Recently actress Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting became the latest female celebrity to incur kneejerk outrage with the
casual comment in an interview that she doesn’t consider herself a feminist. She
joins a growing number of American women who are distancing themselves from the
label because they don’t feel represented by what feminism has become – a
misandrist movement at war with itself and obsessed with identity politics and
social justice.
Back in November, a writer for Time magazine
playfully attempted
to retire the term “feminist” along with other annoyingly overused words: “Let’s
stick to the issues and quit throwing this label around like ticker tape at a
Susan B. Anthony parade,” she urged. The
ensuing outcry caused Time to issue
an apology: “the word ‘feminist’
should not have been included in a list of words to ban… We regret that its
inclusion has become a distraction from the important debate over equality and
justice.”
But it was less of a distraction
than a revelation that feminism no
longer feels relevant to, much less inspires, women in the American mainstream.
It has become marginalized into the domains of academic theory and
minority activism.
As evidence, look no further than a recent Washington Post piece in which Ruth Tam asked 16 of the year’s “most influential” feminists
what they hope to accomplish in the coming year. In soundbites of one or two
sentences each, these “influential” voices reflected a very narrow, race-obsessed,
radically politicized perception of feminism.
These leading feminists didn’t address issues of import to the majority
of American women: single motherhood, abortion, pornography, domestic violence,
prostitution, and sexual slavery, for example. Much less did they take on
urgent international problems like female infanticide or female genital
mutilation (a ghastly practice that has found its way into European
communities). Instead, they focused on those who are “gender non-conforming,” LGBT, and leading “intersectional” lives. They didn’t even necessarily address women’s issues; two of the women state that their priority is
police brutality. While that is a legitimate concern, it is not a women’s issue
per se.
Instead, this is what they found critically important for 2015. Getting
publications “to include the voices of women, gender non-conforming people, and
people of color.” Establishing policies
for restricting hate speech on social media. Enabling “queer and trans people of color with radical social
and political analyses…[to] centralize and control our own narratives.” Opening
up gaming development to women. Combating “digital dualism.” Addressing “the
incarceration of our people.” Ensuring that “black women, especially black
queer and trans women, are playing a strong leadership role in the growing
movement for black lives and black liberation” (liberation from what?).
Speaking of which, ten of the sixteen women are black. “Black women are
the portals to the future,” declares one
whose claim to fame is that she co-created the #BlackLivesMatter
hashtag. Imagine the chorus of heads exploding if a white feminist proudly asserted
that “white women are the portals to the future.” This hints at the racial
divisiveness that plagues contemporary feminism.
“I hope for a movement that is fighting for ALL black lives,” writes
another co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter. Does that include the black lives lost
to abortion, 16 million since 1973? Last year a report revealed that more black babies were aborted than born in New York City, which
has the highest abortion rate of any city in the country. Black children
accounted for more than 40% of NYC abortions. Is she fighting for those black
lives?
The resolutions of these sixteen leading voices swam in unfocused language.
What, for example, does it mean in practical terms to “centralize and control
narratives”? It means nothing. It’s the kind of airy jargon produced in
academic circles that has no real world impact.
Where in this Washington Post article were the feminist voices addressing issues
faced by the majority of American women, not just the tiny minority of “LGBT,
intersectional, gender non-conforming, queer and trans” elements? Why did the
list exclude mainstream voices like
those of, say, Kay Hymowitz and Christina Hoff, or the independent, provocative
intellect of Camille Paglia? Where was the diversity?
Feminism is eating itself. It’s stridently radical voices are now
more intent on arguing internally over racially
divisive hashtags (e.g., #solidarityisforwhitewomen), on sneering at
middle-class women working for “the capitalist patriarchy,” and on protesting the police than on
making an actual difference in women’s lives. Is it any wonder that,
like Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting, fewer and fewer women want to be associated with it
anymore?
(This article originally appeared here on Acculturated, 1/12/15)
