OPINION:
The problem with today’s notions of feminism is that they rarely make sense.
Merriam-Webster defines feminism as the “theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes,” and the “organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests.”
Sounds good, right? Who, except the misogynists — and they don’t count — wouldn’t want both sexes to have equality at work, equality in pay, equality on the social circuit, equality with voice and vote, equality even in the military, so long as battle-ready standards and missions aren’t compromised?
But sadly, feminism has taken a deep dive off Common Sense Cliff.
Take this Vanity Fair article, for instance, published just this week. Apparently, Silicon Valley is filled with seedy dudes who use their wealth to climb the social ladders that their tech-savvy nerdiness prevented them from accessing in high school. They’ve learned the sex attraction value of a whole lotta money. So they’re gaining entrance to all these gluttonous parties where orgy-type sex is not just offered, but then used as a masculine bragging right — as a sort of feather in a man’s cap, so to speak. Evidently, there’s no shame in these parties. For participants — the males, anyway — it’s the modern-day equivalent of yesteryear’s little black book, with a massively sexual twist: Look who I hooked up with last night.
But for the women?
The women participants have a different story to tell.
Here’s a summary from the article that explains the woman’s side of things: “Ava was working as an executive assistant at Google when she ran into her married boss at a bondage club in San Francisco,” the news outlet reported. He was receiving oral sex from a woman who was simultaneously engaging in sex with another man.
Ava and her boss reportedly made eye contact, but neither spoke of the incident, then or ever.
But then this, Vanity Fair continued: “[A] few months later, at a Google off-site event, another married male colleague approached her. ’He hits on me, and I was like, What are you doing? … He was like, I know who you are. The other guys said you like all this stuff.’ Someone had outed Ava. She quit working at Google shortly thereafter.”
Now, in all that, take a look at Ava’s beef. And remember: This is the same Ava who was a willing participant in the party in the first place.
” ’The trust works one way,’ Ava says,” Vanity Fair reported. “’The stigma for a woman to do it is so much higher. I’m supposed to be in this industry where everyone is open and accepting, but as a woman the punishment is so much more unknown.”
Her gripe? Basically, that men can engage in an orgy and it’s cool, but women — uncool.
This is feminism?
This is what the whole fight for equal gender rights has become — a fight for the right for promiscuity and adultery and unnatural relations, and moreover, a fight of women to be regarded in high esteem, no matter their engagement in promiscuous and adulterous acts?
Ava’s story, and the whole Vanity Fair article, in fact, demonstrates the circus show that’s become the fight for equal rights — the degradation of a once-noble cause into mud.
Feminism, at its best, is supposed to be the elevation of women as equal to men in IQ, inventiveness, creative spark, athleticism, business savvy, work ethic, drive, ambition, entrepreneurship, competitiveness, and so forth and so on. But for years, that mission’s been muddled. And women themselves are largely to blame for the muddling.
Danica Patrick made her professional car-racing debut years ago, finishing as a top-place finisher in the Indianapolis 500 in 2009 and keeping pace with the men while driving competitively in both NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup series. You’d think that’d be bragging rights enough.
But no, Patrick then had to go cut super sexy Super Bowl commercials for GoDaddy, some of which were rated too hot for television. That’s in addition to her Sports Illustrated swimsuit photo shoots, one of which resulted in this somewhat dubious headline on YouTube: “NASCAR Beauty Danica Patrick Goes Topless for Her Steamy Photoshoot.” The message received?
Not only can a woman work hard and excel in a male-dominated field — not only can a woman forge through a gender-divided fire and emerge a success.
But she can take her clothes off, too.
That’s not feminism.
That’s a setback to feminism.
And it’s terribly confusing because it says a woman’s sexiness is what counts most.
There’s a biblical principle that applies here, and it goes like this, from the book of Matthew: “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.”
Seriously, ladies, if God’s gifts are the pearls and talents from above are what’s holy, why jump in the mud and dirt of human lust to showcase animalistic relations and soft-porn pictures as something inspiring and worthy of high regard? That’s not feminism. That’s just the obliteration of morality and virtue — and honestly, that’s nothing for either sex to crow about.
Contact Cheryl Chumley on Twitter, @ckchumley, or email, cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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