It looks like the discussions we have had about feminism on this blog have not happened in a vacuum. The debate continues about whether many–NOT ALL–of the tenants of feminism have backfired in the new generation of men and women. According to an Economist/YouGov study:

Just 28% of Americans consider themselves feminists, with women twice as likely as men to use that label for themselves. And the latest Economist/YouGov Poll suggests that for women at least, feminism is generational, with the youngest women and those who came of age during the 1970’s feminist movement the most willing to use that label for themselves.

Here’s something significant:

The willingness of women to call themselves feminists depends on their age. Only 28% of women 65 and older say they are feminists (the baby boomers now make up only a small proportion of this older group); 41% of women between the ages of 45 and 64 say they are. This group would have come of age and political awareness during the 1970’s, when the feminist movement was at its most visible and perhaps most active.

The next age group, women between 30 and 44, grew up seeing some of the backlash against the movement, and just 32% in this group call themselves feminists. But now, with what may be a renewed attention to women’s issues (including discussion of women’s role in the workplace, and controversies over funding for contraceptives) the youngest women in this poll, those between the ages of 18 and 29, are just as likely as those between 45 and 64 to call themselves feminists.

I am in that age group that has denounced some aspects of feminism. I witnessed the wacky feminist theories gone amok and how families and children suffered and I’m not ashamed to say I was totally disgusted. Kids in daycare 12 hours a day and “studies” saying that was perfectly okay, bullcrap about how “resilient” children were even when you rip their families apart, the LIE that women can be both mother AND father, the self-centered claptrap about how your children are happy when you’re happy and can do whatever the phuck you want.

As far as the “free sex” goes…utter bullshit. I’m counseling a young girl in her mid-twenties right now who was fed that load of bull and is SUFFERING TERRIBLY because she was under the mistaken impression that you can be “friends with benefits” without falling in love and suffering over the fact that you have been replaced by a woman “good enough” to be the girlfriend and the wife.

It is things like the above that gives feminism such a bad name. Destructive theories that hurt people and families and cause emotional suffering.

To be clear, not all aspects of feminism have been destructive, but to continue to say that all the other crap is passe and not mainstream is to behave like an ostrich. Perception is reality. If people think feminist ideals are too radical, it’s about time the folks in charge rethink their own messaging, because they are LOSING.