“The message of these guides, paradoxically, is not that women should subordinate themselves to men because men are stronger and smarter. It’s that women should subordinate themselves to men because men are very, very stupid and deeply, unbelievably weak.”
Sady “Tiger Beatdown” Doyle, with an insightful point in “The ugly truth about The Ugly Truth.” The point being, namely, that it’s somewhat ironic (or paradoxical if you are feeling more bloodless) that feminism is generally considered an man-hating brand of philosophy whereas popular notions concerning sexuality and gender actually hinge on a particularly vicious brand of anti-man philosophy.
It’s not really that paradoxical, though. I got into feminism in an organic way—by starting from the assumption that people should be treated qua human and not qua race or gender or having ugly faces etc. Which, whatever, I’m enlightened, I know. It seems as if some feminism starts from the end point (women are equal) and then tries to derive its tenets (that humans are equal). I think feminism would be better served, maybe, if—radical, lesbian feminists direct hate mail here—instead of starting with feminism qua feminism we kind of demonstrated that people should be treated as humans. Because if you get an interlocutor on board with that idea, it’s pretty easy to prove that women, gays, blacks, and the whole host of homo sapiens sapiens are humans.
Or not. Actually that’s probably the hardest part. Cf, “JOAN RIVERS PUSSY IS SO OLD IT HAS SEPARATE ENTRANCES FOR WHITES AND COLOREDS!”
