The chauvinist guide to feminism, part 2

Where feminists are wrong

"As a result of the feminist revolution, 'feminine' becomes an abusive epithet." Wyndham Lewis

This is a sequel to The Chauvinist guide to Feminism, part 1. Let's have a look at a few instances where feminism got it wrong:

• the role of feminism in censorship


• the role of feminism in political correctness


• feminist views on pornography


• biological roles of women


• the cultural roles of women


• feminism in linguistics

Censorshit: Feminism in censorship

"All this pitting of sex against sex, of quality against quality; all this claiming of superiority and imputing of inferiority belong to the private-school stage of human existence where there are sides, and it is necessary for one side to beat another side." Virginia Woolf

The Rolling Stones launched their album Black and Blue with a controversial press campaign. A billboard depicting an S&M fan beaten black and blue read: "I'm Black and Blue from the Rolling Stones — and I love it!". This outraged radical feminists and the billboard ad was removed.


The Rolling Stones billboard advert for their album, Black and Blue. Note the offensive caption has been removed.

Sadomasochism occurs with consent from all parties present. It is not the same thing as abuse. To complain about an advert such as this shows the inability to understand a sadomasochistic lifestyle. I don't purport to be an S&M teddy, but an attack on women's rights it is not. In fact, it is a celebration of freedom of speech, freedom of association and freedom of expression. Or free dominatrix of expression. If S&M aficionados complained about how they were portrayed in public, there would be cause for concern.

Without belittling the social problem of spouse abuse, would this image still be as offensive if the bound and beaten creature were a male?

The truth is the ad portrayed a woman in a situation where she wanted to be. It did not portray a woman being crushed under the wheels of patriarchy. Sadomasochism is far from the norm and unlikely to catch on. The ad was a witty pun on the phrase 'black and blue', not an attack on women and certainly not an ideological manipulation to keep women in the kitchen or in servitude to men. One needs only to read about the notches on Mick Jagger's bedpost to know he has notches on each side of the batting teams. Hardly a role model for patriarchy.

Without freedom of speech, nobody would be allowed to stand up for feminism either.

Politiclit correctness: The influence of Feminism on political correctness

"I listen to feminists and all these radical gals - most of them are failures. They've blown it. Some of them have been married, but they married some Casper Milquetoast who asked permission to go to the bathroom. These women just need a man in the house. That's all they need. Most of the feminists need a man to tell them what time of day it is and to lead them home. And they blew it and they're mad at all men. Feminists hate men. They're sexist. They hate men - that's their problem." Jerry Falwell

Politically correctness. Newspeak, anyone?

Critics of the political correctness movement point out the following:

• proponents of political correctness show the same sensitivity to terms they deem offensive


• certain groups are still being alienated, if under different terms


• more often than not, political propaganda is sought where none exists

Political correctness is a kind of censorship. It is not to our benefit. It is getting caught up indefinitely in definitions.

Affirmative Action

"The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it." Roseanne Barr

To hire someone because of their gender is exactly the same as not hiring someone because of their gender. Similarly, to hire someone because of their skin colour is the same injustice as not hiring someone because of their skin colour.

Hire someone who can do the job, and who will fit in with your company culture. Nobody has the right to a job or to a promotion, you have to earn it. If we are endorsing a system that is based on anything but merit, we are heading for more problems than a demographically unrepresentative workforce.

Affirmative action causes the same injustice it is meant to prevent, namely treating people as types. There are some women who are just as competent as some men in any given profession, but it is not valid to say any given man and any given woman can do the same job equally well.

Pornography

"Women are all female impersonators to some degree." Susan Brownmiller

Susan Brownmiller is one of the founding fathers, er mothers, of Women Against Pornography. She argues that rape is defined by men. All men keep women in a perpetual state of fear of being raped. This is part of the evil patriarchal plan to keep women in a separate and inferior class to men.

This is ludicrous, simply because there are equal amounts of female and male consumers of pornography. If this rape threat was so real, are women watching pornography to learn how to keep men under a constant fear of being raped?

The South African government recently updated its definition of rape. Rape is when something is inserted into genital or anal areas without the consent of their owner. The aim of this update is to make rape genderless.

It is still going to be difficult for a man to prove that he was raped by a woman. When a guy is raped by a woman, it is called seduction. Why? Because women do not really have anything to insert into the genital areas of a man, and a man does not have genital areas which give themselves to insertion lightly. This is the nature of the beast, it is not an ideological plan to keep women chained, but a physical anomaly. Certainly, I would not like anything to be inserted into my genital areas, but it is not a realistic fear I have to live with.

