January 1, 2013
What's wrong with feminism ?
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The following article, written by a feminist, misses the
point entirely.
Women want men's freedoms but without assuming any of men's
liabilities.
Women are not men, men are not women, and unless everyone
understands
the dictum, "biology is destiny," we will --whether in
India or the United States
or anywhere else-- continue to have bad laws.
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Each gender has innate assets and innate vulnerabilities.
The rule, therefore,
is that it is essential to treat each gender differently
not only in terms of culture
but in Law. Women are vulnerable to rape. They also have a
major asset,
however, in that they can sell sex, in one form or another,
can bargain for
money or status or anything else, by offering sexual favors
they dispense,
in ways that, with very few exceptions, are closed to men.
.
Moreover, there is a supply and demand problem. Available
sexually
attractive women are always more scarce in society than men
who are
seeking sexual favors. In effect, for every available woman
there are
maybe 3 or 4 men looking for an available woman..
.
Men understand the math involved. Where they can compensate
is with
access to wealth and resources, which biology predisposes
them toward.
That is, men are expected to be protectors of women and to
provide
for a woman's needs during pregnancy and when she becomes a
mother.
This expectation is not simply some sort of cultural
preference but is based
on millions of years of evolutionary biology and the logic
of biology.
When this is disregarded we get social chaos
and dysfunctional ideologies
like gender feminism.
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The values of the Enlightenment, upon which so much of
contemporary
feminism is based, are horribly flawed in insisting on
strict equality between
the sexes. There can only be equality on balance, but not
on all particulars.
When strict (Enlightenment) equality is demanded one of two
things happen :
( 1 ) men "wimp out," as is happening in America among
whites, and
become half men, willing to commit self-interest suicide
for the sake of
a supply of nooky, or
( 2 ) in a traditional society men will rebel at invasion
of their "proper sphere"
and will counterattack in various ways, including rape.
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In the either case we get a lionization of blackness, since
'Negro' men have not
bought into Enlightenment concepts of sexual equality and
appear to women
as "real men," hence desirable in ways that white wimp-men
are not, which
means large numbers of suit-and-tie men, and hence single
women voting
for Barack Obama by huge margins.
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Alas for white men, their traditional ideologies have been
badly shattered.
In fact, for all practical purposes, they no longer have a
sexual ideology
and their default position is reverse feminism, give women
what they
( feminists OR simply feminist-inspired women ) want, even
if it kills men,
for the sake of sexual favors.
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There are occasional white male rebellions. The last was in
1994. But because
political white men cannot transgress Enlightenment rules
of discourse , they are
not allowed to overtly express any kind of sexual agenda.
But it is anything
but unrelated that during the mid 90s in the aftermath of the
1994 election
both Newt Gingrich and William Clinton were having affairs.
.
Political white man also have a self-imposed / self-chosen
handicap.
Most are obsessed either with amassing money, as are
conservatives,
or amassing social power, as are most so-called liberals.
In either case
there is close to zero interest in where the action lies,
the field of psychology
and social psychology, plus maybe cultural anthropology,
that of
gender relations. So white men ask the wrong questions
about psychology
or these related fields.
.
They ask, how does this help me make money or how does it
help me
gain political power ? The right question to ask is
: How does this help me
understand what the hell is happening to the world in which
I live, a world
in which white men are being progressively emasculated day
by day
and in which rewards are devolving upon African-American
males
out of all proportion to their merits ?
.
The way out --in America-- is not by means of ethnic
nationalism
of the European variety. That is impossible for one thing.
For another,
the way forward is by way of alliance with other men,
especially Asians
who share a large number of common values from the outset,
and
who can look forward to similar problems down the road in
terms of gender issues. And about the same thing can be said
of Jews, who , of course, are already counted as "white,"
but nonetheless are included in another category also.
.
Who scores highest on all academic achievement tests and
who achieves the most in terms of business ventures and
success
in the ( non-athletic ) professions ? Asians , Jews, and
white men
of European extraction. It isn't close, the gaps in
performance are huge,
with narrow margins only at the top. That is, there is
little aggregate difference
between Asians, Jews, and Euro-Americans even if, by and
large,
Asians cluster at the top by a few percentage points. But
blacks have
lower scores and achievement rates by very wide margins no
matter
what exceptions you may use as counter-examples. We are
speaking
of approximately a 25 % or 30 % difference, not just 3 or 4
points
as is the case between Jews, Asians, and Euro-whites.
