Reader B.A. e-mails to tell us that she found the IWF website “accidentally” and didn’t like a lot of what she read:
“There were some wonderful comments that I fully agreed with in regard to middle-class and wealthy women whose claims of equality do not extend to the women in their employment as nannies and cooks and caretakers…However, there have been consistent comments that feminists think they speak for all women, and your opinion is that they most certainly don’t….You repeatedly imply that all feminists are the same….You attack rather than discuss or debate issues.
“The value that antit-feminist organizations such as yours bring is that they make myself and many others remember it is extremely important to continue searching for ways to learn how to better articulate our causes and to find ways of enduring the hatred so many women unfortunately feel towards feminists….Nearly all the materials on [the IWF] site clearly advocate women to settle for their roles as they have been defined by patriarchal cultures…..
“If it makes you feel better, I live in a New England state, and there is nary a feminist around save myself and about a dozen other women. I find it almost humorous when your site and your articles imply that feminists have taken over the world. One merely has to look at the proliferation of degrading images and literary works in the arts, listen to the derogatory comments of women and men at cafes, stores, and colleges, and research the pervasiveness of atrocities against women as a whole and the verbal vomit of so many who oppose feminists ideas to see that feminists are fewer in number then mainstream women and have not taken over every role.”
What can I say, B.A.? I’m delighted to hear that feminists haven’t taken over the world, and that even in New England, they aren’t doing very well. I should point out, however, that we at the IWF have nothing against feminists per se. We like voting, and we like equal opportunity. The feminists who scare us are the rad-fems who think that all the world is a giant patriarchy. Conspiracy theories usually don’t attract large followings, B.A.–so that could be why “feminism” isn’t doing well, even in New England. A hint: One way for you gals to broaden your base might be to moderate your views.