I have to admit, I’m a little ashamed of myself. I just learned, for the first time ever, about the Network of Enlightened Women (NeW). And, shame of shames, I learned about them from Feministing. I’m sincerely embarassed that I’ve missed out on such a wonderful organization for so long. But, what can you do?

NeW is an organization for conservative university women, whose aim is to create a community for conservative women and stimulate intellectual diversity on college campuses (how needed is that??). The always mature, intellectually superior feminist Jessica over at Feministing expressed her dislike of this group thoughtfully, intelligently, and maturely by… making a face at them. Seriously. Check it out:

I’m a little curious. Did she consult with her five-year-old nephew or something before she made this video, and then decide to do exactly what he told her? Because that’s the stupidest reaction I think I have ever seen. Seriously — you disagree with something, so you make a face at them?! You couldn’t possibly, I don’t know, articulate why it is that you don’t like this organization? Oh, wait a second, she called them anti-feminists, like it’s some kind of awful scarlet letter (I’ll proudly call myself an anti-feminist and save you the effort, Jess!). Yep, making faces and name-calling like a kid is the best way to show your dislike.

And of course, if Jessica actually bothered to read the article in question at the Politico, she’d know that the entire thing did not, in fact, revolve around Elisabeth Hasselbeck being the only conservative woman on The View. She’s mentioned for a sentence, and Jessica gets her panties all in a bunch. Go figure. But hey, decide for yourself. You should read the whole thing, but here’s an excerpt of my favorite part:

As an intern in Lugar’s office, Agness “loved being around these energetic, smart Republican women who really cared about politics.” So when the political science major returned to school in the fall, she looked for a group of young women on UVA’s campus who shared her values “and found nothing.”

When Agness went to the Women’s Center on campus to ask if anyone would be interested in co-sponsoring a new group for conservative-minded women, one woman looked at her and laughed, “Not here.”

“First of all, I think the women’s centers have fallen down on the job,” said Rhoads, who said they seem to have decided “that pro-women means pro-feminist.” NEW, according to Agness, is nonpartisan. “We actually have some Democratic members.”

When word got around that there was a new conservative women’s group on campus, UVA’s liberal magazine featured a cover image of a woman connected to a complex machine that manufactured babies, with the subtitle, “Manifest Domesticity.”

“At this point we had [had] two meetings,” said Agness.

Ann Lane, former director of UVA’s women and gender studies program, told Time magazine that she was embarrassed that NEW got its start at her university.

“I’m not opposed to the group’s existence — I just don’t like it,” she told the magazine.

The UVA chapter has hosted a discussion on whether women’s studies departments are “serving a legitimate function” on college campuses, which brings up the organization’s relationship with another women’s group with a similar-sounding name.

“Everybody’s heard of NOW — they’ve reached their heyday,” said Agness, referring to the National Organization for Women, founded in 1966 to “bring about equality for all women.”

Last month, Agness and a friend attended NOW’s annual conference in Washington to see for themselves whether the organization was more than “30-second sound bites.”

“It seemed they were way too comfortable in the role of victim,” Agness said. She wrote a column about her “Adventures at the NOW conference” for the conservative commentary site Townhall.com.

“Rather than fighting for one cause for women, NOW is focused on fighting for the sake of fighting. They see anyone and everyone as enemies out to oppress women, and this attitude was prevalent throughout the conference,” wrote Agness.

In contrast to NOW, NEW, said Agness, has “so much potential for growth.” In the years to come, Agness plans to launch a national headquarters.

It makes me wish I was still in college, just so that I could start a chapter. The webpage has so much great stuff on it! The book club has some great reads on it — some I’ve read, some I’m eager to. When I read Karin Agness’ piece about how, with The Vagina Monologues, feminists have become their own worst enemy, I wanted to cheer. But by and large, the biggest difference I see between NeW and feminists is that they actually do advocate choice. When they talk about diversity, they mean actual diversity, and not just different skin colors. Karin mentions that women have the choice to participate in The Vagina Monologues, for example, and says — GASP!! — that she is thankful for that choice. Imagine that! Could you picture, for even one second, any feminist anywhere saying that she was thankful that a woman made the choice to be a conservative — or worse, a homemaker? With feminism, women don’t have a choice. It’s follow blindly, and agree with everything we tell you. Don’t think for yourself. Don’t think that men aren’t the enemy. We know all, and don’t you dare get a second opinion.

NeW, on the other hand, advocates choice. Thinking for yourself. Intellectual diversity. Who sounds more enlightened to you?

Disagreements are not a bad thing, but feminists seem to think that if anyone, anywhere disagrees with anything they decree, it automatically makes them sexist and woman-haters. They fail to realize that debate can be and is healthy, and constantly trying to stifle opposing viewpoints only serves to strengthen those opposing viewpoints. Meanwhile, the feminists act more and more like the stereotypes they claim men create to keep them down, like shrill delicate harpies who can’t handle anyone who puts forth an opinion that they don’t agree with.

I figure on the left hand you’ve got whiny feminists who make faces and name-call when they don’t like something. And on the right, you’ve got women who are fighting for intellectual diversity and to cultivate a community for conservative women to belong to. Again, who sounds more enlightened to you?