A recent article by popular conservative talk-radio host, Dennis Prager, entitled “Four Legacies of Feminism” (National Review Online, 11/1/11), has evoked some interesting reactions around the blogosphere. For pointing out that many women suffered significant psychological trauma by heeding the feminist call to be as promiscuous as men (if they’re doing it, why can’t we?), Prager was labeled a “misogynist.” The ultra-liberals who detest Prager’s views on this issue, obviously never dated in high-school or university, never spent time in a singles bar, and certainly have never been married. If they had, they would have known what every comedy writer for a family sit-com knows: that men and women have radically different natures when it comes to love, sex, and marriage. To couch it in modern terms: while women are terribly shaken by sexual harassment, most men dream about being sexually harassed. The fact that a recent study showed a young woman’s likelihood of depression rose steadily as the number of her sexual partners climbed is not surprising to anyone who has their eyes in the front of their head. Of course, to suggest that men and woman are inherently different, even when it’s blindingly obvious, is blasphemous in liberal/feminist circles. Hence, Prager must be labeled as some sort of chauvinistic anti-christ.

For calling our attention to another obvious truth, namely, that many women experience deep regrets about having devoted the first half of their lives to building a career and then discovering they were past the age when they could attract a man for marriage and family, Prager was accused of…well, you can imagine. The other two “awful” legacies of feminism were, (a) the enormous numbers of children who were raised, not by their mothers, but by nannies and daycare center workers, and (b) what Prager described as the “demasculinization of men.”

Actually, there is a fifth “awful” legacy of feminism -perhaps the most significant of all- and I would be curious to know why Prager left it out. That fifth legacy, of course, is the elevation of the act of killing an unborn baby to the level of not only a constitutional right, but to the realm of the noble and sacred. Why did the destruction of unborn children become such a central dogma of feminist philosophy and culture? Not only is the answer very simple, but understanding the answer reveals to us everything that is wrong with feminism.

The underlying premise of Feminism

In American culture, who is important? Who do we honor? Who do we stand up for and admire? Who do we “oooh” and “ahhh” over? Who creates a stir at a party or gathering? It is the wealthy, the famous, the successful, and the powerful. Anyone who does not fit into one of these categories is at best, second-tier, a hanger-on, a drone, as if we are more uncharitable, a nobody, and perhaps even a loser. Up until the mid-60’s the overwhelming majority of women could not possibly fit into any of these groupings. After all, a woman who spent most of her day running a household, raising children, and being a loyal and devoted wife, did not have much time left over to acquire wealth, fame, success, or power. Women were shut out from doing and achieving everything that made a human being a “somebody.” In this sense they were relegated to second class citizenship and they got mad as hell and were not going to take it anymore. Riding on the ideological waves created by Betty Friedan and other feminist ideologues, women asserted their right to enter into the “important” world of the men.

It becomes eminently clear that the underlying principle which drove the feminist movement was the notion that what men did was significant and meaningful; conversely, that which was feminine was to be considered inferior. This, of course, is a classic illustration of the particular type of brainwashing known as the Stockholm-syndrome. The oppressed individual ends up identifying with the oppressor. This was the reason why black men would enthusiastically subject themselves to the painful process of straightening their hair. Straight hair was “white,” and good, kinky hair was “black,” and inferior. It is clear then, that to describe the woman’s movement as “feminist” is highly misleading. In fact, it was a “masculinist” movement. To be good, you must do what the men do.

The most common stumbling block for a woman who is seeking wealth and fame is the discovery of a baby growing inside her uterus. Therefore, it becomes obvious that the first unshakeable dogma of feminism must be unrestricted access to birth control, including the destruction of a conceived baby. Ironically, in order to feel empowered, women ruthlessly attacked that very aspect which made them uniquely female; the inherent ability to nurture and produce life itself. Along with this was the denigration of devotion to motherhood and family. These are all feminine qualities and had to be discarded if a woman truly wanted to make it. As Prager so aptly put it, “Whatever feminists may say about their only advocating choices, everyone knows the truth. Feminism regards work outside the home as more elevating, honorable, and personally productive than full-time mothering and homemaking.” It also becomes clear why feminism promoted promiscuity. Promiscuity is a naturally masculine trait. Therefore,  it is superior to the feminine tendency to view physical intimacy as part of a committed, loving relationship. It goes without saying that men were only too happy to go along with this aspect of feminist ideology, albeit with tragic results for so many women.

