I would consider myself something of an antithesis to the feminist movement. By the same token, I have nothing against the feminist movement; I’ve just never been able to understand its place in today’s world, especially here in the United States. We live in a country where women possess the same fundamental rights and opportunities as men; women have the unhindered right to vote, the female executive is a ubiquitous occurrence, and two of the last three Secretaries of State have been women. These are rights that women can’t even dream of having in some countries. Despite the unbounded success some women have obtained in the United States, others still choose to remain passive within the system and turn a blind eye to the fact that women really do have all the same rights as men. Instead of focusing their energies towards adding a productive contribution to society, they simply concentrate their efforts towards fighting an evil that doesn’t exist. This would be a comfortable frame of mind; to not feel the pressure to even try to achieve success by convincing oneself that success is out of reach. Unfortunately, however, this notion does not reflect reality. If the majority of feminists can’t even take themselves seriously, then it’s hard to comprehend how they expect others to. Furthermore, due to the modern feminist movement, and the feminist mindset at large, no respect is given to traditional gender roles in today’s liberal academia. Women who choose to abide by the Chivalric Code garner no respect among today’s ultra-liberal feminists. Such individuals seem to repeatedly forget that the traditional family structure is a crucial building block of democracy and society as a whole. The woman has always been indispensable to this institution, and women, as the more sensitive and emotional of the sexes, are irreplaceable in such a role. Being a housewife has always been considered an honorable position and has always earned societal respect. Women have, through the ages, been given credit for filling an extremely difficult, but essential, occupation. It’s hard to understand why, then, feminists, as a group who look to amass more rights, power and recognition for women, would shy away from the household, a setting in which the woman is the central figure, and has been across the globe for millennia. Additionally, within feminism, there is an inherent irony. As feminists fight for gender equality and unity, they are in fact displaying sexism towards males, perpetuating the very issue that they are committed to opposing. In today’s world, gender inequality exists only because feminists have convinced themselves that it does. For example, feminists didn’t spare a moment to attack Justice Samuel Alito’s support for an all-male Princeton University. Why, then, is the all-female school Wellesley not equally unjust? If Alito’s mere desire to maintain Princeton’s identity as a single-sex institution can be construed as sexism, then Wellesley’s desire to do the same should be subject to equal scrutiny. At the core of it all, feminists in the United States lack material evidence to support their cause. There have been at various points in history, and still are even today in far parts of the world, legitimate barriers on the rights of women. In places and times such as these, there has been plenty of room, and even a need for feminist movements. In the United States today, however, feminists are arguing for something that has already happened. It is quite clear that, in attacking the very institutions that allow for their movement’s existence, such individuals have lost sight of the rights and liberties they have been privileged to receive.
