You knew this was coming.
LANGUAGE WARNING:
Today, I'm getting political. And I'm going to use the f-word lot. If you're not into that kind of thing, check this corgi video out instead.
Anybody still here? Cool. Here we go.
Let's talk about feminism, conservatives.
The left has spent decades pushing the idea that feminism is synonymous with support of abortion on demand. Today, the abortion issue serves as a de facto litmus test for the most vocal parts of the feminist movement. For much of the democratic party, if you're not pro-choice, you're not welcome.
In fact, multiple pro-life feminist groups were disinvited from the 2017 Women’s March in Washington DC following outrage from left-wing groups over the inclusion of “anti-choice” organizations. It appears that the left’s self-proclaimed love for intersectionality ends where pro-life views begin.
Over the past several years, national discussion over the “War on Women” narrative has served to further reinforce women’s issues as partisan issues. It should come as no surprise that a 2018 poll found that less than half of millennial women identify with the “feminist” label.
With evidence that a majority of millennials feel unwelcome in the current feminist movement, those of us who consider ourselves advocates of small government have an opportunity to reclaim the mantle of feminism.
Unfortunately, that opportunity is being squandered.
The conservative movement has chosen to accede to the left’s framing, avoiding any positive use of the “f-word” and instead characterizing feminism in all its forms as anti-man, pro-big government, and pro-abortion.
Donald Trump has proudly, publicly, and repeatedly disavowed feminism. Rush Limbaugh refers to members of the movement as “feminazis.” Ben Shapiro is famous for “destroying feminism” in his viral videos. Dennis Prager writes that “the women [...] whose identities are wrapped up in being a feminist are nearly all dummies.”
This trend is not limited to conservative men. Tomi Lahren claimed on Twitter that “The exercise of protesting as [sic] been irreparably cheapened by these man-hating feminists.” Female conservatives have written countless think-pieces with titles like “Why I am not a feminist,” listing seven reasons (or ten, or fifteen) why they reject the label.
If feminism is about equal individual rights for men and for women, why are we alienating potential small-government advocates?
When it comes to feminism, I find it amusing that the pro-life movement is so quick to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Blanket rejection of a massive and diverse movement does a disservice to the Republican party -- and conservatism as a whole -- by alienating voters who support female empowerment at all levels of society.
Given feminism’s status as a favorite rhetorical punching bag of the right, it is unsurprising that the aforementioned poll also found that among millennials, “69 percent of Democrats and 58 percent of independents said they consider the term feminist to mean political, economic and social equality among the sexes, while 39 percent of those that called themselves Republicans said they think it is a term used for blaming men for women's challenges.”
Rather than allowing the left’s abortion-as-feminism narrative to go uncontested, the right should be communicating that forcing voters to choose between being “pro-life” or “pro-woman” is a false dichotomy. Embracing feminism doesn't have to mean embracing radical abortion advocacy.
If pro-abortion advocates truly cared about empowering women, they wouldn’t spend so much time telling women they can do anything, only to turn around and tell them they are incapable of having a baby without sabotaging their own lives.
This is not empowering women.
It is not empowering to tell women they are too young or too foolish to carry a child to term. It’s not empowering to tell women they need to take the “easy” way out. Empowerment is coming alongside girls with unexpected pregnancies and telling them that they can rise to the challenge. That is the kind of female empowerment conservatism should encourage, and the reason conservatives should embrace feminism.
Feminism is, at its core, about recognizing that women are individuals with the same rights as men.
Aren’t conservatives supposed to be champions for individual rights?
The right should be stepping up to welcome feminists with open arms, especially those left out by events like the Women’s March. Instead of allowing the left to maintain its monopoly on the feminist label, I challenge conservatives to take back the “f-word” and build a messaging platform based on protecting individual rights.
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