When the #MeToo movement started, I was alarmed. Coming of age in the ‘80s and graduating from law school in the ‘90s, I never thought of myself as a frail victim needing protection from men. In law school, my study partner was a guy with smelly feet which was the only toxicity I feared.
Amen sister. Your essay resonates. I’ve got 2 teen girls and 1 older teen boy. My girls think I’m an “ anti feminist “ because I don’’t accept we’re in a battle against “the patriarchy “ and because I don’t like the term “ toxic masculinity “ used every time a man shares an opinion or walks in the room. Uphill battle. I really feel for these girls and my son. I’m very sad about it actually. Thanks for the essay.
I feel for you on that. I had to listen to CRT rhetoric from my high schooler for three years. I had no idea about continental philosophy and associated Frankfurt with hot dogs. Luckily there are many old college lectures on it. Ironically, young people are asked to dismiss the system of beliefs of old dead white men based on the rhetoric of old dead white men. Perhaps if you play an interview with Herbert Marcuse by Bryan Magee for your daughters they will get what a creep he seemed. Women, while a social construct, were to be useful in promulgating the ideology. Listening to it I thought of My Fair Lady where the good professor laments why can't a woman be more like a man? https://youtu.be/0KqC1lTAJx4
Thank you, excellent essay. I came of age in the late 70s, college in the early 80s; I can relate to your observations. I find it hard to communicate to my young adult daughters how positively things have changed for women. And now here we are going backward...
Amen sister. Your essay resonates. I’ve got 2 teen girls and 1 older teen boy. My girls think I’m an “ anti feminist “ because I don’’t accept we’re in a battle against “the patriarchy “ and because I don’t like the term “ toxic masculinity “ used every time a man shares an opinion or walks in the room. Uphill battle. I really feel for these girls and my son. I’m very sad about it actually. Thanks for the essay.
I feel for you on that. I had to listen to CRT rhetoric from my high schooler for three years. I had no idea about continental philosophy and associated Frankfurt with hot dogs. Luckily there are many old college lectures on it. Ironically, young people are asked to dismiss the system of beliefs of old dead white men based on the rhetoric of old dead white men. Perhaps if you play an interview with Herbert Marcuse by Bryan Magee for your daughters they will get what a creep he seemed. Women, while a social construct, were to be useful in promulgating the ideology. Listening to it I thought of My Fair Lady where the good professor laments why can't a woman be more like a man? https://youtu.be/0KqC1lTAJx4
Real female empowerment died when women were expected to be held accountable for their actions and behaviors.
Thank you, excellent essay. I came of age in the late 70s, college in the early 80s; I can relate to your observations. I find it hard to communicate to my young adult daughters how positively things have changed for women. And now here we are going backward...
Thank you so much for reading. It is a surreal experience, isn't it?
I disagree. What is more empowering than the ability ruin a man/competitor's career with no evidence? In 2023, *that* is real female empowerment.