The Backlash! - November 1994

• Sexist stereotypes have a way of becoming self-fulfilling. Regardless of who is stereotyping whom.

• March 1994, Musa Haniki is convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 11 years for killing his wife after years of suffering her abuse. October 17, 1994, Bob Faw highlights this case on NBC Nightly News, and wonders if Haniki represents a system that is being "had" by the abuse excuse. What Faw and most others miss is that while a man who kills an abusive wife can expect to serve a few years in prison, a man who yells back at an abusive wife and "makes her afraid" can expect to live in the shadow of the pop-feminist driven Domestic Violence system for the rest of his life.

• During a lecture at the University of Washington on October 12th, Naomi Wolf, who is pregnant, said she now believes by law, pregnant women should be treated like national treasures. And how, we wonder, does she now believe we should treat women who have abortions? Arrest them for pillaging?

• In her fourth book, Wolf said she will discuss how women are built to have orgasms 24 hours a day, and a stable (patriarchal) society can't exist unless men/society suppress female sexuality. Didn't Freud say essentially the same thing in Civilization and its Discontents?

• James Smethurst, Executive Director of Seattle MEN asked Ms. Wolf that if she has a boy, will she have him circumcised. Instantly she guffawed, "Castrated! I'll have him castrated!" How very enlightened. I'm sure we all had our consciousness raised, and that we can rest assured a woman of such good humor would surely laugh just as heartily were her husband to joke about eviscerating their child's gonads should it turn out to be a girl.

• Feminists say, "The personal is political." What's the male-equivalent? "The personal is professional." Men experience sexual rejection, and that motivates them to overcome the rejection via professional status.

• Oprah Winfrey made millions airing male-bashing "victims." Now, several men's organizations and publications are coming forward with proof that "victimization" goes both ways, and Oprah decides she's going to clean up her image. No more victims, she says. Right, Oprah. And next, Madonna will try to tell us she's a virgin, again.

• When men are equal in the bedroom, women will be equal in the boardroom.

• Most men aren't intimidated by brilliant women, we're just bored by average women who think they're brilliant.

• A bigot is a person who isn't willing to correct an erroneous stereotype.

• In Why They Don't Call When They Say They Will, feminist author Joy Browne humorously suggests that, in the eyes of most women, a man commits adultery if he even looks at another woman. What makes Dr. Browne's remark funny is that it's close to true. The sad thing about this is, men should look at other women. And when men look at other women but remain true to their wife or girlfriend, aren't they doing more to prove their love than they do by not looking?

• Everybody says that it's women who make men settle down. With many married acquaintances whose wives are wilder than they, I disagree. It's not women who settle men down, but children. Take the children away, ...

• The pop-feminist model of male sexuality is based on boys. Between about ages 11 and 19, male behavior is strongly influenced by hormones.

• In her book, Backlash, Susan Faludi sees everything in terms of a patriarchal conspiracy. Fashion designers trying to increase profits are out to dominate women. Television producers trying to produce shows that reflect their own values are anti-feminist. Well, everything and anything can be phrased in term of a communist plot ... uh, I mean, backlash. For example, remember the 1970's backlash against male sexuality? "Premature ejaculation," and all that? And what about the backlash against male self-sufficiency? "Men never stop to ask for directions." Once you buy into the conspiracy theory, they're everywhere.

• Poor princess! Archetypal victim of patriarchal oppression, Princess Diana has been accused of making harassing phone calls. Why did she do it? Lonely, loss of celebrity, and loveless, she's a victim. Uh-huh, and were she a man, speculators would undoubtedly attribute it to anger, machismo and a desire to dominate.