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Fascist Feminism: The Idea That Women Are Too Stupid To Think For Themselves

Fascist Feminism: The Idea That Women Are Too Stupid To Think For Themselves

Originally posted at Newsreal:

Amanda Marcotte

About a month ago, Sarah Palin had the gall to describe herself as a feminist. Then, a crop of Republican women rose to prominence — most notably, Nikki Haley, Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina, and Sharron Angle — by winning primaries across the country. Nikki Haley in particular, an Indian-American Christian conservative Republican woman, was the victim of horrendous attacks from the good ol’ boys club in South Carolina. But she was able to rise above the crude attacks and still win the gubernatorial primary in her state.

Suddenly, conservative feminism is everywhere. Women have become more and more politically active, and they’re rejecting the hijacking of feminism that’s been going on for several decades. Fascist feminists have come out in full force against it, digging their heels in deeper and deeper. The idea that women could make up their own minds about political issues and actually believe in conservative principles infuriates them, because women are supposed to toe a very specific ideological line.

After several weeks of conservative feminist bashing from the leftists Lori Ziganto has dubbed femisogynists, Amanda Marcotte has chimed in, with a column saying that conservative feminism is the idea that women are too stupid to know the difference. And, as per usual with any fascist feminist, the nonsensical argument revolves almost entirely around abortion.

Marcotte argues that abortion is not harmful to women (without citing any references to back up her argument, we should believe that it’s the truth because Amanda Marcotte Says So) and that conservatives do not see women as equal to men.

Common sense would demand that one not agree that there could be a kind of feminism that would declare the entire female sex incapable of handling the right to bodily autonomy. But the anti-choice feminists swear they have an argument! The argument is that Abortion Is Bad For Women, because it thwarts women from their true desires—so deep and true that many women don’t even realize they have them—to bring every pregnancy to term, no matter how much they think they don’t want it. They marshal all sorts of made-up evidence to support this argument, claiming incorrectly that abortion causes depression and breast cancer and probably ingrown toenails. The conclusion is that women have to be forced to bear children against their will for their own good.

. . . .

But setting aside even these historical realities, the argument underpinning anti-choice “feminism” is one based on the very un-feminist belief that women are simply too stupid to know their own minds. The narrative that suggests that women only think they want abortions, but will see the light if forced to bear children is to paint half of all adults as basically very tall children, except that it’s legal to have sex with them. In the anti-choice view, every single woman who enters an abortion clinic and asks for an abortion is really just a victim of her own stupidity and gullibility, and only after she has the abortion will she see how wrong she was. (They need to believe this so badly they simply overlook the evidence showing that most women who have abortions feel relief, and even those who feel sadness often don’t feel regret.) Any feminism that starts with the premise that women aren’t equal to men, because women are too stupid to make their own decisions, is simply not a kind of feminism. This is definitional—feminism starts with the belief that women are equal to men, especially with regards to intellectual and moral abilities. A feminism that doesn’t accept this is like a humanism that believes that human beings are fundamentally wicked and undeserving of rights—that is, it doesn’t exist.

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13 Comments
  • Justin says:

    Ridiculous arguments like Amanda’s make me laugh. It’s hard to take someone seriously when they draw such stupid conclusions.

    Drug control laws target both men and women. That’s all that needs to be said to unravel her whole screed.

    Of course, if Marcotte would no doubt scratch her head in confusion upon reading this. I don’t think she has the mental capacity to follow the logic train.

  • I R A Darth Aggie says:

    She’s almost kinda cute.

    She lost me when she claimed that a particular laundry basket was representative of the oppression of women because it was curved to fit a pregnant woman’s belly. Given that I have that exact same basket, I remarked on her blog that it happens to fit my beer belly just fine, and that the human body for the most part was a series of curves.

    Naturally, she deleted my comment. But maybe that was because I’m just dumn Aggie, and she went to that large secular school in Austin whose mascot is a cow?

  • Ronald Wilson Reaganowitz says:

    Lefty to the core here, but I agree that Ms Marcotte is an albatross around progressives’ necks. You all can have her.

    And that laundry basket–as a guy, I find that it fits more neatly on the hip (nothing fits a pregnant woman’s belly).

  • Common sense would demand that one not agree that there could be a kind of feminism that would declare the entire female sex incapable of handling the right to bodily autonomy.

    As I usually point out: if men could get pregnant, I would still be pro-life.

    That only women can get pregnant does NOTHING to change the moral calculus of abortion. Nothing. If it’s not okay if men were to get pregnant, it’s not okay because the precious snowflake Marcotte, and not her boyfriend, worries about pregnancy.

  • Oddly, the pro-abortion argument assumes that women are too stupid to know how to use birth control or to keep their knees shut, but I doubt that Marcotte realises that.

    Furthermore, women and men are equally pro-life. What does she say to women who are opposed to abortion – the half of us who are? That we’re stupid? That we can’t think for ourselves? That we aren’t really women? That feminism speaks for us all, but not for the half of us who don’t agree with her?

  • Smithwick says:

    So a self-selecting body of people gets to decide what thoughts and actions are acceptable for women-folk and will work to ostracize, condemn, humiliate and otherwise harm women who don’t fall in line with their rigid demands on them.

    Given all that, it would seem that their constant railing against the patriarchy subjecting women is based mostly on jealousy. They want that job.

  • Digby says:

    Amanda Marcotte looks scary, I wouldn’t trust her to alone with a man.

  • Jamey Stamos says:

    Sarah Palin calling herself a feminist is ridiculous… Does she even know the meaning of that word?

    • I for one would appreciate it if you could enlighten us.

      What’s Sarah Palin supposed to do that she hasn’t already done? Come up with some personal insults against Todd? Maybe divorce him and make sure he can’t see the kids ever again? What’ve you got in mind?

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