The feminists were out in full force at the United State of Women Conference on Tuesday. Here’s some of the most interesting moments from the morning session.
Joanne Smith, a black feminist author, encouraged women to use their voices to unsettle the patriarchy. She stated:
“Our native, our Latina, our black, our Muslim and white sisters and brothers, are together; and in this country our most disenfranchised communities and multi-racial gender fluid young people, olders and elders alike are marching, resisting, using our voices and strategically disrupting the status quo. The trans, homophobic, patriarchal, racist, anti-black policies and programs that have inflicted violence on women of color in this country for far too long.”
Don’t worry, you’re not the only one who found her colorful outburst confusing. Essentially, the status quo is evil and trying to oppress everybody.
Smith is also working to take down programs that have apparently inflicted violence on black women. I have no idea what those programs are, since she doesn’t say. I hope she’s not trying to incite anger to further her agenda without any facts. That would be bad.
But what do I know? I’m part of the patriarchy.
Then there’s State Department Deputy Secretary Heather Higginbottom, who said she will not stop fighting until every woman is “just as empowered as every woman in this room.”
That seems a little imperialistic. What if a woman wants to be a stay-at-home mom? Will you fight the oppression out of her? For that matter, what does being “empowered” even mean? What’s the measure for how empowered a person is? I guess there’s some feminist scale somewhere that figures it out.
Next, actor Matt McGorry, the token man at the gathering, stated that to help feminism succeed, men should “have [women’s] backs and listen.”
This is what men can do to help women. Shut up and don’t dare try to “mansplain” anything. Even though it seems to me, since men hold the majority of offices in all three branches of government, it would appear that men could affect actual change through legal action. But that’s just my poor attempt at “mansplaining.”
Then, transgender activist and self-proclaimed academic Bambi Salcedo stated, “trans people are also human. Let’s not forget that.”
Who forgot that? Nobody is saying trans people aren’t human. They’re saying trans people are humans of a certain, unchanging sex. It’s a subtle difference, and very easy to miss, but it’s there.
Finally, scientists Sonia Vallabh and Eric Minikel shared their insights into struggles of women in the science field, explaining that:
“Biomedical research is hard enough without attrition of brilliant minds on account of their gender or family choices.”
So the problem here is not that women have choices, it’s that they’re making the wrong ones. And yes, being a stay-at-home mom is the wrong choice.
There’s a couple of the most notable liberal comments from the United State of Women Summit. Patriarchy look out, they’re coming for you.