Category Archives: Feminism

Mackinnon the Man-Eater

Feminism

I don’t expect men’s circumstances to move [feminist Catharine] Mackinnon. But is there no significance to the fact that women continue to live longer than men, that many more men commit suicide, that men are more likely to be unemployed and less likely to get another job, and that they are more likely to suffer lethal industrial accidents? Is it of no experiential importance that of the 2,350 soldiers who’ve died so far in Iraq and the 18,000 who’ve been wounded, most are men? Not in Mackinnon’s static and stony universe. Here she is up to her clavicles in self-contradiction, a condition the Greek philosophers deemed “less than human, less than coherent, less than sane.” But then, they were of the patriarchy.

The excerpt is from my latest column, “Mackinnon the Man-Eater,” now on WorldNetDaily.com. (A more extensive review of Catharine Mackinnon’s book, written for The American Conservative is here.)

Feminism and Islam (And a Thought about Jewish Women)

Feminism, Islam

Some feminists have dedicated their lives and work to women and to mending the fractious relationships between the sexes, yet have remained mum on the topic of women under Islam. The analogy of the libertarian writer, who holds free speech and private property rights sacred, yet has refused to weigh in on the Danish cartoon controversy obtains here.

To say something about the plight of women under Islam would require an objective examination of Islam’s teachings about women—they are deemed unclean; contaminants, a source of sin, and worse—without resorting to postmodern, culture-specific constructs. Is this what is being avoided? What a disgrace.

Here’s a hilarious thought about Jewish women: I recall reading one of Kevin MacDonald’s loopy expositions about Jews, in which he asserts seriously that Jewish women are oppressed. It had something to do with the faith’s teachings. He clearly hasn’t met very many Jews. If anything, Jewish women could do with some oppression.

I wonder if he was referring to the after-meal grace Jews say, where a song of adulation is sung especially for the Woman of the House. In it, the family praises her uniqueness and wisdom. Beauty is said to be all nonsense—a woman’s substance is all that matters and for her substance her husband must worship her (if he knows what’s good for him).

How Sexist Are Libertarian Men?

Feminism, IlanaMercer.com

…These puritans are in the habit of deploying the photos on IlanaMercer.com to shame its proprietor. To wit: “Mercer puts up the images; she’s asking for it.” To these solemn commissars, an aesthetic display of the female form signifies that a woman is begging for belittlement. … The austere, Soviet-like stance vis-a -vis the female figure and its commercialization is the trademark of feminists and socialists. They oppose what they term the “objectification” of women, but also object to anything that’s fun, free, appealing, and lucrative. In their prissy, sexual rebukes to me, these phony progressives and pseudo-capitalists have sided with backward elements.

The column, How Sexist Are Libertarian Men?, addresses my travails with libertarian men over the years, and is on the Free-Market News Network. Libertarians, the forum is yours to comment (without demeaning the host, naturally).

Mackinnon’s Textual Harassment

Feminism, Gender, Law

The baleful influence of feminist Catharine Mackinnon on American and Canadian jurisprudence cannot be underestimated. With relatively few obstacles from the dreaded patriarchy, Mackinnon, Professor of Law at the University of Michigan, “teacher, writer, and activist,” has been transforming law since the 1980s. Her legal conquests, especially in developing sexual-harassment law, are the subject of this meaty volume, which comprises speeches and screeds Mackinnon has disgorged over 25 years.

The excerpt is from my review in The American Conservative of Women’s Lives, Men’s Laws by radical feminist, Catharine A. Mackinnon. Comments are welcome.