Feminist Follies
By Kay R. Daly
February 28, 2005

Feminist organizations seem to be in a desperate hunt for a cause. In that quest, they are starting to sound downright silly.

When the "women's movement" was all about obtaining the right to vote, the issue had a direct impact on every voting age woman. Trouble is, though, that the banners feminists wave today either don't have the universal impact on the vast majority of today's women, are divisive non-starters with no hope for a positive resolution or are laughable notions that actually do more harm than good for the cause of women.

One need not look further than the ill-conceived "V-Day" campaign to demonstrate just how downright bizarre feminism has become. Basically, V-Day is an alternative feminist holiday to that evil celebration of love on St. Valentines Day. So instead of candy, flowers, and romantic dinners on February 14th, feminists are organizing events to celebrate the vagina. That's right, an entire day for females across the nation to focus on their genitalia. Isn't it the entire antithesis of feminism to reduce women (and therefore their value) down to nothing more than their genitalia? How in the world does that prevent the sexual objectification of women?

Scratch the surface on the V-Day campaign and it is clearly nothing more than a recruitment tool for an aging feminist movement. The program focuses on recruiting a bumper crop of impressionable young women on college campuses through a variety of activities ranging from putting on productions of "The Vagina Monologues" to organizing a "vagina friendly bake sale" (whatever that means) and a mass distribution of propaganda on a variety of topics.

Across the nation, there are apparently single gals who anticipate Valentines Day with a mixture of dread and depression. Not receiving Valentines gifts can be a source of great angst which provides a ready pool of participants for a self-indulgent exercise seeking solidarity with other similarly-situated young women vulnerable to the V-Day messages.

As Lisa De Pasquale wrote for the Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute, "In actuality, the movement's goal is to desensitize society, especially young women to their crude language and perpetuate feelings of victim hood among women."

The so-called "Sexual Revolution", which V-Day clearly seeks to glorify, has only benefited one group of people -- men who are interested in sexual liaisons without responsibility. These commitment-phobic men already only see women as nothing more than their genitalia, how does validating that notion promote equality? Chances are good that the college boys who popped by the "vagina friendly bake sale" on their campus on V-Day were not there to "discuss the male-dominated hegemony that permeates every aspect of society" or whatever liberal buzz-word pabulum was spouted.

If feminists truly want to help women, here's a start -- stop trying to indoctrinate young women into the destructive notion that traditional relationships between men and women are to be avoided, belittled and shunned. Convincing young women that sexual promiscuity has no permanent consequences is hardly the road to equality. And it should be fairly obvious that celebrating a body part is silly, irrelevant and quite frankly trivializes women.

All of this seems to be lost on the gals at the National Organization for Women. If the recent column from Kim Gandy, NOW's President, is any indication, traditional relationships between men and women are anything but acceptable. Most of her column is spent celebrating homosexuality. Given that feminist doctrine has all but decreed men obsolete outside of sperm production, it should come as no surprise that NOW is devoting considerable amounts of time, money and efforts to combat traditional marriage. Gandy even considers the new license plates in the state of Virginia that depict interlocking wedding rings and the words "traditional marriage" unconstitutional.

Women today are bombarded with messages that promote out-of-control self-indulgence and quite frankly, they don't seem much happier for all of this so-called "liberation." The very best qualities of women -- giving, loving, selfless nurturing -- are belittled for whatever humiliation the latest feminist project demands of its "enlightened" devotees.

If you missed the V-Day celebration of potty-mouthed artistry on parade, never fear! "Love Your Body" Day is just around the corner. What's next, celebrating "Period Power" on the Fourth of July? Or maybe "Menopause Madness" on Labor Day? The possibilities are endless, really. Particularly for a movement that doesn't seem to mind its own burgeoning irrelevance.

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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.