Crouse Delivers Speech at Princeton:A Conservative Critique of Feminism

Concerned Women for America ^ | 10/8/2003 | Dr. Crouse

[Lorianne]

No it doesn't. Not any more than freedom of the individual and equality under the law makes one e a radical or a chauvinist. In fact many people still consider our way of life in the USA "radical" and they don't like it one bit. We happen to be in a culture war with these people at this very moment.

If we want to review whether or not our core values as Americans equal good outcomes, we can have that discussion and perhaps change things. Until then, the basic assumption our society operates under is that "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed" ... equality and fairness under the law. If those values equal "bad" outcomes (as many people in the world would argue), then perhaps we should go back to theocracies, dictatorships, monarchies, fuedalism, rigid caste systems, etc.

It seems to me what SOME people are deathly afraid of is allowing other people the same rights and freedoms that they want for themselves.

Our entire country was based on RADICAL notions. Go back and study history. People at the time the USA was formed thought we were entirely nuts to set up such a system of government. It was revolutionary, radical, and even treasonous to state that one agreed with the our Founding principles ... punishable by death!

Change is radical. Freedom is radical. Representative democracy is radical. The notion of the rights of the inidividual over the collective is a radical concept still today in most parts of the world.

[Lorianne]

Oh yadda yadda yadda. There is nothing sacred about "this Republic". This is one giant experiment. Even our Founders admitted that. They had no idea how long it would last. Lots of things almost destroyed it and there is no gaurantee something won't destory it yet.

There have always been plenty of Chicken Littles around screaming that the sky is falling. Meantime, other people who really believe in our system are making sure they get a say in making it work.

Nothing is perfect, including our system. But what is the alternative? Should we go back to a system of elite rule based on biological or hereditary determinism? Considering all the bozos of both sexes out there influencing politics todya, it may not be a half bad idea.

Where would you fit in?

[Lorianne]

Oh you get real and grow up. We're not talking here about your inability to keep your marriage together. We're talking about larger concepts. Your personal problems are your own.

[Lorianne]

You know what? At the very most, only about 3% of women are lesbians. And even that number is disputed as high.

Why would 97% of women cede their numerical political clout to 3%? I certainly never have and I don't know any women who have. I know plenty of strong women in all walks of life and as far as I know none of them are lesbians. They have families, kids, some have careers some don't. NONE of them have succumbed to "men hating" or any of that.

My personal experience just doesn't square with the power some here claim this tiny 3% of women have. I just don't see it. I see women going about their lives and doing what they think is best for themselves and their families ... just like their male counterparts.

I really don't see this radical lesbian fringe influence everyone is so scared of. I didn't even see them when I was in college. Where are they hiding? I must hang around in different circles or something because all the women I know are just regular people living regular peaceful rather hum-drum lives and expecting the same basic rights and freedoms as everyone else in the USA, no more, no less.

[disclaimer]

You talk about freedom for the individual as you defend feminism - the promoters of socialism in this country. Feminism DOES NOT PROMOTE FREEDOM - IT CREATES INDENTURED SERVANTS TO THE STATE. Feminism is not about equality and fairness, it is a power grab that doesn't give a crap about who they crush along the way. Dream on in your fantasy world - the reality is feminism NOT a force for freedom but the exact opposite.

[Little Bill]

It ain't a personal problem when you are married for 27 years and your wife has a longing to rediscover her lost oppertunities and want to see the things that she did not discover in her youth.

Oh the pain, the pain, all she had to do was ask, I gave her everything else she asked for. We are talking about larger concepts such as using my daughter as a front in the divorce and then abandoning her to my care after she had a breakdown, womyn are wonderfull. If you want to suscribe to my pay my daughters medical bill fund FReep me.

Love, Bill

[Corin Stormhands]

Janice is a personal friend. She is indeed a treasure.

[Skooz]

She could do a lot more good for others saying what feminism is REALLY about.

Post #7 IS what feminism is really about nowadays. Your views of a benign feminism were extinguished by the mid-1980s, when the hate-mutants radicalized the feminist movement beyond redemption.

I would say that your views (equal pay for equal work, etc), are better described as common sense and very conservative ideals rather than "feminism."

Yes, post #7 is about the "radicals," but the radicals now run the show. It is their movement now.

[Lorianne]

Whatever. We could go tit for tat with personal anecdotes but ... I'm not interested.

It's obvious you're a collectivist on par with the so-called feminazi "man haters" given your blanket comment about "women".

It seems you've joined the "I'm a victim of the opposite sex club" just like the radical fringe we're talking about. Berating people just like yourself is irrational at best.

[Lorianne]

Post #7 IS what feminism is really about nowadays No it is not. I and many more like me haven't said uncle yet. :) Some keep expecting us to surrender and retreat, but that's not going to happen. Watch and you'll see.

[Skooz]

In that case, I hope for the best for you.

Good luck, and I truly mean that. It would give me great joy to see the Feminists For Life crowd displace the NOW and NARAL goons as the voice of the feminist movement.

[Little Bill]

"I'm a victim of the opposite sex club.

I have never been a victim, and being accused of being "A collectivist" is an insult. I am much more radical than you could possibly imagine. It is you in the feminist left that are the destructors, you destroyed marrige, it is you that destroyed the trust between man and wife, it is you that dumped a lot of kids down the toilet to a fatherless future for your own vanity, J'Accuse, J'Accuse.

