It's a condition that's known to be chronic, progressive, and highly contagious.
With my own eyes I've seen bright, caring women fall under the sway of its deceptive
allure. They soon begin to speak and act like someone possessed.
Its initiates are taught that women are "strong and invincible," but at the same
time are the victims of an implacable patriarchal conspiracy. These
self-contradictory beliefs induce a stress-producing condition known as cognitive
dissonance. To relieve the discomfort, the girls are instructed to immerse
themselves in the radical ideology.
The next stage of the disease is marked by a loss of sense of humor,
self-centeredness, and a decreasing ability to perceive reality accurately. Some
adherents refuse to use lip-stick or brush their hair, believing such actions
contribute to their "objectification."
As the condition progresses, serious psychiatric symptoms begin to appear, including
paranoia, hysteria, and intense anger. Some of these persons become diagnosed with
conditions such as
borderline personality disorder.
In its most extreme form, the disorder becomes life-threatening. Just look at the
picture of high-priestess Andrea Dworkin that was taken shortly before her untimely
death last year.
Somehow Ms. Dworkin doesn't appear particularly liberated or enlightened. In fact
she looks downright miserable.
It's hard to dispute the fact that millions of women have been duped by the chimera
of radical feminism. How will we help these poor ladies?
One program, Rachel's Vineyard, offers weekend retreats to help women (and men)
grieve the loss of their aborted children. That's a good start.
But many feminists have become skeptical of the value of therapy. Traditional
cognitive approaches don't work, of course, because these women have been taught
that reason and logical thinking are the cause of their distress.
Other women got involved in a rogue form of counseling called "feminist
psychotherapy," which teaches patients that patriarchy is the cause of all their
woes. Imagine going to a counselor to get help
for your abusive tendencies, and being told join the N.O.W. for the cure! Wonder how
much they charge for that advice?
Obviously psychotherapy will make only a dent in the epidemic. What we need is a
massive de-programming effort to help the millions of Gender Studies grads who now
endure lives of resentment and barren solitude. They urgently need a helping hand --
what will we do?
The solution is a 12-step self-help program -- you guessed it: Feminists Anonymous.
With no apologies to the Friends of Bill, here are the 12 Steps to gender recovery:
1. We admitted we were powerless over feminism -- that our lives had become bitter,
lonely, and meaningless.
2. We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we
understood Him. (That's right, Him. Now's the time to get rid of that Wiccan
broomstick stashed in your closet.)
4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. (Hint: Humility is
the first step in the path to self-awareness.)
5. We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of
our wrongs.
6. We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character --
despite the self-professed good intentions of Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem.
7. We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. We made a list of all men and women we had harmed, living and unborn, and became
willing to make amends to them. (Practice saying, "I'm sorry" in front of the mirror
each morning.)
9. We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so
would be impossible, or would injure them or others.
10. We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly
admitted it. (If you haven't already taken your name off the Feminist Majority alert
list, do it now.)
11. We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with
God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the
power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry
this message to feminists, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Over the years I've seen far too many families destroyed, too many men broken, too
many children harmed, and too many women forced into "choices" that they later came
to regret.
These women deserve our compassion and understanding. Let's put an end to the insanity.
Carey Roberts has
been published frequently in the Washington Times, Townhall.com,
LewRockwell.com, ifeminists.net, Intellectual Conservative, and
elsewhere. He is a staff reporter for the New Media Alliance.
