Why I don’t take feminists seriously

First of all, let me tell you how thrilled I am to receive hate mail from a feminist named “Daisy.” I can’t think of many names – with the possible exceptions of Coco, Mercedes, and Jasmine – that could make you sound less like a feminist and more like a stripper in a club that offers two-dollar table dances. Nonetheless, I will try to answer most of your questions, sent via e-mail.

In your opening paragraph, you asked me, a) whether my wife hates me as much as every other woman in America hates me, b) whether I am against women voting, c) whether I am against women holding elective office, d) whether I think rape should be legalized, e) whether I think women should be banned from the workplace, f) whether I think all women should be barefoot and pregnant, and, finally, g) whether I support female genital mutilation.

The answers to those seven profoundly rational questions are as follows: No; No; No; No; No; No; and No.

Unfortunately, your final question, which consumed most of paragraph two of your e-mail, will take a bit longer to address. But that’s okay. The question “Why don’t you take feminists seriously” is an important one. It deserves a more complete response. So here are my primary reasons:

1. I do not consider 21st century feminism to be a political ideology or philosophy.

American feminists generally do not become feminists because of some well-defined political goal. For example, in your email you enumerate several important political objectives. You want to vote. You want to be free to hold elective office. You want rape to be illegal. You want to be able to work. You don’t want to be forced to get and stay pregnant at all times. You want genital mutilation (of females) to be illegal.

I have an important newsflash, Daisy: You have already achieved all six of these political objectives. But, nonetheless, you continue to rant. And you continue to live in the past. That makes it difficult to take you seriously.

2. Generally speaking, feminists get together with other feminists because it is less expensive than seeing a therapist.

Feminists are usually drawn together by an inability to deal with men. When they get together, whether in a small group or a large one, criticism of males tends to dominate the discourse.