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Op-Ed: The problem with mainstream feminism

If you believe in justice, equality, and human rights; you are a feminist. At it’s core, feminism is supposed to be about all men and women being treated equal. According to the ideology women should be free to do anything a man does, whether it is work, go to school, play sports; whatever. All of that is commendable, but the issue does not lie in the definition of feminism; the issue is about many liberal feminists who have turned the quest of equality into a mission of division, hate, and the bullying of others who chose not to stand behind them.

These feminists in question challenge the notion that they are bra burning man haters, yet they champion useless causes and attack masculinity with lies and race shaming.

Blogging for XO Jane, K.T Bradford challenged her readers to use gender to determine what books to read. Bradford claimed cutting out straight, white male authors, “greatly improved my enjoyment of reading short stories.” Saladin Ahmed, supported this campaign in a post by claiming “the market itself is racist and sexist in all sorts of unseen ways. Choosing to buy and read books by women and people of color is one small way to address this.” Because of course, attacking prejudice with prejudice always works.

Imagine a male blogger writing a piece where he calls for his readers to purchase and rent books by only straight male authors. The backlash would be so severe said blogger would be fired swiftly, and social media would explode. Yet any mention of this blatant sexism is ignored because misandry is a myth perpetuated by whiny, privileged males. People like Bradford and Ahmed believe straight male writers are not products of hard work, sacrifice, and months of rewrites; they get published because they are straight white males. Stephen King, Ray Bradbury and Ernest Hemingway aren’t literary legends, they are just privileged white males who wrote books.

In certain aspects like the criminal justice system, and the drug war, white privilege exists, but to think it exists in every aspect of life is a complete and total myth. I’m a straight white male with aspirations of being a successful author and journalist. I graduated two years ago, have never had a book published, and am not currently employed in the field of my choosing. If race and gender was the be all and end all to be a success I’d be sipping beers on a beach while I write my next great novel.

Not only have the two writers perpetuated a myth; they have completely failed to mention the successes of many female authors. who did not need a boycott of straight, male authors to sell millions of novels. Women like Stephanie Meyer, Suzanne Collins and Veronica Roth have written highly successful novels, that were made into films that earned the authors millions. Roth in fact, wrote Divergent right out of college, securing a book deal months after graduating from Northwestern. Divergent appeared on the New York Times children’s best-seller list for eleven consecutive weeks. The sequel Insurgent debuted number one a year later.

Readers see intriguing titles, compelling pages and genre when they pick up books. I own books like The New Jim Crow, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Prozac Nation not because the authors are women; I like many readers, do not consider gender when I pick up a book.

These internet campaigns should come as no surprise since they are rooted in misandric gender and race shaming. Instead of fighting for equality, liberal feminists, infected with hypocrisy are using the internet to attack men.

Take Jessica Valenti for example; The Guardian columnist and creator of Feministing; dismisses misandry while broadcasting factual inaccuracies.In a post from March 15th, Valenti downplayed misandry by claimed, “- our hatred is just a feeling and not something that can impact men in any meaningful and oppressive way,” which is of course, total crap. Ally Fogg, a collegue of Valenti’s at the Guardian noted western culture often, “mock(s) and denigrate(s) men’s domestic and child-caring abilities.” He adds, “Our culture systematically devalues male deaths- because economic interests require a degree of male disposability in the workplace and military interests may require the mass dispatch of young men to die on battlefields at a moment’s notice,” because ” the subtext is that it is women’s place to be victimized and oppressed, not men’s.”

Fogg speaks the truth. Men are rarely ever mentioned as being victims, they are routinely condemned as the perpetrator. Domestic violence against men is ignored, while domestic violence towards women is routinely condemned. No one ever mentions males as victims of anything. Yet, according to Valenti, misandry is a non-issue no one should even speak of, even when she practices misandry herself on a consistent basis.

Valenti, publishing a story that questioned whether fraternities should be banned, trotted out a favorite statistic amongst liberal feminists that claims 1 in 5 women are raped in college campuses. The 2007 Campus Sexual Assault study, which made the claim was conducted in two universities, with under 6,000 undergrad women participating in an online survey that included flawed questions. By using the study, Valenti and vlogger Laci Green have decided to condemn thousands of American schools as rapist havens, and hundreds of thousands of students as rapists, by using statistics from two schools. Not only does it lack integrity and common sense to cite a small study to condemn a vast segment of the population, perpetuating lies causes people to disassociate with feminism.

The feminist rage machine first put actress Shailene Woodley in the fire when she claimed to not be a feminist because she liked men. In the controversial interview she suggested, “I think the idea of ‘raise women to power, take the men away from the power’ is never going to work out because you need balance,” which is a logical idea. Of course, many feminists blew their tops upon reading the quote. Then Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting of The Big Bang Theory refused to call herself a feminist because she enjoys cooking her husband dinner five nights a week.

The feminists who attacked the actresses bemoaned the seemingly lack of understanding Woodley and Cuoco-Sweeting had towards historic feminism and how feminists allowed them to live more comfortable lives. That may be true, but the expectation that every woman should be a feminist is out of line. Should every black person in America be a champion of civil rights? Should every gay man believe in gay marriage? No, because a truly free person should have the right to make the decision of what do believe. Carissa House-Dunphy doesn’t understand that.

The writer for Liberal America condemned female celebrities for making anti feminist comments by writing, “The statements that celebrities make in interviews and on their own social media pages send a message to their fans and followers that influence their views. When one person has that powerful a reach, it comes with some responsibility. The backlash against those statements has less to do with the individual who made them and are much more an attempt to correct the negative influence they have over others.” Sure, celebrities have influence but, House-Dunphy is simply crying because a few actresses don’t share her belief. Like many other feminists she demands all women to be feminists.

Furthermore; the beliefs of celebrities don’t matter. Woodley is an actress, Cuoco-Sweeting is not in politics; they don’t write laws. I have in the past condemned President Obama for his hypocritical stance on marijuana, but the difference is he signs bills into law. He can change marijuana laws tomorrow, but refuses to do so. That is an issue. The feminists mentioned above have given the actresses and other women a perfectly good reason to reject feminism; too much of it is rooted in the demeaning of men. How else can you explain boycotting male authors, and using false statistics to label college men rapists,

Feminism may be a worthwhile ideology, but liberal feminists have done more to create enemies than help their own cause, by pushing white, male guilt and blatant falsehoods. These feminists are pushing more people away from women’s rights instead of bringing them together. It shall come as no surprise many Americans refuse to align themselves with them.

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