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Feminists Who Fake It!
FrontPage Magazine.com ^ | August 15, 2002 | Marni Soupcoff

Posted on 08/15/2002 7:01:13 AM PDT by Apolitical

Ever wonder where those college gals milling around the quad with protest signs, petitions, and plenty of piercings get their ideas? When I called Stanford's Taco Bell-chic campus my home, I used to ask myself that question a lot. Where could these megaphone-wielding coeds -- screaming about sex discrimination at the gas pump and freedom from uterine fibroids -- come up with so many non-issues to get peeved about? I figured I had to admire their creativity, if not their logic or fashion sense.

But it turns out, I was wrong. The college feminists at Stanford and elsewhere weren't relying on their own imaginations to come up with far-fetched womyn's issues and illogical excuses to blast conservatives (a.k.a. the man). There is, as I recently discovered, a feminist web site that does all that hard work for them.

The site is called Choices Campus Community (http://www.feministcampus.org/ ). At least, I think that's what it's called. It's tough to tell because the people running it are having an identity crisis. Sometimes they call themselves Choices Campus Community, sometimes Pro Choice Campus Network, and sometimes Feminist Campus Activism Online (though, sadly, never the more accurate Feminists Fabricating Faux Campus Issues). They are run by a group called the Feminist Majority Foundation, which may or may not be the same thing as the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliances, which seems sometimes to be called the Feminist Majority for short, but never bothers to answer the obvious question, majority of what? Elitist Smith College graduates?

But I digress. The salient point is that, whatever you call the group (and I will call them Choices for simplicity's sake), their attempts at brainwashing college women into shrill intolerance is a sad sight. Ostensibly Choices is a pro-choice organization, but they seem just as eager to defend racial preferences as access to abortions and morning after pills. According to Choices themselves, they were organized to "inform young women of the very real threats to abortion access, women's rights, affirmative action, and gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered rights posed by right wing extremists." Hey, what about the Two-Spirited (a historical Native American male-female gender)? Aren't right wing extremists threatening them too? Likely just an oversight. But it doesn't make much of a difference since the Choices site gives barely any concrete evidence of these imagined threats, let alone of the real perils and troubles some women encounter.

Instead, Choices' main purpose seems to be to invent trendy but fluffy problems and issues for their female college student members to become morally outraged and exercised about. For example, one of Choices' greatest complaints is that "[t]oo often, the connection between environmental justice and women's rights is overlooked." Hmmm, can't imagine how that might happen. Other serious crises Choices addresses are: the epidemic of women forgoing careers as sports coaches because they fear people will think they are lesbians; the importance of a confidential feminist census to counter the threat of the "right-wing, anti-women minority;" and the tragedy of America's lagging behind Europe in the provision of free contraceptives. Thank goodness these people are here.

If you yourself happen to be a college woman and would like to join the Choices crusade, but are a little lazy or fretting about the time commitment, don't worry. According to Choices, their study and action manual (SAM) is "so comprehensive that many of our students are receiving course credit for participation in the program." Now, there's a thought to send chills down your spine, especially if you peek inside the SAM. One section entitled "Know the Opposition" urges students to "take a look at the much larger picture of right-wing interconnections, the national and international scope of opposition to women's rights, and the shared multi-issue agenda and anti-feminist ideology." What the hell does this mean? I'm not sure exactly, but apparently it has something to do with exposing right wing think tanks and public education organizations such as "The Heritage Foundation" and "The American Enterprize" (sic). (Apparently knowing the opposition doesn't include knowing how to spell their name.)

The SAM also goes on to list a number of conservative funding sources to watch out for, including the "Scaife Foundation," the "Bradley Foundation," the "Olin Foundation," and, most notoriously evil of all, "Individual Donors." According to Choices, "[w]hile upon initial examination, these groups appear to operate completely independently without a common agenda, upon closer inspection, the groups can be seen as different pieces of the same conservative pie." Kind of makes McCarthy look naively trusting.

But I don't mean to make the Choices people sound exclusionary. After all, they may not tolerate anyone with views to the right of Susan Sontag, but they do sponsor an annual retreat for Christian lesbians. "If you have been searching for a place to connect with sisters who proudly claim both their lesbian and Christian identities," the choices people begin. And I mean, really, who hasn't? Unfortunately you've missed the "Sisters in a Strange Land" retreat for this year, but don't despair. Presumably you will be able to join the sisters as they "name the pain we have felt at the hands of the Christian tradition" next year.

In the meanwhile, the next time you are wondering where the political and ideological intolerance that suffuses the nation's campuses comes from, think of Choices. And be reminded that the feminists of the academy don't need to use their own minds to discover actual injustices or violations of rights. They can sit back, relax, and rely on organizations like Choices to fake the issues and fabricate enemies for them.

Marni Soupcoff is an attorney and Toronto-based writer. She is a frequent contributor to www.iconoclast.ca


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events; Political Humor/Cartoons
KEYWORDS: feminism; propaganda; students; university
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To: Apolitical
The problem with being addicted to outrage as therapy is that you end up in a continual struggle to come up with something further to be outraged at. Tantrums can be very comforting, but most of us outgrow that around elementary school.
21 posted on 08/15/2002 8:35:17 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: MsCynic
"....Unless of course the woman is the Captain and the man is the Naughty Private."

Wouldn't have it any other way. Extra leather on the side please. :^)


22 posted on 08/15/2002 8:42:58 AM PDT by sinclair
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To: Apolitical
Instead, Choices' main purpose seems to be to invent trendy but fluffy problems and issues for their female college student members to become morally outraged and exercised about.

