Feminism is undergoing an identity crisis, or is it not? While there is still plenty of the old cadre of feminists left, the new feminist is different in many ways. Or is she really the old feminist, and is feminism experiencing a rebirth?
The feminism of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton was really about legal equality and educational opportunity for women. The mainstream version of current feminism, on the other hand, is associated with progressivism, a movement to establish “social justice” that asks that government grant women, not equality, but special privileges.
Kathleen Parker writes that this picture of current-day feminism is changing as “Feminist women have grown up:”
Women’s liberation worked in ways we might never have imagined. The feminist woman of the left, who burned her bra and insisted that all hear her roar, is today a taupe-ish figure who wonders where things went wrong. The daughter she begat may well be a Republican – a gun-toting, breast-feeding supermom of several who condemns government for being a “nanny” and tells men to man-up.
Insult to injury, she’s also likely considered a “hottie” by the men who stand by admiringly, watching their women show those libs a thing or two about being a “Hard-Core Woman.”
A new book by Suzanne Venker and Phyllis Schlafly, titled The Flipside of Feminism, suggests that young women should look to conservative women for advice, as they are really the most liberated women in society. They are strong women who embrace their maternal desire, maintain strong marriages and also carve out a life of their own. If you are in DC this Tuesday you can see Schlafly discuss her book in front of an audience at the Heritage Foundation. For all out-of-towners, you may consider watching the Heritage event web live stream over lunch.