Feminism Has Become a Parody of its Former Self | Daniel Clark



It would take a particularly hard person to not be disgusted by the accusations against Harvey Weinstein. Whether or not he is a sexual predator, however, is not the concern of this article. What is the concern of this article is the nastiness seeping out from all fringes of the feminist lobby, corrupting everything it touches with hysterical screams that the Weinstein case is proof we live in a ‘sexist society.’

Let us start, just for the fun of it, with a piece written by the MSP Kezia Dugdale. She wrote that ‘there’s a Harvey Weinstein in every work place’ (no exceptions granted, sorry gentleman) but that she’s not angry (on this particular occasion) at Harvey Weinstein. Instead she took aim at ‘you, the bystander.’ By this, she means ‘that regular “modern” guy that prides himself on doing his share of the dishes and the nappy changing.’

Such an article makes this writer very concerned. More specifically, I’m very concerned about the type of behaviour that takes place in the Scottish parliament because, to be quite frank, I have no idea what on earth else she could be talking about. I worked in one place for two and a half years, with many different men, and I can honestly say that there is not at all ‘a Harvey Weinstein in every work place.’

In actual fact, this is the truth for the vast majority of institutions, the vast majority of businesses. Why? Because men (stop reading now if you’re a bitter feminist of the man hating variety) are mostly kind, loving, decent, people. They are exceptional brothers, wonderful husbands, attentive boyfriends, caring fathers. Make no mistake: Kezia Dugdale’s hysterical article amounts to slander.
Of course, the fun does not stop there. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you gentleman that, if your mate ‘tells a filthy joke’ about a woman, and you don’t stop him, then you’re accommodating potential sexual violence. Allow me to quote Dugdale, who seems to think she has an insight into the mind of men: ‘if you didn’t [stop the joke], you just legitimised that behaviour and created the ground for your mate to be that bit braver, that bit bolder next time.’

Allow me to make one thing very clear indeed: this is not just the opinion of one person who just so happens to be the ex-leader of the Scottish Labour Party. In the first week at the University I started in September, we were told by a lady allegedly concerned about our welfare that telling a bit of a naughty joke (or playing a song that somebody might feel uncomfortable about) is sexual violence.

Dear reader, I wish I was exaggerating. Indeed, that would make this whole sorry story much easier to stomach. And yet, from pillar to post, the hysteria of a certain breed of feminist (which Camille Paglia has been warning about for years) has boiled over. The application of reason has been abandoned, and we have entered a world of bitterness and (quite frankly) stupidity.

Julie Bindel (for whom I have a lot of respect) tweeted that there would be ‘no need for the ‘me too’ thing if we could admit that it is every single female on the planet.’ Alexis Benveniste tweeted ‘reminder that if a woman didn’t post #MeToo, it doesn’t mean she wasn’t sexually assaulted or harassed. Survivors don’t owe their story.’ And writing for The Guardian (surprise surprise) Suzanne Moore made the claim that sexual harassment is ‘the backdrop to many women’s lives.’ She did not provide a citation.

Sexual violence is a despicable crime, and any perpetrator of it should be strongly punished. What we have seen in recent years, however, is a cheapening of the definition of rape. From the claim that all women are raped, to the infamous ‘1 in 4’ statistic, to the hysterical expansion of what exactly constitutes sexual violence, the prominent voices of the feminist lobby have lost all sense of reality.
This has a huge effect. The mantra of ‘no always means no’ is repeated throughout the land without any recourse to adequate contemplation. If it was, we would all agree with Camille Paglia’s assessment that ‘“No” has always been, and always will be, part of the dangerous, alluring courtship ritual of sex and seduction, observable in the animal kingdom’ (The New York Times, December 14 1990). Sex is complicated, and the feminist prelatizing on sex is both sickly and naïve.

There is a certain irony in the fact that feminists talk women down with such ease. Intended to empower women, feminism has become an excuse to talk them down, to treat them like children, and to rob them of both spiritual and bodily autonomy. Unless feminism abandons the hysteria, and treats women like individuals once again, it must accept that it has become a parody of its former self.

And if it refuses to do so, it must disappear into the abyss. For the sake of both women and men.


Daniel Clark is a writer for Student Voices

Feminism Has Become a Parody of its Former Self | Daniel Clark Feminism Has Become a Parody of its Former Self | Daniel Clark Reviewed by Student Voices on 11:28 Rating: 5

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