To say I am threatening women with rape because I have a penis is like saying guns are dangerous. Guns are not dangerous by themselves, someone has to load the gun and pull the trigger. Owning a gun is not wrong. Stealing a gun and committing robberies with it are wrongs. Similarly, rape is wrong. Having the tools to commit rape is not. At least not all feminists are raving lunatics. Wendy McElroy stands as a voice of individualist anarchist reason. See the link to her feminist guide to pornography at the bottom of the post.

All the guys reading this: it is OK to have a penis. All the girls reading this: it is OK to have a penis once in a while.

And pornography is OK for adults. And by adults, I mean men, women and hermaphrodites. Just not pornography with kids or animals.

Biological roles

"Women's Liberation is just a lot of foolishness. It's the men who are discriminated against. They can't bear children. And no one is likely to do anything about that." Golda Meir

Well Golda, I thought so too.



Mr(?) Lee Mingwei, a pregnant man. Exactly what is his child going to suckle on? On second thoughts, I do not need to know. To each his own. Keep your kid out of my yard and it won't get shot.

This seriously casts a shadow of doubt upon my notion that boys have a penis, girls have a vagina. I'm going to rock back and forth in the shower while burning all my clothes.

Sex and gender: the cultural roles of women

"Some of us are becoming the men we wanted to marry." Gloria Steinem

And apparently, some of us are becoming the women we want to marry too. I'm not just talking about Mr(?) Lee Mingwei. Hello, emo.


Is that a boy? Is that a girl? You blew it up! Ah, damn you, myspace! God damn you all to hell!

An emo I found on google. Funny how they all conform to non-conformity by growning one-eyed fringes and dressing like nancy boys. Yes, gender bending is the way to claim your individuality. You go, girl!




See this, feminism? See what you have done?

This seriously casts a shadow of doubt upon my notion that boys have a penis, girls have a vagina. I'm going to rock back and forth in the shower while burning all my clothes. Again.

Linguistics: Feminism in language

"How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!" Maya Angelou, not exactly stretching the boundaries of her intellectual freedom.
Herstory

Yes, apparently female and male histories are different. Radically different. I guess this is why the Celts have hailed Boudica as a hero. Oops, I mean heroine.

Seriously, if you were strapped to an EEG machine and you showed a twitch when any of the following words are read, chances are you are bigoted and hateful:

• Midwife


• Male Nurse


• Manhole


• Manowar


• Womanowar


• Black coffee


• White Christmas


• Black plague


• White sugar


• Baa, baa, black sheep


• Euro-centric


• He


• Mankind


• Female judge


• Manpower


• Hysterectomy. Well, maybe you have a point.

The problem lies with you. We are entitled to our freedom. We do not become more free by limiting the freedom of others.

Conclusion

"I glanced into alt.feminazis today and found a lively debate about whether the feminist claim that 'all men are potential rapists' leads to the conclusion 'Jesus was a potential rapist.' (It does. See Aristotle's Logic, part one. If all x are y, and j is an x, then j is y.)

I think this issue arouses so much fury because people are not aware that group-hate has never become unfashionable. Only the target groups ever change. Thus, the Ku Klux Klan's dogma 'All black men are potential rapists' is ignorant, awful and politically incorrect, because it targets a group now on the 'unfashionable to hate' list. The feminist 'all men are potential rapists' is enlightened, educated and politically correct because it targets a group now on the 'fashionable to hate' list.

You must always hate the right group to maintain your modernity. To become post-modern, find even more groups to hate.

Only idiots like Jesus (a potential rapist) and Buddha (another of that ilk) ever proposed living without hate of any groups.....Oh, and Korzybski, who described group hatreds as neuro-linguistic hallucinations symptomatic of what he called unsanity. But he was another potential rapist." Robert Anton Wilson

"I think, therefore I'm single." Lizz Winstead

Related links

• 1001 Feminist quotes.


• A feminist view of pornography, by Wendy McElroy. Not too bad. For a girl.


• The Necro Files commentary on "A Gentleman's Pornography", an academic paper with feminist leanings.


• The thoughts of Robert Anton Wilson.


• The Rolling Stones page at Jahsonic, for the black and blue billboard image.


• The Time Magazine article on the Rolling Stones Black and Blue billboard.