Feminism has noble roots in the advancement of women’s rights – equal protection under the law – but has mutated into something dangerous and toxic to not just women, but humankind. The movement initially sought female suffrage and equal rights between men and women. The women who championed equality of the sexes at Seneca Falls asked that men alter their behavior to the benefit of women – to become, in today’s vernacular, an “ally” to women. All that changed with the subsequent waves of feminist ideology. Instead of men changing and accommodating and respecting women as women, women decided that femaleness was inherently damaged, that women needed to change and refashion themselves in the image of men, especially sexually. And abortion would be the agent used to transform women into men.
For years, women held the keys to controlling sexual activity, because they were the ones who had the most to lose. Men could have sex and move on. Women, because of the long-term consequences of pregnancy, could not just “move on.” Feminists claim this “sexual inequality” repressed women. Abortion, even more than contraception, allowed women to have sex without consequence – just like a guy. Theoretically, this would benefit women, freeing them sexually as well as in the workplace. By “empowering” women to behave like men, feminists have failed to accommodate the real needs and desires of most women.
For years, women held the keys to controlling sexual activity, because they were the ones who had the most to lose. Men could have sex and move on. Women, because of the long-term consequences of pregnancy, could not just “move on.” Feminists claim this “sexual inequality” repressed women. Abortion, even more than contraception, allowed women to have sex without consequence – just like a guy. Theoretically, this would benefit women, freeing them sexually as well as in the workplace.
You would think that feminists would embrace such a woman as one of their own and whole-heartedly support the advancement of a female who has so clearly distinguished herself. You would, however, be mistaken in that belief.
The problem with Barrett is that while she may be an example of female empowerment, she breaks with modern feminist orthodoxy – she is pro-life. And not just in theory. Barrett is the mother of seven children. Feminists believe that Barrett will hurt women and roll back hard-won advances. In an ironic twist, some feminists, who ought to be more concerned with a woman’s intellect than her wardrobe, have mocked Barrett’s clothing choices. Jennifer C. Braceras of the Detroit News has called this sartorial criticism a “mean girls campaign” against the newly confirmed Supreme Court Justice.
By “empowering” women to behave like men, feminists have failed to accommodate the real needs and desires of everyday women. Erika Bachiochi explains, “For women who hope to have and raise a family…the feminist quest to imitate masculine reproductive detachment from child-bearing works very much to the women’s disadvantage.” This is clear in just one statistic. In the 1960s the first birth control pill was introduced and women were finally able to have sex without the consequences of a child. From that year on there is a heartbreaking upward trend of single motherhood. The rates of mothers raising children alone have risen from an average of 5% in 1960 to a terrifying 41% in 2010. Contraception and abortion have provided a one-sided solution to female sexuality that exempts men from their responsibilities to home and family.
Feminism has clung to abortion as the means to female empowerment. But it has backfired. Abortion has allowed men to shirk responsibility as fathers and encouraged the workplace to penalize motherhood and family.