Hispanics are somewhere in-between black rates and
the rates for Jews, Asians, and whites,
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Re-asserting men's rights should also be connected to
fighting for
women's rights when those rights are obviously deserved.
Should
a white woman with exemplary test scores, etc., be denied
admission
to a prestige university, or a state university, if the
woman is white,
to accommodate lower scoring women who belong to minority
groups ?
The point is anything but moot and has been the subject of
a number
of Supreme Court cases and will be in the future.
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None of what is said here should be construed as racial
bias ; that is
not the intent, the intent is the exact opposite of bias.
The objective is
to recruit others into the white - Asian - Jewish
alliance. An alliance
based on merit, and on imperatives of sociobiology which
recognize
appropriate gender rights on the basis of the biological
sciences,
and responsibilities as well as gender advantages and
liabilities.
.
For that matter some percentage of whites, Asians, ands
Jews
currently are outside the alliance due to substandard
education,
being raised in dysfunctional families, or following some
form
of political ideology that is based on false premises the
way
that Fascism, Communism, Cultural Marxism,
extreme environmentalism,
gender feminism, uncompromising homosexual activism,
ultra-Capitalism,
and Libertarianism, are each based on false premises. They
all
over simplify reality and have very limited understanding
of
human limitations, human motivation, or the necessary
moral foundations of a healthy society.
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But some African-Americans, to use this example, already
are part of the alliance. Thomas Sowell is a first rate
economist
and accomplished professional historian, John McWhorter
is a world class linguist, Willie Brown is a top tier
politician
if there ever was one, Alex Haley is a world class
historian,
and so forth. No-one can be precise about the numbers
but a rough estimate is that more than half of the black
population
in the United States belongs in any categorization of
serious
professional accomplishment, either directly or by way of
raising children who made it into professional occupations.
.
Much the same can be said for Latinos. Desi Arnaz was not
only
an accomplished entertainer but a successful businessman,
Salma Hayek is an accomplished actress with a background
in opera, Carlos Santana was the inventor or "world music,"
Maria Hinojosa is a distinguished journalist, Placido
Domingo
is a famous opera singer, and so forth. Some Hispanics you
might
not even suspect have Latin roots, like Martin Sheen and
Victoria
Justice, as well as icons of the recent past like Rita
Hayworth
and Anthony Quinn.
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All of this said, we also need to face facts for what they
are and
not pretend that an ideology of equality is necessarily a
good guide
to truth. Why are so many black men either in prison or
ex-cons ?
About 1/3rd of all African-American men are in this
category.
Is this staggering statistic entirely due to effects of
racial prejudice ?
Get real. That factor certainly plays a part but the more
telling fact is
that 70% of black births in the USA are to single mothers.
With
no male role models in the home, street gangs provide a
substitute
and the result is that young black men commit a
disproportionate
number of major crimes. About which Hispanic
out-of-wedlock
birth rates area also high, in excess of 50 %, with a
similar result.
.
In other words, and allowing for some very important
exceptions,
these populations have serious cultural problems that
cannot be
wished away. In the case of black men, it is ludicrous to
valorize
this population as if its contribution to society isn't
what it actually
is year in and year out despite efforts of men like
McWhorter
and Sowell, high rates of violent crime, drug abuse, and
rapes
--with black men perpetrating such crimes against white
women
at a rate that is greater than 10 : 1 vs.
white rapes of black women.
The only "competition" that black men have in this category
of crimes
comes from Muslim immigrants --who often regard white
women as
"whores" by definition and deserving no respect.
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All of which the ideology of feminism assures us does not
exist and
need not be factored into one's calculations. Instead, we need
to
totally abandon feminist ideology and repudiate
it.
.
The implications are great because this also means a
drastic re-evaluation
of Enlightenment philosophy and the premises feminism
borrows from it,
whole cloth, uncritically.
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What is not recommended is jettisoning of all feminist
principles.
Christina Hoff Sommers has it basically right, we need a
feminism
based on a realistic view of the sexes in which each gender
acknowledges
appropriate roles and understands under what circumstances
legitimate
exceptions are allowable. A recommended new phrase for what
we need is a "gender partnership" philosophy.
