The Not Ready for Prime Time Player-Sandra Fluke and the cultural contradictions of feminism

WSJ ^ | 9-7-12 | JAMES TARANTO

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What's most interesting about the Fluke comment, though, is that it points to a central cultural contradiction of feminism. Libertarian feminists sometimes argue that left-wing ones aren't "true feminists" because they want women to be dependent, albeit on government rather than on men. But feminism is about sexual equality or female supremacy, not freedom or independence. As long as the government isn't masculine in character ("patriarchal"), its size and scope are irrelevant to feminism.

When one considers the specific context of Fluke's above-quoted comment, however, it turns out to be as patriarchal a conception of government as one can imagine. By criticizing Romney for failing to "stand up" against Limbaugh, she faults him for a lack of chivalry. The duty of the president in a Flukist regime is to act as a white knight when a fair maiden's honor has been besmirched.

And Fluke isn't even the first feminist to make this sort of claim on Fluke's behalf. Recall that back in the spring, Gloria Allred urged that Limbaugh be prosecuted under a dormant Florida statute making a misdemeanant of "whoever speaks of and concerning any woman, married or unmarried, falsely and maliciously imputing to her a want of chastity." That law--almost certainly unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause because it treats the sexes in a grossly disparate way--has been on the books for 129 years. The Flukist Democrats will take America forward to 1883.

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Ted Kennedy is the only politician with a confirmed kill in the “war on women”.