Several of our Canadian readers wrote in recently to bring our attention to a slightly insane piece put forth by the editorial board of the National Post that blames Women's Studies programs for, well, basically everything.
Discussing a recent shift in Canadian universities that is leading many schools to rename their Women's Studies programs Gender Studies, in order to broaden the field, the National Post editorial board feels it necessary to warn the good people of Canada that the name change alone will not stop the hideous evil of the "radical feminism behind these courses [that] has done untold damage to families, our court systems, labour laws, constitutional freedoms and even the ordinary relations between men and women." Oh, ladies. If you'd just stayed in the kitchen, Canada wouldn't have devolved into Mordor over the past 50 years. For shame!
While most of the tipsters who wrote in about the bizarroville editorial urged us to rip it apart, I found myself staring at the screen in bewilderment more than anything else: the piece is so completely insane and off the rails that one doesn't really need to make fun of it, as it stands as a joke on its own. "The equality protection before and under the law, granted to all Canadians regardless of race, sex, creed or origin, has been eroded because feminist legal scholars convinced the Supreme Court to permit preferential treatment for 'traditionally disadvantaged groups,' chief among whom, they contend, are women," the board writes. Note the sarcastic "quotes" given to "traditionally disadvantaged groups." Because women are totally equal in today's society, are we not? We're free to eat yogurt and buy shoes, right ladies? What the fuck are we bitching about? Wah wah!
The piece just gets progressively more insane as it goes on, I'm afraid: Women's Studies programs, or, more accurately, women, are blamed for everything from pushing employment equity to mandatory diversity training to pushing for "for universal daycare and mandatory government-run kindergarten." Can you believe these bitches? Universal daycare!? For what? So they can work!? Who will cook for the men!?! Will they have to learn to darn their own socks? Why don't women darn socks anymore?! HELLO!?! I AM A MALE AND MY PRIVILEGE IS BEING CHALLENGED! SOMEONE HELP!
Thankfully, the readers of the National Post are expressing their disgust with the piece, noting that editorials such as this one are, in fact, the very reason why Women's Studies programs are necessary to begin with. Perhaps commenter JCraw sums it up best: "this is what misogyny looks like, stream-of-consciousness style."
Women's Studies Is Still With Us [National Post]
[Image via ToothpasteForDinner]
DISCUSSION
As a male-to-female transsexual who has spent 99.9% of her life living as a man, I think that, as a whole, this article is trash. But I also think that it is unwise to ignore the important seed of truth that gave birth to this ugly tree.
Men do have a gripe with the feminist movement. Many women (certainly not all women) have a skewed view of "equality."
Probably the most visible example of that in the USA are the laws surrounding selective service. Every man, at the age of 18, must register for the draft. The penalties for ignoring this are severe:
[www.sss.gov]
I do not, have not, and probably will not ever see the feminist movement ever campaign for the right for women to be treated equally as men when it comes to selective service or the right for men to be treated equally as women when it comes to selective service.
Simply put, it seems perfectly fine to most women that men can be forced into war while women can choose to stay home.
Another example is Title IX where women now have far greater opportunity to participate in athletics, because women's sports get equal funding even though there is not equal interest. There was some talk about extending Title IX into the hard sciences, and that would be catastrophic if it happens. Women interested in hard sciences are already sought after by universities and are given preferential treatment for admission in many universities. The opportunity is equal even if the numbers aren't.
I think we need to come to an understanding that women and men are fundamentally different. We need to write laws and encourage institutions to strive for equal opportunity, not equal numbers. There are certainly many places where women are at a disadvantage, but we need to realize that there are places where men are at a disadvantage and strive to eliminate that too.
Maybe it is a bit of Stockholm Syndrome on my part, but living the life of a man, but inside knowing that I really am a woman. I think that men need liberation too. People should be free to do whatever they want.