing about your faux victimhood while dwelling in freedom. Those American women who laudably fought for basic civil rights (such as voting) are long gone, and you revere a leftist wave of feminism and call it sacred.
Denial is cozy, is it not?