Does anyone remember awhile back when FR was temporarily overrun for a few days with angry feminist Wellesley coeds, who were apparently angry about what was being said about their school? I can't remember what brought them here, but I remember enjoying them getting their comeuppance here.

23 posted on 08/15/2002 8:43:19 AM PDT by untenured
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To: WyldKard
I had to reread that. First time through I read 'Captain and the Naughty Privates.
24 posted on 08/15/2002 8:44:28 AM PDT by Black Agnes
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To: Apolitical
Silly women.
25 posted on 08/15/2002 8:45:09 AM PDT by Saundra Duffy
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To: sinclair
At ease Private. ;0)
26 posted on 08/15/2002 9:23:32 AM PDT by MsCynic
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To: MsCynic
Well, we can always help you out there, Maybe next month we'll send some cold weather MRE's. lol And maybe some cold weather gear and some white "Mickey Mouse" boots?? I mean if you don't want that private to get hypothermia, you'll definitely have to implement some warming procedures.

BTW, how are those kittens doing? LOL

27 posted on 08/15/2002 9:34:24 AM PDT by KineticKitty
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To: WyldKard
You know what is even more sad and absurd about the whole thing, WyldKard? Andrea Dworkin was one of the few, if not the only, high-profile feminist to denounce Clinton's behavior.
28 posted on 08/15/2002 9:41:13 AM PDT by Under the Radar
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To: KineticKitty
"BTW, how are those kittens doing?"

The casualities of my war are too numerous to count. ROTFLMAO!
29 posted on 08/15/2002 9:45:04 AM PDT by MsCynic
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To: Apolitical
Ahhhhhhhhh yes, feminism. To the two percent of feminists out there striving for true equality...I'm behind you 100%. I see the other 98% as opportunists. I dated a screaming militant feminist once.....over a dinner in which I paid for, she proceeded to tell me "the only good thing you get from marrying a guy is a nice rock on your finger". This senseless blather lasted about an hour. Up until that point in time, I had never wanted to get drunk on a date. Well, I tied a good one on and after we left, I hopped in her car so she could drive me the short distance to my home and drop me off. It was pouring rain outside. On the way she got a flat tire and hobbled around the back streets near my home. Her tire came off the rim and then ground to a halt.
Sitting there in the car we spent a few silent moments staring at each other.....I KNEW she wanted me do the manly thing and get out and change the tire. But being a closet feminist myself, I felt it only proper for her to step up to the plate and commence with the grunt work herself. She was seething with anger after I offered to hold the umbrella as she got on her hands and knees, slid the jack under the car, jacked it up and skinned some knuckels changing the tire. AAHHHHHH yes........equality folks, thats what it's all about. After much straining and grunting, the flat was fixed and I thanked her for a lovely evening, then proceeded to walk across the strees to my house. I hear she's still single........I wonder why.
30 posted on 08/15/2002 10:10:53 AM PDT by taxed2death
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To: Squawk 8888
Great point!
31 posted on 08/15/2002 10:22:28 AM PDT by Dante3
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To: Apolitical
But they always fake it.
32 posted on 08/15/2002 10:24:24 AM PDT by Darksheare
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To: taxed2death
strees=street.....oops
33 posted on 08/15/2002 10:29:36 AM PDT by taxed2death
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To: SantosLHalper
Ally McBeal looks like a concentration camp survivor or heroin addict. There are many more such as her on prime time TV. It's an unhealthy and deterimental image to present to young girls and women. Yet I haven't heard any great outcry from the feminists.

One problem with feminism is that many are actually Democrats or Clintonits (such as NOW) who try to pass themselves off as feminists. Other, such as Betty Friedan, are mentally unstable yet have been presented by the media as feminist "leaders."

34 posted on 08/15/2002 10:34:24 AM PDT by Dante3
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To: Apolitical
For every womyn and feminazi there's another victim therapy outlet.
35 posted on 08/15/2002 12:38:39 PM PDT by goldstategop
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To: WyldKard
Andrea Dworkin really showed the colors of this movement when she said it was impossible for a man to have sex with a woman and not have it be rape...morons!

I am getting mighty tired of these dysfunctional mental cases of the female sex who claim to speak for all women. For the record, they've never polled me so how can they possibly claim to speak for me. [insert epithet of your choice here]

36 posted on 08/15/2002 4:57:58 PM PDT by pray4liberty
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To: Dante3
7. Kennedy males. All of Joseph P's descendents.
37 posted on 08/15/2002 9:13:03 PM PDT by CARepubGal
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To: Caligirl for Bush
Especially JFK, Teddy, william Smith, and the one in the babysitter scandal.
38 posted on 08/16/2002 7:36:19 AM PDT by Dante3
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To: pray4liberty
But, but.. You actually think that men and women can actually have sexual relations and enjoy it? /joking

Okay, one more point for the good guys.
I agree with your sentiment. I had two esteemed young misses say that because I held a door open for them that I was sexually harassing them. I've been wondering how long it will take for women in general to tell these brain cases to shut up. Judging from personal responses, and reading this thread, I guess it's just a matter of time until the Femnazi's get the boot..

39 posted on 08/16/2002 1:01:53 PM PDT by Darksheare
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To: Sacajaweau
In his book, The Stand, Stephen King has one of the characters musing on how non-feminist she is now that she is pregnant in a post-apocalyptic America. It has been a long time since I read that book, but she wrote in her journal, "It's as if we said, 'OK, Thank you very much men for taming our environment, fighting off wild beasts, and creating a civilization in which we can live without fearing for our lives. Now go away, we'll take it from here.'"

It's a poor quote, but it gets the sense across.

Stephen King is a bit of a freak, but I think he had something to say in that quote.

Shalom.

40 posted on 08/16/2002 1:09:44 PM PDT by ArGee
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