From My Mailbag

This is an e-mail I received today. I thought I'd share it with you, just in case some of you might think that feminism is no longer needed:

> If you're female and...
>
> ...you can vote, thank a feminist.

And be sure to also thank her for the nanny-state laws that
increasingly enfold us every day, which are always voted for by women.

> ...you get paid as much as men doing the same job, thank a feminist.

Particularly when, as a woman, you spend half your day talking to your
friends, and regularly oblige the company to pay you for several
months-long periods when you don't work at all ("maternity leave"),
and force your male coworkers to put up with monthly periods of
insanity ("PMS"), and furthermore they're not allowed to officially
consider that as a negative when comparing your performance with that
of a man.

> ...you went to college instead of being expected to quit after
high school so your brothers could go because "You'll just get married
anyway", thank a feminist.

And did you get your MRS degree while there? Once you did get
married, did you keep working and put that higher education to good
use? If you did, where are you finding the time to give your kids the
proper attention?

> ...you can apply for any job, not just "women's work", thank a
feminist.

No objections here. Equality of opportunity is not a problem.
Equality of results is.

> ...you can get or give birth control information without going to
jail, thank a feminist.

No objections on a personal level, but it is worth pointing out that
the demographic declne of the west must at least partly be due to
this. Birth control assists the suicide of a culture.

> ...your doctor, lawyer, pastor judge or legislator is a woman,
thank a feminist.

And what exactly makes a woman better at any of these things than a
man, and thus preferable to a man?

> ...you play an organized sport, thank a feminist.

Yeah, that's SO important.

> ...you can wear slacks without being excommunicated from your
church or run out of town, thank a feminist.

Men who wear dresses are odd and unmasculine. Yet it is so important
for a woman to wear men's clothing - because ... ?

> ...your boss isn't allowed to pressure you to sleep with him,
thank a feminist.

However, if you spend a lot of time wearing low-cut blouses and
leaning over his desk to talk to him, and he sleeps with you, it is
obviously all his fault and you have a right to a lot of money.

> ...you get raped and the trial isn't about your hemline or your
previous boyfriends, thank a feminist.

It is, however, about the fact that the guy wasn't paranoid enough to
have a witness along to testify to the fact that she said 'yes', not
'no', so when she changes her mind after the fact and decides she
doesn't like him enough for casual sex, he's now (both literally and
figuratively) screwed.

> ...you start a small business and can get a loan using only your
name and credit history, thank a feminist
> ...you are on trial and are allowed to testify in your own
defense, thank a feminist.
> ...you own property that is solely yours, thank a feminist.
> ...you have the right to your own salary even if you are married
or have a male relative, thank a feminist.

These seem odd to me. I am not convinced based on my knowledge of
history that they did not exist before the feminist movement. If
there is proof of such, I would be interested in seeing it. In any
case I do agree that these are worthy items.

> ...you get custody of your children following divorce or
separation, thank a feminist.

And the house. And the car. And most of the guy's current bank
account. And half his future income. Oh yeah, let's thank the
feminists. With a pump-action shotgun.

> ...you get a voice in the raising and care of your children
instead of them being completely controlled by the husband/father,
thank a feminist.

Where "a voice" means "take them off to some other part of the country
to live with you and your current fuckbuddy and never let the father
see them again". Again, sure, let's thank the feminists.

> ...your husband beats you and it is illegal and the police stop
him instead of lecturing you on better wifely behavior, thank a feminist.

Whereas when the wife assaults the husband, the police just laugh.
And when he defends himself, they arrest him for beating his wife.

> ...you are granted a degree after attending college instead of a
certificate of completion, thank a feminist.

The trick is to make sure that those who are granted degrees actually
deserve them. Instead we get grade inflation, because equality of
results has been mandated, and as whatsisname from Harvard started to
say, women are experimentally not as good at the very highest reaches
of math and science as men. Why that is and whether it is fair or not
has no bearing on the phenomenon's existence.

> ...you can breastfeed your baby discreetly in a public place and
not be arrested, thank a feminist.
> ...you marry and your civil human rights do not disappear into
your husband's rights, thank a feminist.
> ...you have the right to refuse sex with a diseased husband [or
just "husband"], thank a feminist.
> ...you have the right to keep your medical records confidential
from the men in your family, thank a feminist.
> ...you have the right to read the books you want, thank a feminist.

I don't see these as explicitly feminism. They are more along the
lines of "being reasonable".

> ...you can testify in court about crimes or wrongs your husband
has committed, thank a feminist.

And yet, "Law & Order" has told me often enough that husbands and
wives cannot testify in court against each other. I saw it on TeeVee,
so it must be true.

> ...you can choose to be a mother or not a mother in you own time
not at the dictates of a husband or rapist, thank a feminist.

On an individual basis, this is clearly good. On a cultural and
society-wide basis, it leads inevitably to women being, effectively,
selfish and not having enough children to maintain a stable
population. Feminism thus contains the seeds of its own destruction;
any society that adopts it will write itself out of human experience
and be replaced by one that rejects feminism.

> ...you can look forward to a lifespan of 80 years instead of
dying in your 20s from unlimited childbirth, thank a feminist.

More of what I just said. Choosing your own individuality is good, up
until the day you die. Then the consequences show up. Actually, in
practice they show up far earlier - around retirement age, as the
looming social security crises across the West are making clear.
Feminism, in the long term, is doomed. In the meantime it will help
annihilate the best civilization this planet has seen. Those of us
who do have lots of kids will remember, and teach our children - and
their mothers will, by definition, not be feminists. Non-feminists
inherit the earth. (Longman's "The Empty Cradle" has much more on
this - particularly on the birthrate disparity between blue and red
states.)

> ...you can see yourself as a full, adult human being instead of a
minor who needs to be controlled by a man, thank a feminist.

A full, adult woman. Not a full, adult man. There are major
differences, and although we do not know for certain what all those
differences are, trying to treat one as if it were the other is simple
fallacy. In many ways the Victorians had a better grasp of the matter.