Feminism was once an ideology which stood for women having the same rights and opportunities as men. However, feminism has become propaganda pushed by manipulators to convince women they are victims: we are not. We have seen this proven time and time again with the “gender pay gap,” which has been debunked due to the several factors not taken into account when this myth was created.
Tammy Bruce, former National Organization for Women board of directors member, explains in PragerU’s video “Feminism 2.0” exactly what feminism was originally intended to be when she was an advocate during the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. She has since continued to point out the flaws of the current ideology.
Something Bruce points out—and my biggest personal issue—with this new wave of feminism is the apparent discouragement of women to be feminine. When a woman makes public a desire to be a mother someday, she is seen as dependent on a man and not level headed for putting motherhood above her career, even though it is a maternal instinct most women are born with.
Susan Patton’s letter “Advice for the young women of Princeton” explains the logic intelligent women will be happier with men who are at least of equal intelligence to them (because that makes conversing much more exciting). In the letter, women are advised to keep this in mind while in college because they will never be surrounded by this many equally intelligent men again. The backlash Patton received plastered everywhere was an obvious demonstration of this new wave of feminism telling young women they should not want to act this feminine.
My question to these feminists is: What is so terrible about a woman giving others advice on how to meet a man worthy of their time? Honestly, I thought it was some of the best advice for young women I have seen.
Aside from pushing the blatant lie of the wage gap and discouraging women from being feminine, feminists also have made themselves look foolish. Issues they apparently consider important to address, compared to the real issues we as an entire world are facing currently, are irrelevant.
In 2014, a video was released of a young woman walking through New York City to demonstrate the epidemic of catcalling. The video was condensed to less than 2 minutes but is considered to be the worst of 10 hours of footage. As a young woman, I understand the uncomfortable feeling when someone catcalls you. When I say “catcall” I mean saying something clearly demeaning to a woman – but some of these “horrible” catcalls were as simple as “have a nice day.” One man said, “somebody’s acknowledging you for being beautiful; you should say thank you more.” If out of 10 hours, this is the worst they could get, I don’t think catcalling is so much of an issue that people need to be donating to feminist organizations to put an end to it.
If men did not take women seriously before, between the lies, the attempt to oppress their natural femininity and the issues these new feminists consider important, they definitely won’t now.
Until this new wave of feminists start encouraging women—no matter what they aspire to do in life—and focus on serious issues rather than fabricated or irrelevant ones, they are doing women across the nation and the world a disservice. To all these feminists: stop making your poor logic reflect badly on the rest of us.
– Nellie Perry is a journalism sophomore