Polling Expert: Feminism Is On the Way Out

AgapePress ^ | February 3, 2003 | Bill Fancher

[Remedy]

The feminist movement of the 1970s was all about women and their wants -- it rejected motherhood and promoted abortion. But now the movement is taking its last breaths. That's the assessment from a professional pollster who was once recognized by Ladies' Home Journal as one of the 50 most powerful women in politics.

Kellyanne Conway is CEO and president and of The Polling Company, a Washington, DC-based research and analysis firm. Conway says the feminists' emphasis on promoting abortion and denigration of stay-at-home moms denied a physiological impulse in women. She feels that is the main reason the feminist movement is breathing its last.

"If [your entire debate denies] the fact that 80% of women alive today either have or will have borne children during their lifetime, that eventually catches up with you," Conway says.

According to Conway, when feminism exploded on the scene in the 1970s, the movement did not place any value on children. That fact was also reflected in the culture of the day, she says.

"Take account of what the movies were at the time -- The Exorcist; The Exorcist II, where the child is the Devil; Damien, the essential character in The Omen, is the Devil," she notes.

"Then, all of a sudden, in 1980 or 1981, you see those yellow stickers [on cars that say] 'Baby On Board.' Since then, we've become a culture [and] a nation that cherishes children -- even if we don't have any ourselves."

Conway says that denial of the physiological impulse of motherhood and the devaluing of children is why the feminist movement is on its last legs. She is convinced that younger women have seen the damage the feminist movement has done to families -- because they were reared in those families

[cubreporter]

Yes, choice was SUPPOSED to be their cause. Choice only if it suited them.

By the way, my mother was President of the PTA too and I along with my father, brother and two sisters were proud as punch of her. Especially those days when she and the other ladies were on the third floor of our school wrapping bandages for the Red Cross. To me that was such a good thing to do and I was even prouder of her on that particular day because of what she and the other mothers were doing and the fact we got to see our mother in school. That might be a little thing to the feminists but to me and the other kids whose moms participated...it was a big deal and one we remember to this day.

I love you mom, we all love you. You are no longer on this earth but you will always and forever remain in our hearts and we all thank you for what you did for us and for being there when we got home from school. We didn't have much but...we had you and daddy and that's something worth more than all the money, gold, stocks and anything else that is of value in todays world. Love over everything else.

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it feminists...

[reformed_democrat]

I wonder how many of them would say that if there's a break-in in the middle of the night it doesn't matter if it's the husband or the wife who goes to investigate.

Well, now -- that would depend on which one is the better shot.

[Remedy]

This finding looks at the misrepresentation of heterosexual males in social-work literature.

Finding: Compared with hundreds of books referencing females in social-work literature, only "about 25" focused on males, and approximately half of these focused on gay males. Topics associated with heterosexual men were generally pathological, highlighting the role of "males as abusers, HIV victims, prisoners, absent or disengaged fathers, youths on probation, and the homeless."

Sample or Data Description
Survey of a decade of social-work literature

Source
Jordan I. Kosberg
"Heterosexual Males: A Group Forgotten by the Profession of Social Work"
Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare.
Vol. 39, Number 3. , 2002. Page(s) 51-68.

[Lorianne]

Bunk.

First off, there are many women who are feminists who do not believe in or advocate abortion. They're still feminists.

Secondly, thre are many women who value the family and children to not see this as adversarial to women or women's achievements. They're still feminists.

Thirdly, many women who choose not to work in the paid economy nevertheless do not wish to be prevented from doing so. They are feminists.

There was never a divide between women working and having a family until the Industrial Revolution. They were never in opposition. They still aren't because there are so many choices available to women (and men) now.

We don't have to pick one thing and only one thing for life. We don't have caste systems in the USA. We live in a free society. Social and economic mobility are the cornerstones of our society. Everyone who believes in our system of individual liberty is essentially a feminist.

I don't see a mass exodus of women from universities and the workplace. All indications are that numbers women are increasing in these areas and the largest increase in small business is among women. Doesn't mean these women don't have families.

In our society, nobody makes anyone choose one personal path to the exclusion of all others. Feminism never advocated such.

All humans like freedom. Our country is based on this principle.