By Jennifer McKean
Arizona Daily Wildcat
January 28, 1998

Exploring feminism at its worst

Arizona Daily Wildcat Jennifer McKean

Women have come a long way since 1587, when Virginia Dare was the first baby born to English colonists in the New World. Pioneering women like Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who held the first Women's Rights Convention in 1848, dedicated their lives to fighting for basic human rights for women in the United States.

Because of the unprecedented battles these women fought, we are all better off today, enjoying the luxuries of equality in education, employment and the law. I lived down the street from the Susan B. Anthony House in Rochester, N.Y., named after the courageous women's rights activist who was tried and convicted of voting illegally in 1872. I am aware of my rights as a woman. I am thankful that I am so free to express myself the way a citizen of the United States should.

However, many women hold "grudges," to put it mildly, against the system for the unfair treatment that women received hundreds of years ago. Members of our society are still angry about the persecution of women during the Inquisition, rightfully so, but they are blaming the "oppression" of women on modern-day men, instead of the particular time in history.

The feminist movement is a wonderful celebration of women's natural distinctions, but their extremist way of thinking can be hazardous to your health. Why are some women insisting on changing the English language to suit their particular political beliefs of the moment? How many times have I heard the word "history" be changed to "herstory" and "women" be spelled "womyn"? By creating your own spellings for words, you are in effect discriminating against yourself, separating yourself from mainstream society and treating yourself as a minority.

Feminists think they are fighting injustice in the system and are insisting that women are still receiving the short end of the stick in employment, education and the eyes of the law. Don't underestimate us. Women hold executive positions in major companies around the world and earn reasonable pay. We are involved in government, law and politics.

I don't speak for a whole gender, but I do what I want to do in this world, not what society dictates for me. Nobody has molded an image of the kind of woman I should be. We all have options. Women are still more advantaged than any racial minority. I don't want to jump on the bandwagon and benefit from affirmative action or any other cause aimed at helping a minority group. I will make my own path in life, and I don't need a crutch to get me there.

"I treat depression, and I've seen a lot of patients who are products of these women's studies programs. The radical feminist movement is fostering depression in women - fears of environment, somatization [excessive preoccupation with the body], and paranoid thinking," says Fredrick Goodwin, the former director of the National Institute of Mental Health and a professor of Psychiatry at George Washington University.

The Independent Women's Forum refers to this feminist frenzy as "the politics of victimhood." Some women are brainwashed into believing that they've been "oppressed" all of their lives. Human beings can be miserable without being victims of gender bias.

Marilyn Frye, a popular feminist and author of the article "Oppression," describes a scene where a man is opening a door for a woman. It's not because he's a gentleman, Frye says. "But each repetition of this ritual has a place in a pattern," she said. She believes that the door-opening pretends to be a helpful service, but it really implies that women are incapable. Frye says that men will never help when substantial assistance is really wanted.

What ever happened to just being a gentleman? Men do some things better than women, and women do some things better than men. There's no reason to fight that natural logic. Feminists are always harping on the inequalities of men and women, but what about their natural qualities? Women are intelligent, creative, sensitive and nurturing. I don't care if it's a stereotype. There's nothing wrong with admitting that you can be a vulnerable person. It doesn't mean you have slave over a stove every night cooking dinner for your husband and six children.

Jennifer McKean is a junior majoring in Journalism. Her column, "In Sunshine and in Shadow," normally appears every Tuesday.