Fascist Feminism: The Idea That Women Are Too Stupid To Think For Themselves

June 29, 2010

About a month ago, Sarah Palin had the gall to describe herself as a feminist. Then, a crop of Republican women rose to prominence — most notably, Nikki Haley, Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina, and Sharron Angle — by winning primaries across the country. Nikki Haley in particular, an Indian-American Christian conservative Republican woman, was the victim of horrendous attacks from the good ol’ boys club in South Carolina. But she was able to rise above the crude attacks and still win the gubernatorial primary in her state.
Suddenly, conservative feminism is everywhere. Women have become more and more politically active, and they’re rejecting the hijacking of feminism that’s been going on for several decades. Fascist feminists have come out in full force against it, digging their heels in deeper and deeper. The idea that women could make up their own minds about political issues and actually believe in conservative principles infuriates them, because women are supposed to toe a very specific ideological line.
After several weeks of conservative feminist bashing from the leftists Lori Ziganto has dubbed femisogynists, Amanda Marcotte has chimed in, with a column saying that conservative feminism is the idea that women are too stupid to know the difference. And, as per usual with any fascist feminist, the nonsensical argument revolves almost entirely around abortion.

Marcotte argues that abortion is not harmful to women (without citing any references to back up her argument, we should believe that it’s the truth because Amanda Marcotte Says So) and that conservatives do not see women as equal to men.

Common sense would demand that one not agree that there could be a kind of feminism that would declare the entire female sex incapable of handling the right to bodily autonomy. But the anti-choice feminists swear they have an argument! The argument is that Abortion Is Bad For Women, because it thwarts women from their true desires—so deep and true that many women don’t even realize they have them—to bring every pregnancy to term, no matter how much they think they don’t want it. They marshal all sorts of made-up evidence to support this argument, claiming incorrectly that abortion causes depression and breast cancer and probably ingrown toenails. The conclusion is that women have to be forced to bear children against their will for their own good.
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But setting aside even these historical realities, the argument underpinning anti-choice “feminism” is one based on the very un-feminist belief that women are simply too stupid to know their own minds. The narrative that suggests that women only think they want abortions, but will see the light if forced to bear children is to paint half of all adults as basically very tall children, except that it’s legal to have sex with them. In the anti-choice view, every single woman who enters an abortion clinic and asks for an abortion is really just a victim of her own stupidity and gullibility, and only after she has the abortion will she see how wrong she was. (They need to believe this so badly they simply overlook the evidence showing that most women who have abortions feel relief, and even those who feel sadness often don’t feel regret.) Any feminism that starts with the premise that women aren’t equal to men, because women are too stupid to make their own decisions, is simply not a kind of feminism. This is definitional—feminism starts with the belief that women are equal to men, especially with regards to intellectual and moral abilities. A feminism that doesn’t accept this is like a humanism that believes that human beings are fundamentally wicked and undeserving of rights—that is, it doesn’t exist.

 Marcotte, interestingly, is the same femisogynist who recently supported the decision of the American Academy of Pediatrics to endorse female genital mutilation. And somehow, we’re supposed to believe that she really cares about women’s rights? She cares about women, all right — as long as, in her own words, women stick to a very specific set of women’s issues — and abortion more than anything else. In fact, she cares about abortion so much that she’s willing to lie and cover up the truth about the effects abortion has on women. While the emotional effects of abortion could be debated, the risks associated with abortions are facts. A recent study, for example, proved that abortion more than triples the risks of breast cancer in Sri Lankan women. It’s the fourth study within fourteen months to show a link between abortion and breast cancer. The other three studies examined women in the United States, China, and Turkey and found similar results. And many, many women do feel guilt and regret for the rest of their lives after having an abortion. But who prepares them for all of that?
But because abortion is so super important to women, why bother to be honest and upfront about the risks associated with it? Fascist feminists like Amanda Marcotte do not want women to be informed about the realities of abortion. It’s why they argue against pre-abortion ultrasounds. They know that if a woman is unsure about getting an abortion, and she sees what her baby looks like, she’ll be that much more likely to keep it, and fascist feminists like Amanda Marcotte don’t want women making their own choices. They want women to make the abortion choice, even though women consistently do not get the facts about the reality of what they’re getting into with an abortion. They’re lied to about the biological facts of the child they’re carrying, they’re lied to about the risks associated with abortions, and they’re lied to about the possible after-effects of having an abortion. People like Marcotte ignore all of that, because being pro-abortion is all that matters. Marcotte and fascist feminists like her are not pro-choice. They have the choice already made for women. Have an inconvenient pregnancy? Don’t consider any other options, just have the abortion and get it over with, and no you may not get more information first!
Furthering the pro-abortion, femisogynist agenda is more important than being truthful to women. And this is supposed to be pro-woman?

Conservative, pro-life feminists like Sarah Palin tell women that they’re strong enough to have more than one choice. Fascist feminists want abortion to be their only choice. They tell women that they aren’t strong enough to handle working and having a baby, that they can’t choose both, or that they can’t handle the responsibility of planning in advance to not put themselves in a situation of needing an abortion — you know, like using birth control or not having sex if you don’t want a baby. The insinuation is that women are too stupid to be responsible for their decisions, that they can’t think things through, and they can’t handle the “inconvenience” of a child. They look at women as perpetual victims, while pretending to champion empowerment. It’s hypocritical and it’s not helpful to women.
And that’s the real difference between conservative feminism and fascist feminism. Conservative feminists understand that women are equal to men, but that they are different. Femisogynists define equality as being exactly the same as men. Conservative feminists do not live their lives defined by a rigid ideology. Fascist feminists believe that you cannot be a real woman unless you believe in “women’s issues.” (Women’s issues are things like universal health care, universal day care, taxpayer funded abortion on demand, higher minimum wage, etc.)
Feminists like Marcotte don’t fight for equality anymore, they fight to make sure that women stay entrenched forever as helpless victims who must always adhere to a radical feminist agenda. Women aren’t supposed to think for themselves or make up their own minds about issues like abortion or health care — Amanda Marcotte will make it for them! It’s interesting that Marcotte would argue that men see women as very tall children who need their choices made for them, because isn’t that exactly what Marcotte’s brand of fascist feminism does? Women aren’t supposed to make their own choices or think for themselves, they’re supposed to only make Fascist Feminist Approved choices. You’re not supposed to disagree with them on any issue at all, and if you do, you’re not a real woman.
This is the different between conservative feminism and fascist feminism. Conservative feminism is the idea that a litmus test is not needed to define women. Fascist feminism is the idea that women are too stupid to think for themselves.