It’s Time to Stop Blaming Feminism

Here’s my hot take on the issue of feminism as it pertains to the culture wars. It’s time to stop blaming feminism for all of society’s ills. It’s getting really victim-y and hypocritical. What am I talking about? Allow me to explain.

The Right’s Perpetual Scapegoat

If you follow any political or cultural commentators from the conservative/right side of the political aisle, you will have noticed over the past several years that they blame feminism for almost everything.

Too many single mothers?

Blame feminism!

Too many divorces?

Blame feminism!

Men suffering from a crisis of meaning?

Blame feminism!

Too much DEI in corporate offices?

Blame feminism!

It never ends.

So why does the “Right” do this? Why has feminism caused so many problems according to them?

There is usually one main reason provided: feminism lied to women.

Feminism, especially third wave feminism, stands accused by the Right of lying to generations of women and consequently destroying their lives. Feminism lied to women when it promised that women don’t need men at all; that women should all be #girlbosses; that housework and childrearing are beneath women; that women should put careers above family and children. This last point is especially key.

And not only that, the Right says, but there are also two unfortunate consequences to this pernicious lie:

1. Many women, especially Millennials, are now re-evaluating their lives too late. Many women now in their mid- to late thirties have realized that, yes, they do actually want children, but they fear they’ve missed the boat. They’ve spent their prime years cultivating a career rather than a family, and now regret that decision. This is the fault of the “feminist marketing machine.”
2. It’s impossible to find a good, chaste woman because feminism has brainwashed them all into a bunch of ho’s. Feminism, and the sexual revolution, have turned all the women into promiscuous beings with no morals. Women are not to be trusted. This is also the fault of the “feminist marketing machine.”

Well, it seems to me, that it’s time to stop blaming feminism.

I’m not suggesting that this blame is entirely misplaced. Analyzing feminism’s effects on society is a topic for another article that I am probably unqualified to write. What I am saying is that it’s time to stop playing the blame game and move on to a more positive message. Here are two reasons why.

Blaming Feminism Is Playing the Victim

The Right is all about personal responsibility. Nobody else is to blame for your problems. You gotta pick yourself up by your bootstraps and work hard to get the life you want. So, I find it interesting that many conservatives seem to get caught up in playing the victim on this one.

Now, there are two camps of conservatives that I’ve noticed when it comes to this issue. The first are those conservatives who spend a lot of air time harping on feminism, but who also spend an equal amount of air time promoting marriage, femininity, and children as net goods. This is a good thing. Yes, they’re playing the blame game, but at least they’re putting in a concerted effort towards promoting a positive solution. The Daily Wire is a good example of this.

The second camp of conservatives are, by all accounts, the actual “Far Right.” There are certain commentators out there, whom I shall not name because I am so incensed by their attitude that I don’t want to give them any more air time than they already steal, who promote an extremely negative view of women. And they feel justified in that view “because feminism.” I’m talking about the remote regions of the Right, where you will find both men and women arguing for the abolition of women’s suffrage. (Yes, this is a thing.) It’s completely insane.

These are the people who argue that men should not get married at all. It’s too risky for them. Women are completely nuts and will simply divorce you the first chance they get, taking all your money and the children too.

What kind of a message is that to send to men? To women?

Especially young men who, yes, are suffering a crisis of meaning. Is that really the best thing to say to someone who is looking for something to animate his life? Don’t get married. Don’t have kids. Feminism has ruined women. You’ll never be able to find a good woman who isn’t a slutty single mother with five kids, so you might as well just give up now.

I mean, WTF?

It’s truly toxic. 

This attitude breeds helplessness and misogyny. If you keep blaming a certain something for a certain set of problems, then people are going to come to hate that certain something. And they’re going to feel helpless in counteracting it. If you keep blaming feminism for society’s ills, over and over and over again, then people are going to come to hate women as the cause of those ills.

It’s Yoda’s famous line: Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.

Blaming Feminism Is Hypocritical

The second reason I believe the feminism blame game needs to stop is because it’s hypocritical. Most people on the Right, all along the spectrum of the Right, believe that DEI and anti-racism rhetoric is complete garbage. How can you blame current racial disparities on slavery? Slavery ended more than 150 years ago!

I think you see where I’m going with this.

But Andrea, third wave feminism started in the 1990’s according to Wikipedia! Okay, then what is the appropriate amount of time, in years, that we are allowed to blame a past event for a current problem?

The 1990’s began 34 years ago. Are we justified in blaming current problems on a movement that began 34 years ago? And not just to blame it once, to diagnose the problem, as it were. But to keep blaming it over and over and over again. One hundred fifty years is no longer justifiable in terms of blame, but 34 years is?

I understand the temptation, I really do. Thirty years is one generation, sure. I get it. But the question remains: when’s the cut off? Two generations? Three? Four? Five? It’s arbitrary. And many who blame feminism don’t just blame third wave feminism, they blame feminism going back to the 50’s and 60’s. That was more than 60 years ago!

When is the cut off??

Either we can continue to blame past events for current problems, or we can’t. We can’t have both.

Conclusion

So those are my thoughts on this issue. It’s silly and harmful (a favourite term of the Left!) to continue to blame feminism for modern ills because that blame turns into hate and promotes a victim mentality. And it’s hypocritical. If the Right is going to argue that the Left can’t keep blaming past events for current problems, then it can’t turn around and do the same thing!

If you really want to help people (which I seriously doubt is what the Far Right grifters are trying to do), then once you’ve diagnosed the problem, or think you’ve diagnosed the problem, it’s time to move on to the solution. But if you keep putting all your focus on the problem, you’re going to get stuck there. And you’ll make yourself completely miserable.

So that’s my hot take!

Let me know your thoughts in the comments!