Another Silent Minority

I've been doing some cursory reading on conservative women and feminism.

Actually, VERY cursory, since there is an accute dearth of anything about conservative feminists anywhere, and they are widely rumored to be mythological. This is obviously not true, you're looking at the bona-fide typeset of one.

Unfortunately for you neoscholarly types, I will not be referencing any feminist studies or arguments here. If you're looking for postmodernism and deconstructionism I will gladly point you toward your nearest university's programs in womyn's or ethnic studies. Personally, I can stand your typical feminist writings for almost up to five minutes. Close availabilty of duct tape, nose plugs, rum, and Bayer increases this time frame nominally.

You retroscholarly types can rest assured that I will not be making up any new words, or torturing existing words into unrecognizable cognitive frames. Everything contained in this blog comes right out of my trusty 1952 edt. Oxford College Dictionary.

Here are my thoughts on being a conservative feminist:

I am in agreement with the typical feminist movement on several facets:
1. Women should have the right to vote, and have their vote equal to that of men.
2. Women should have the right to own property and have inheritance rights.
3. Women should not be themselves the property of their spouses or relatives.
4. Women should be able to conduct business in the same capacity as men, and have the same legal rights as to earnings etc.

The singular most important cause that I support for females, is the right, protected by law, to start the grand race of life at the same point as males.

That's it.

At this point I break so hard to the right of popular feminism that I shock most of my friends and family. I'll detail the most "radical" of my views.

Men are Not the Problem:

Maybe at one point they were. At this point they are not. I do thank the generations of men and women before me for the work they put forth to bring us to our current situation, and I acknowledge that I really cannot understand what it was like only 50-80 years ago for women in this country. In some ways, I'm sure it was not as comfortable as today, but in others I'm not convinced it was so bad.

However, men today are not covert agents of a conspiring patriarchy. Some of them are stupid, and some are brutal, and some are ignorant, but those types are a minor and infrequent annoyance. In the long run, it really doesn't matter. They're not legally allowed to oppress any individual significantly, and those laws are being enforced. As far as bigotry in the workplace goes, any man who walks that path should soon expect to make a woman and her trial lawyer very very happy.

The laws are in place. The starting line has been chalked equally for everyone. This point in time would be a really good one to lay off men for a while, and quite possibly even consider some of the *gasp* beneficial roles men have in our society.

Women Are Not Stupid:

And are perfectly capable of rational thought regarding the consequences of their actions.

This part always gets me in trouble. I see women who claim to be feminists make long chains of terrible relationship and life decisions, then blame the "patriarcy" on their failure to succeed the way they've envisioned.

Modern feminism has created an aura of evil around men, and imbued them with magical, irresistable powers with which they control the minds of innocent and unsuspecting women. Exerting this esoteric power, they make otherwise budding radical feminists get crazy ideas in their heads, like it would be a good idea to get married and have children. With a wave of their Scepter of Patriarchy, women fall into line like good little brainless lambs, and only their wiser feminist sisters can save them.

I call some serious bullshit on that.

Women have the innate, human ability to examine their surroundings, their actions, and their decisions with a critical eye. They also (unless I'm a rare abberation) can project their observations into the forseeable future to predict reasonable outcomes. I am frankly appalled at the number of women who choose not to do any of this.

This is not the fault of men. Only an individual has the ability to control this aspect of their life. Only an individual can choose to apply themselves rationally to their life. No one can do it for them, but no one can take it away.

I used to spend some significant time up in the vicenity of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and found a hobby in walking over to Isla Vista on weekend nights and observing the human species at its.... most authentic....if not exactly best. (If you're not familiar with the Isla Vista phenomenon, lucky you. It's the college town equivalent of the Tiajuana nightclub strip.)

Almost every time I would see young underdressed women, girls really, most definitely underage, sloshed out of their minds, reeling like sailors down the street. Occasionally I'd see them later, clinging to some sober man. Invariably, the paper the following week would contain cries of rage about rapes and sexual assaults, and call for punishment and re-education of men.

I made myself a minor pariah by countering these publications thusly:

A. No one made these girls put on the scantest amounts of clothing they could legally get away.
B. They left their houses all by themselves, they were not dragged.
C. No one forced alcholol down their gullets.
D. Due the the extremely active women's groups at UCSB there was very slim chance that they were unaware that every male human on earth is a potential rapist and murderer.

Therefore, the women themselves had made a series of poor choices, throughout which they conciously ignored information that could have protected them. Although the man who assaulted them is clearly a criminal and should be punished as such, they are culpable for their chain of actions.

As it is now 1:30am, I will post an edit to continue later.