Jane Fonda is writing her memoirs. The world holds its breath.
Has she learned some discretion since her foray to Hanoi?
Will she reveal a hidden intelligence? Now in her 60's, can she
impart old woman wisdom? Will she simply be coherent?
If her speech to the National Women's Leadership Summit is
any indication, the answer to all the above is no. She continues to
be a dreadfully ordinary example of a not-too-bright, adolescent
feminist.
But as a stereotype, her, what one might call thinking, is
useful for insights into the phenomenon of projection. Typical from
her speech is: "The Male Belief System, that compartmentalized,
hierarchical, ejaculatory, androcentric power structure that is
Patriarchy, is fatal to the hearts of men, to empathy and
relationship."
I have no idea what ejaculatory or androcentric are, but
they seem to be male so must be bad. While the logic is obscure,
the emotion is clear.
Ms. Fonda may have discovered that women orient to
relationships and men to facts and logic, though she mistakes these
for Beliefs. While it is wonderful if she values being a woman,
her verbal ejaculations go well beyond the usual female desire to
turn men into women (which corresponds to the male one for women to
think like men), to a conviction that women are inherently
superior, with men, poor dears, incapable of anything human so long
as they cling to being male. She gives no reason for this conclusion,
only monotonously extols it, commonly called a prejudice.
Ms Fonda is full of hatred. She cannot abide anyone different
from herself. It is her own ugliness she projects onto men, to
justify its expression from her.
This is not new. Neither Jane nor feminism nor women hold a
monopoly on projecting one's evil onto others. Few are not sometimes
guilty to some degree. (That driver didn't signal! He's not proper,
like me.) Righteousness has long been a preoccupation of our culture,
but promoted to a cult it is a social pathology. Yesterday's
Temperance Movement and KKK -- both driven by righteous superiority
-- are today's zero-tolerance of drugs or crime, smoking, alleged
dead-beat dads, and even masculinity. It is our own evil we project
onto others, to justify the brutality we direct at them.
A male Black doctor who grew up in Atlanta in the 1960s
recently said that he does not believe the amount of prejudice in
society has reduced. It simply finds new targets with changing
fashion.
"Male hierarchy" is another projection. For decades I was
never sure what feminists were referring to. I thought it may simply
be that men orient themselves by structure (as with maps), while
women orient by relationships (as with landmarks). Making this a
moral issue is highly curious.
But having read "Queen Bees and Wannabes" and "Odd Girl Out,"
I finally understand. The female hierarchy is far more extensive and
compelling to women than anything in the male world, so this is
projection, too. It is projection of both the significance and
meaning of the female hierarchy for women, and its confining nature.
Projected onto others, you don't have to face yourself.
It's like blaming men for the contortions to which women
subject themselves for physical beauty when the pressure for that
comes from women. Or those sneery allusions to male competition
when it's nothing to that of women, feminist demeaning of
anything male a fine example.
So the next time you're treated to one of these feminist
diatribes, don't just sit there in pain. Look for the projections --
of evil, hierarchy, and matriarchic control -- and consider. It's
not men they hate. It's themselves.
Copyright © 2004 K.C.Wilson. K.C. Wilson writes a weekly
column for MenStuff.org
and is author of several books on family and social issues, including
Co-prenting for Everyone and Where's Daddy. See his e-books at
http://wheres-daddy.com.