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Billy
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_______________________________________________
Naomi Wolf
Ending India's Rape Culture
Globe ands Mail
January 1, 2013
The crime seems incomprehensible. A 23-year-old
physiotherapy student is dead, 12 days after having been raped
for more than an hour by six men in a bus travelling on main
roads in the Indian capital. Her internal injuries from the
iron rod that her attackers used were so severe that doctors
had to remove her intestines in their effort to save her life.
Indians, it seems, have had enough. Dozens of large and
increasingly angry demonstrations have been held to demand
that the government ensure women’s security and stop
treating rapists with impunity. While the authorities have
sought to quell the protests – cordoning off central New
Delhi and subjecting the rest of the city to traffic
restrictions – violence has escalated. After a policeman
died, live ammunition was fired into the crowds – killing a
journalist, Bwizamani Singh, and provoking a rebuke from
Reporters without Borders.
It’s not simply the high rate of rape in India that’s
driving the protests’ virulence. In a passionate speech,
Kavita Krishnan, secretary of the All India Progressive
Women’s Association, spoke to the deeper issue behind the
protests: the “blame the victim” culture in India around sex
crimes. She notes that government and police officials
recently insisted that most rapists can’t be prosecuted in
India because, as one official put it, they are known to the
women attacked. Other officials have publicly suggested that
victims themselves are “asking for it” by their use of
freedom of movement.
This return to pre-feminist discourse is not confined to
India. Italy is having a similar debate about whether
women’s clothes and behaviour invite rape. Even in Sweden,
activists complain, rapes in which the women know their
assailants go unprosecuted because the victims are not seen
as “good girls.”
Ms. Krishnan assailed the fact that the conviction rate for
rape prosecutions in India has fallen from 46 per cent in
1971 to just 26 per cent today (which, it should be noted,
is higher than the conviction rates in the United Kingdom,
Sweden and the United States). Indeed, the fact that most
rapes are committed by men who are known to the victim
should “only make it easier to apprehend the rapist.”
Instead, women who go to the police are urged not to file a
complaint. “Strange people will begin to assemble at the
station out of nowhere to ‘explain’ to you” why that advice
is correct.
The problem, Ms. Krishnan points out, starts at the top. In
the midst of the protests, Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj
Kumar sparked further outrage by suggesting that women carry
chili powder to deter would-be rapists. And at a press
conference, he said women shouldn’t roam around without male
escorts. Otherwise, whatever happens to them is their own
fault.
Now, with the protests continuing in the aftermath of the
victim’s death, officials are emphasizing the need for
measures to guarantee the “safety and security” of women.
But, as Ms. Krishnan notes, “the word ‘safety’ with regard
to women has been used far too much.” Indian women have
heard it all their lives. “It means,” she says, “you behave
yourself. You get back into the house. You don’t dress in a
particular way. Do not live by your freedom. … A whole range
of patriarchal laws and institutions tell us what to do in
the guise of keeping us ‘safe.’ ”
The six men accused of the bus attack have been arrested
and charged with murder, and the government has ordered an
inquiry into how rape cases are handled. But the
government’s critics remain skeptical of official
intentions, noting that only 600 rapes a year are reported
in the capital, despite the thousands that are estimated to
occur annually.
The deeper truth underlying the protests can be found on
blogs, where young Indian men and women bemoan the fact that
travel guidebooks routinely warn women about pervasive
sexual harassment in India and advise them to move around in
groups. Movies, religion, music and women themselves are all
blamed for male sexual violence against women, but rapists
are not held responsible. A “male-cosseting culture,” as one
blogger put it, in turn supports a rape culture.
The connection between rape, male privilege and female
sexual vilification was one of the key insights of feminists
in the 1970s – an insight they thought had been successfully
applied to cultural debate about rape, and to law. In India
– as in Italy, Sweden and elsewhere – women and men who
support freedom of movement and safety from sex crimes are
being forced to refight that battle. One hopes that the
protests in India will inspire the West to emulate the
protesters’ lack of complacency.
In the developing world, women are in special jeopardy.
Their embrace of autonomy and mobility risks putting them in
conflict with a law-enforcement establishment and media that
still view women through a pre-feminist lens: “Good girls”
who stay at home should not be raped, while “bad girls” who
stake a claim to public space are fair game.
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