Feminists preach the absolute equality of the sexes in all respects,
save for one. They believe in the unequivocal moral superiority of women
over men. The notion has become so entrenched that people don't bother
to question it any more.
Originally, people believed that morality also resided with the male
sex. Indeed, the word "virtue" comes from the Latin root "vir," meaning
man. And in Colonial America, fathers were expected to be the moral
exemplars and preceptors of the family.
But then the Industrial Revolution swept the nation in the mid-1800s. As
the primary breadwinners, fathers were forced to leave their farms to
labor in the factories, the mines, and later the corporate high-rises.
Soon mothers moved to fill the domestic void. Women came to be viewed as
the Guardians of Goodness to shield their families from the
contaminating influences of the outside world.
When feminism came along, it preached that the Patriarchy was to blame
for the misdeeds of women. Take the feminist dogma on domestic violence,
for instance. Research shows that DV is instigated
equally by men and
women. But feminists continue to
insist that women strike their husbands only because they have been
abusive and controlling. How's that for a silly excuse?
So misbehaving women were able to have their cake and eat it, too. They
got away with murder - sometimes literally - content in the smug belief
that their moral compass always points north.
Then came those shocking pictures from Abu Ghraib, including the one
with Leash Lady gleefully mocking the prisoner's genitals. Of the 7
soldiers charged with misconduct, 3 are female: PFC Lynndie England,
Spc. Megan Ambuhl, and Spc. Sabrina Harman.
This time around, the ladies couldn't blame their actions on the male
power structure. The prison was directed by Gen. Janis Karpinski. And
the top U.S. intelligence officer in Iraq was Major Gen. Barbara Fast.
So here was female barbarism and debauchery, all on full-frontal display
in the newspapers.
It's not an exaggeration to say that what passes for radical feminist
discourse these days is sometimes hard to distinguish from a clinical
state of hysteria, narcissism, and paranoia. So who would have expected
the awful pictures would trigger a round of remorseful introspection by
feminist commentators?
Mary Jo Melone of the St. Petersburg Times starts off by
admitting,
"Feminism taught me 30 years ago that not only had women gotten a raw
deal from men, we were morally superior to them."
Melone scrolls through the usual litany of implausible explanations, and
then finally laments, "Or am I just making excuses, unable to believe
that women are incapable of this?"
Writing for the Washington Post, Melissa Embser-Herbert
voices
similar
angst: "In Abu Ghraib the tables are turned. Men - men who have been
characterized by many as evil, or at the least not to be trusted -- are
on the receiving end. And women, long held up by our society as a
'kinder, gentler' class of persons, are engaging in abuse and
humiliation."
But it was Barbara Ehrenreich whose confession was least expected. First
toeing the feminist line that women are assumed to be "morally superior
to men," Ehrenreich is then
forced
to concede,
"A certain kind of
feminism.died in Abu Ghraib."
Ehrenreich's admission is notable because she is the most radical-left
of the three writers. Ehrenreich is an
ardent
socialist and allegedly serves
as honorary
chair of the Democratic Socialists of America.
The problem with the "women are morally superior" dogma is not just that
it's wrong. The real danger is this belief is only a tiny nudge away
from the outright gender bigotry that one often sees on feminist
websites these days.
Evil is not a gendered phenomenon. It's just that men and women
personify evil in different ways.
So it is refreshing to hear card-carrying feminists finally admit that
sometimes women do act like mere mortals. And those sins cannot be
blamed on men.