The Fifth Legacy

Recently we were able to see the gory consequences of the fifth legacy – the glorification of unborn-baby killing. In January of 2011 the story broke about a Philadelphia police raid on an abortion clinic run by Dr. Kermit Gosnell. According to former employees, Gosnell killed “hundreds” of newborn babies outside the womb by severing their spinal chords after induced labor. Gosnell was charged with eight counts of murder, which included seven newborn babies and one client who died after a botched abortion. Two employees have also been charged with 3^rd degree murder charges. Tina Baldwin, a worker at the clinic, told investigators that Gosnell once joked about a baby that was writhing as he cut its neck, “Now that’s what you call a chicken with its head cut off.” The abortion equipment itself was broken, dirty, and rusty. The Grand Jury report stated that the Pennsylvania Department of Health and Department of State had turned a blind eye and allowed the clinic to wallow in filth for years.

The soulless response of feminists to this mass murder is typified in an article written by Rachel Walden on the Women’s Health News website: “It is an abomination when woman cannot receive safe, legal abortion services…The situations described in news reports are a violation of the women who trusted Dr. Gosnell and his staff to provide safe, good quality, abortion procedures.” The moral outrage is not about the deaths of hundreds of babies, it is about the poor quality of the abortion services provided by Gosnell. In other words, if the babies had been killed in a clean, sterile, and efficiently run “clinic” everything would be peachy. Walden continues with her liberal, feminist, and politically correct talking points: “the grand jury documents describe explicit differences in the treatment of women depending on their race, with women of color singled out for worse treatment…That is not okay. It is never okay. This explicit singling out of women of color for poorer treatment is an abomination.” What a monster that Gosnell is. Not only did he provide poor abortion services, but even worse…he is a RACIST! (Gasp!) Poor Dr. Gosnell should be given some credit, after all, he killed the white babies as well as babies of color. Doesn’t that count for something?

In fact, the reason why Gosnell killed the babies after they were born is because he was too unskilled to deliver the lethal injections to the babies while they were still in the womb of the mother. If all these hundreds of babies had been killed by a skilled doctor like – “ding, dong, the witch is dead” – George Tiller in Kansas, before they exited the womb, then Gosnell could have continued on indefinitely. One thing we can say about Tiller is that despite the fact that he killed thousands of late-term unborn children (nearly all for contraceptive purposes), HE WAS NOT A RACIST.

In Conclusion: The Tragic Mistake of the Feminist Movement

The part that feminists got right was that women were shut out from achieving wealth, fame, and power, while they were relegated to home, family, and children. The tragic mistake was their solution. What they failed to realize was that the essential problem in American society was not what the women were doing; it was what the men were doing.

Is the primary goal of a human being to amass wealth, to achieve fame and success, to acquire power? Is the goal of a human being to be “king of the hill?”

Devotion to marriage? Building intimate relationships? Creating a nurturing and loving home environment? Raising and educating children? Bringing new life into the world? These are inferior?! These are the activities that form the core of our humanity. The ways in which we engage in these activities are what distinguishes us from the beasts of the jungle.

What women needed to “roar” about was that men had lost themselves in the world of blind ambition and the relentless quest for “success” while relegating to second class status, the core values that make human life worth living. Instead of creating a “revolution” to restore the soul of American society by demanding that men realign their priorities and values, women deserted their posts and recklessly jumped into the world of male foolishness, which consists of two basic categories: (a) the endless pursuit of sex and (b) the endless pursuit of wealth, fame, and power; or as males of every age proclaim in locker rooms all over this great country of ours, “It’s all about money and *******.”  For breaking down the male-only locker room doors and allowing women to force their way in, we offer a hat-tip to Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem.

If only they had realized that a society which has lost the understanding that it must be built around the inner/feminine aspect of our existence, is a society that has literally lost its soul. It is a society that will dump its freshly killed, perfectly formed unborn children into plastic garbage bags while bestowing heroic status on the “doctor” who became a millionaire by dumping them there. I believe it is time for a new female-led revolution. A revolution where women will reclaim for our society light and life, instead of darkness and death.

Rabbi Moshe Averick is an orthodox rabbi and author of Nonsense of a High Order: The Confused and Illusory World of the Atheist. It is available on Amazon.com and Kindle. Rabbi Averick can be reached via his website.

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