I'm a feminist. Yes, even now. Even seeing what today's feminism looks like -- and what today's feminist sounds like -- I remain committed to the concept of equal opportunity.
I can't ally myself with today's left-wing liberal feminism, though, and saying the word "feminist" out loud is enough to give me the cold shoulder from the conservatives I prefer to hang with. What happened to the good-humored, compassionate, hard-working women who once made up the ranks of early feminism? Who replaced them with the mean-spirited, hateful liberal feminists today who are empowered by a sense of schadenfreude every time they kick someone to the curb?
These days, the "cause" has gone from the belief that we need to work hard and prove ourselves capable of equal (or even superior) work to the belief that women are somehow entitled to be provided for by the machine. Excuse me, but isn't that what we were trying to escape in the wonder years of the 70's and 80's, when we merely wanted the right to achieve equally? And that achievement often meant being able to support ourselves free of a marriage; to work outside the home; to be free of the servitude that societal expectations attached to us. Now, today's clamorous feminist wants to be carried by the establishment. Rather than wanting freedom -- the freedom to have the opportunities this great country has promised -- today's feminist wants to limit the freedom of others.
How did women begin to think that "equal opportunity" meant "unequal advantage?" Was it the idea of affirmative action? Even at my most militant, younger days, I disagreed with affirmative action. It opened the door to people of inferior ability to have jobs that should be held for those who are most capable. Equal opportunity means a person of equal ability and capacity, equally skilled, should have equal ability to get that coveted job or to hold that distinguished career. Unequal advantage means that the whining, strident less-skilled person should get a job just to make the numbers tally. That dog don't fight in my feminist kennel, folks. My style of feminism means working hard to be that more capable person; equal opportunity meant you wouldn't be held down by your gender.
Now, it seems that women who identify as feminist are liberal leftists first and feminist second. Being feminist seems synonymous with vegan, big-government-loving, man-hating, gun-grabbing nasty-ass haters who decry hate. Ladies, what on earth makes you turn on your fellow womankind because you disagree with her on a political point? What on earth makes you think someone should fund your birth control? Why do you believe people should get free anything, for that matter? Why do you think people in Detroit should have water paid for by others who've worked for that money and came by it honestly?
And where, along the bra-littered roadway of equal rights, did your sense of humor go? I recall being charmed by Gloria Steinem not just because of her beliefs that hard-working women deserve equal opportunities -- but because of her sense of humor in expressing it. Why is it you've allowed yourselves to be humorless harpies defined by the "that isn't funny" Sandra Fluke meme?
For the record, I was one of those early feminist pioneer women types. I worked in a male-dominated profession -- policing -- for two decades. I get it. I was one of eight women among the 300 sworn officers in the PD when I began. I know the struggle first-hand. I know the tendency to male-bash; been there, done that, long-ago wore out that t-shirt. It was different, then, though; we were different. I fondly recall the guys in briefing telling me the worst, most derogatory jokes about women they could come up with -- because we enjoyed the banter. They loved hearing me respond with false indignation. It was part of being "one of the guys" -- something I cherished. Meanwhile, they were supportive, kind and helpful (for the most part). Those who weren't matter not.
It saddens me to think that the fight for equal opportunity morphed into the fight for entitlement. It breaks my heart that in the struggle for control of our own bodies, we've chosen to control others' minds instead. It frightens me that fighting for freedom means giving up our freedoms wholesale.
This gun-loving, wisecracking anti-entitlement freedom-loving feminist is still a feminist, alright. I haven't changed. But the rest of you … oh, my. What a shame, what you've all become.
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