I’m Not a Feminist—Even Though I Attend a Women's College
"Feminism is purported to be a movement towards equality. Fair enough. Most reasonable people support that. But feminism manifests itself differently; instead of the focus on rights and equal opportunity, it is on personal victimhood, political correctness, and attacking others. And, as with all movements, the parameters of feminism are defined by the loudest voices. It is this dominant ideology that I cannot associate myself with.
Contemporary feminism inculcates adherents into a cult of victimhood and exquisite vulnerability—it panders to women’s traumas and teaches them that they have been victimized solely because they are female. Women’s only sin? Living in a world dominated by the patriarchy. The remedy, especially for college students? Trigger warnings, safe spaces, overblown statistics on assault, intolerance of dissent and vitriolic attacks on men.
I was once an obedient soldier in the crusade against the patriarchy. My indoctrination into the feminist orthodoxy began when I was 15 and still in high-school, while taking classes at Cleveland State University. I signed up for Women’s Studies courses, and after reading books written by feminist luminaries like Gloria Steinem, I was hooked.
In one year, I took three Women’s Studies classes. My professors taught me that, because I was a woman, I was victimized and oppressed. Prior to enrolling, I did not see myself that way. Students were told that we are supposed to be angry. Rage was a “normal” reaction. To dismantle the systems of oppression, confrontation was required. For me, and many of my peers, these classes made us feel heady with righteousness. The more strongly we identified with these feelings, the closer we came to a sense that liberation was possible. My growing awareness and attachment to the feminism movement felt powerful, exhilarating, and even erotic.
Yet, after a while, I became disillusioned. Mentioning anything that didn’t support the notion that females were unilaterally oppressed would be akin to blasphemy. Offer a more nuanced reading of the pay gap? Traitor! Bring up the topic of males who suffer violence? That doesn’t matter! Suggest that the term “rape culture” is inflammatory and doesn’t reflect reality? Off with your dick!
In an exquisitely dazzling climax to one of my classes, after weeks of throbbing tension between the (white) professor and an outspoken (black) female student, the student accused the professor of being racist... Instead of defusing the student’s accusations, (as was her responsibility as an adult and teacher) something extraordinary happened. In a paroxysm of indignation, the professor defended herself by saying that it was she that had experienced “the most” oppression in life, since she “once was a woman in the STEM field.” The professor then claimed she could not have been racist, because she was “from Italy.” Some students joined the argument, taking sides. Tears were shed. The professor lost control of the classroom. What began as a midterm day devolved into a match of Oppression Olympics...
I was warned never to go to “East Campus”—the Columbia University residence hall where “all the rapists live.” [It is important to note that Barnard and Columbia share a campus and have intertwined academics] Men were all potential rapists, especially Columbia men...
In keeping with the paradigm of victimhood, students here often volley the question to peers: Should I report my professor for not using a trigger warning? For being classist? Unfortunately, some students feel so vulnerable that when a professor says something even marginally offensive, the immediate solution is to tell an administrator. Nevermind trying to solve the problem yourself. Nevermind thinking about the potential consequences of alleging wrongdoing, especially towards adjunct professors who do not yet have permanent employment in these institutions.
This dynamic manifests itself in student to student interactions as well. While the Resident Assistant’s primary duty is to ensure the wellbeing of students, I have seen them used as ‘higher-ups’ for students to deal with roommates who express controversial opinions or who fail to follow the conventions of political correctness. In the name of social justice, the loudest feminists (which are the minority that give the majority a bad reputation) often seem to be the ones that viciously attack dissenters, hush the concerns of men, and focus resolutely on the plight of women. If attacking someone through Facebook isn’t satisfying enough, there’s always an administrator or higher up to complain to."
Comments:
"Yes, this is what 3rd wave “feminists” have done with the women’s movement. To 2nd wave feminists like myself, feminism was a political movement whose concern was social justice, and whose goals are to improve women’s socioeconomic and educational opportunities, to rewrite antiquated rape legislation, and to improve women’s access to reproductive health care (such as birth control and abortion).
3rd wave feminists instead turned it into a religion or dogma whose catechism is “gender is a social construct created by patriarchy to oppress women; we are born as blank slates and all sex differences are artifacts of socialization.” And while they quibble over terms, women’s rights are slowly eroding. Planned Parenthood is under attack and nearly defunded, putting the lives of millions of poor women and their children at risk. Abortion clinics are bombed and closed, there continues to be a steady loss of female talent from the science pipeline (50% assistant professors, 25% full professors, a stat that has been relatively stable for two decades), and women continue to earn less than men.
In other words, third wave feminists have dropped the ball, allowing rollback of so many of the rights and equities 2nd wave feminists fought so hard to achieve. And they have so badly distorted what the term “feminist” means that otherwise intelligent people of good social conscience distance themselves from the term and the causes that are vital to the lives of every woman."
"I’ve been continuously active on FB since November 2007, and in the beginning it seemed like a great place to have debates and discussions, about politics, philosophy, economics, etc. I really felt like I was contributing to discovering hidden truths and getting people to understand each other. It was a heady experience.
But then ElevatorGate happened, and the regressive feminists invaded. They turned brother against brother, and no one could have a dialog any more without being accused of “microaggression” or being told to “check their privilege” (the thought-terminating cliché of choice, seemingly). I’ve probably had somewhere north of 1000 conversations with feminists, socialists, racialists and other victimhood fetishists in the last four years on FB, and virtually all of them follow the same pattern, without fail: calmly and with (frankly excessive) civility introduce exhibits challenging the victimist narrative, SJWs immediately start screaming, calling names, banning, blocking, doxxing, calling people racist/sexist/Monsanto shill/corporate shill/bigot/Republican/rape enabler/rape apologist, etc. I’ve been told only white males can be racist or sexist, because PAUER, which just doesn’t make any damn sense to me, no matter how I squint my eyes or cock my head. I’ve learned more women’s studies jargon than I ever intended to. Social media used to be a place where people could speak their minds without fear of getting punched in the face (a fear that compels some to hold their tongue in a face-to-face discussion), and the honesty that resulted was intoxicating. Now it’s all landmines and eggshells at every turn; every discussion is seemingly someone playing out the Karpman drama triangle, every thread a new opportunity for some to break their previous high score for doublethink and hypocrisy, every comment from an SJW a trap to get you to write something that can be twisted around and then emailed to your employer, along with a vacuous boycott threat, presumably with the intent of getting you fired from your job. And all thanks to the regressives and their puerile obsession with identity politics and victimism. They have much to atone for."
"I can tell you that the only people that victim feminism helps are the loudmouths who get paid to “help” the poor victims who stay victims because of that horrible mentality. Victim feminism is just the same as patriarchy – it is the priviledged few paid lots to patronise and control the many while pretending and “seeming” to help."
" I always thought of myself as a male supporter of feminism but I’ve met a lot of feminists who are basically hostile to me just because I’m male and maybe have a different opinion then them about something."