Feminists Losing Bipartisan Support
by W.F. PRICE on MARCH 15, 2012
The broad bipartisan support enjoyed by feminists since segregationist Virginia senator Howard Smith shoehorned women into the 1964 Civil Rights Act is finally starting to crumble. The wedge issues that have pitted Republicans against feminists are public and employer funding of contraception and, believe it or not, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which was named in a manner so as to gain the support of white knighting social conservatives.
Facing criticism from their increasingly fed-up male constituency, Republicans are finding themselves having a difficult time supporting VAWA, even though some state that they’d still like to support the bill.
Jeff Sessions of Alabama says:
I favor the Violence Against Women Act and have supported it at various points over the years, but there are matters put on that bill that almost seem to invite opposition… You think that’s possible? You think they might have put things in there we couldn’t support that maybe then they could accuse you of not being supportive of fighting violence against women?
Of course that’s how the bill was crafted — oppose anything in it and you’re instantaneously labeled a batterer. In our chivalrous, white knighting culture, it was the perfect means of extortion. New provisions inserted into VAWA include, among other things, expedited visas for immigrants who claim abuse, an extension of domestic violence to include stalking, and funding to force male college students to cross-dress as part of a political indoctrination program.
As difficult as it may have been for politicians to oppose anything purportedly protecting women in the past, things have changed palpably in the past few years. There has been a cultural shift; a return to some balance and normalcy. Not enough, but things are headed in that direction.
By relying on support from men from both sides of the aisle, feminists have gone from victory to victory over the past few decades, but that era is drawing to a close. The Republicans may be taking the initiative, but eventually the Democrats will face some pressure from their male constituents as well. If they count on any support from men at all, Democrats, too, will have to acknowledge that men have both rights and humanity, and begin scaling back some of the excesses and misandry that have characterized gender politics in the US since the cultural revolution of the 60s and 70s.