[Lorianne]

Here is an example of REAL feminism, alive and well:

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20031004_177.html

_________________________________________________

Twelve to Be Inducted Into Women's Hall of Fame

SENECA FALLS, N.Y. Oct. 4 — Mildred Robbins Leet is an unusual philanthropist. She's not wealthy. And for 25 years, she's given away just $50 at a time.
But her "micro grants" have helped transform tens of thousands of lives around the globe. They buy fishing rods or frying pans, a farm animal, a sewing machine or a barrel of seeds, enabling "the poorest of the poor" to launch their own businesses.

Leet is among 12 women who were to be inducted Saturday into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

The hall was established in 1969 in this village in western New York where the first known women's rights convention was held in 1848. Women won the right to vote in 1920.

This year's honor roll includes Gertrude Ederle, who in 1926 became the first woman to swim across the English Channel; Sheila Widnall, the first woman to command the U.S. Air Force; and Stephanie Kwolek, who formulated a chemical solution in 1965 that led to Kevlar, the stronger-than-steel fiber used in bulletproof vests.

Leet tries to find aspiring entrepreneurs among those least likely to have startup capital. They live in urban slums in India, remote villages in west Africa, a blighted island in the Caribbean.

And they make good use of their good fortune most enterprises are still running years later.

"Every once in a while you meet somebody and they say, `$50? Are you kidding?'" Leet said. "And you say, `Don't worry, there are people to whom $50 will make the difference.'

"For some, they never had $50 before in one lump sum. For others, it's psychological 'God, they believe in us!' That's really it you just have to trust in people."

Leet, an 81-year-old New Yorker, started Trickle Up Inc., a volunteer, nonprofit program, with her husband Glen in 1979 after decades working for anti-poverty, social justice and community development groups.

Taking $1,000 from their savings, the couple linked up with an aid worker and created 10 businesses in Dominica, a struggling Caribbean island.

Each entrepreneur who drew up a simple but promising "business plan" got $50. One group of women formed a thriving banana-chip cooperative.

If a business is still going a few months later, the owner can file a one-page "business report" to apply for another $50 check. After that, "they're off on their own," said Leet, who locates people via churches, women's groups or aid agencies.

Funded by donations, Trickle Up has spawned an estimated 115,000 businesses and disbursed more than $3 million, Leet said. There is one exception to the $50 limit: in the United States, grants can rise to $700.

"You try in different ways to reach people to help themselves by using skills they already have and they do," she said. "It's not a giveaway. It's almost like a scholarship you learn by doing."

Leet said the "business report" provides a measure of control "after a while you can spot a phony really easily." And surveys have found some 70 percent of businesses were still operating several years later, she said.

Most of the ventures are modest basket-weaving in Ghana, quilting in El Salvador, a home bakery in Bolivia. One woman in Cameroon started out by selling chicken eggs, soon made enough money to buy a bicycle and later opened a small variety store.

The program got started in the apartment of Leet and her husband, who died in 1998. It now employs 14 people.

"We have far more demand that we can meet," Leet said. "But you keep going. I never thought we would go this far."

[Lorianne]

Au contraire! It is YOU (as in not me) who made blanket assessement of "women".

Personally, I'm a positive person. I believe the vast majority of people are good and fair and decent. Both sexes. I don't judge large swaths of humans by what a few do.

We've all had our personal ups and downs. You're not special in that regard. It's not about YOU.

Enjoy wallowing in bitterness. I'll pass. Au revoir

[Lorianne]

Thank you!

[Little Bill]

Personally, I'm a positive person.

You would never know it from all the man bashing posts I have seen under your name in the past. I don't care what you views are for the most part, I can only go by what I have seen in my life time.

What I see is the breakdown of the Family because of those and those like you. I am an exteme individulist except when it comes to family and that is what, it seems, that you and your ilk are trying to destroy. I was around at the beguining of the feminist thing and it was a sorry collection of leftists.

Burn your bra, let gavity take over, and live to a lonely old age. I am living with my wifes descisions, broken kids and a lot of hate.

[Lorianne]

Look, I didn't break down your family and I've never done anything to destroy any family. And this thread is NOT ABOUT YOU, okay?

Get a grip on your bitterness before you're eaten alive by it.

Good luck.

[FlyVet]

Steinem was the beauty queen of the feminist movement. Steinem, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate, was engaged to her college boyfriend. After breaking up with him and discovering that she was pregnant, she had an abortion. Later, Steinem founded Ms. Magazine and coined two phrases -- "reproductive freedom" and "pro-choice"

Founded her own Relief of Guilt religion. I hope she's happy now.

[Little Bill]

Generally these threads are about you and your ideas, believe me I could care less, any problems that I have had are long gone. One of the nice things that I have discovered about FR is people don't cut you a lot of slack, which is a good thing.

You seem to have few bad rows to hoe and have taken an antimale stance. Grow up and live with it, I like women in principle but after my last experience will never wed again, once betrayed ever armored.

[disclaimer]

What I see is the breakdown of the Family because of those and those like you . I am an exteme individulist except when it comes to family and that is what, it seems, that you and your ilk are trying to destroy.

That's right Bill.

Lorianne tries to paint an innocent portrait of herself as she tells us she only wants 'equity'. What more 'equity' do you need Loraine?! What is your grievance that still needs remedied to make women 'equal'?? All you feminists have now is propaganda to build your pity-me case. Being a feminist you are a member of the most corrupt morally empty union of self-centered narcissistic soul-less group think frauds that the world has ever known. You don't want equity, you want institutional discrimination against those you oppose and superiority under the law.