Men prefer action movies, women prefer rom-coms. No matter how hard the leftists of entertainment try to change things, men and women continue to give money to the products they like.
Perhaps the most hilarious example of feminists’ desperate attempts to preserve the fiction of socially constructed gender roles is their efforts to exclude transgender people from the movement. Feminists would be totally fine with trannies if they didn’t pose an existential threat to decades of gender pseudoscience. Male-to-female trannies say they are women born in a man’s body. The comparatively rarer female-to-male trannies say they are men born in a woman’s body. In both cases, they’re affirming the idea that gender is something we’re born with, not something that society imposes upon us. Worse, trannies tend to reaffirm gender roles in their behaviors: male-to-female trannies will wear skirts and lipstick and make their voices as feminine as possible to “pass” as a woman. Female-to-male trannies, similarly, are obsessed with growing chest hair.
You can see why some feminists are frustrated. After decades of trying to persuade women to burn their bras and shave their heads, along come a bunch of trannies with YouTube makeup tutorials and high-pitched girly accents. As Julie Bindel, a prominent feminist critic of transgenderism says, “It is precisely this idea that certain distinct behaviors are appropriate for males and females that underlies feminist criticism of the phenomenon of ‘transgenderism.’”98
Feminists may be right, and trannies may simply be mentally ill rather than “born the wrong gender.” But it has nonetheless led to one of the longest-running internal feuds in feminism, the battle between so-called “Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists” (TERFs) and the hipper, pro-trans wing of feminism. (“TERF,” how appropriate given radical feminist’s tendency for rug-munching).
The latter faction, which tends to skew younger and less academic (which perhaps is why they don’t fully grasp the danger that the “born this way” concept poses to feminism), has had the upper hand in recent years, successfully banning anti-trans feminists like Bindel and Germaine Greer from university campuses. I wish both sides the best of luck. I’ll be in the wings, eating popcorn and giggling.
There is now an overwhelming array of evidence against the out-of-date, 1960s theory that gender is socially constructed. But really, we don’t even need it, do we? Unless you live in your basement for your entire life (and some men do, but only men!), the reality of gender differences is inescapable.
Nothing is more amusing than watching the frustration of feminist parents as they come to terms with this reality. Shannon Proudfoot, a writer for the left-leaning Canadian magazine Maclean’s, lamented on social media that she could “already see her daughter preferring pink.”
“I have no idea why because we’ve worked so hard to avoid that,” wailed Proudfoot.
Joel Wood, an assistant professor at Thompson Rivers University quickly replied with some emotional support. “Pink and Disney princesses… we tried to discourage them, but our daughters gravitated towards both.”99
I find the anecdote both hilarious and uplifting. It’s hilarious, in the same way that watching a cartoon villain humiliated by a plucky hero is hilarious, and it’s uplifting because no matter how hard leftists try, they simply can’t beat human nature. Why are they trying to force their daughters to reject what they like in the first place?
Beyond their ignorance of the facts, modern feminists fail to understand the inherent value and beauty of gender roles. The masculine and the feminine, and their interplay throughout history, have been responsible for some of the greatest expressions of art and culture, from Tristan and Isolde to even Titanic. Could Shakespeare have written Romeo and Juliet without a healthy understanding of men, women, and their essential differences? Jane Austen did not become one of the most renowned authors in the English language by having her characters dye their armpit hair and join a lesbian commune. Her protagonists relished in their femininity even as they struggled with it. Gender differences are part of the human experience.
In pursuit of their hare-brained crusade to destroy gender roles, feminists want to control the lives of boys and girls in minute detail. Ordinary people recognize this for what it is: authoritarianism.
If feminists want to regain credibility, and perhaps tackle the issues that still matter to women, they will first have to come to terms with reality—and that starts with the reality of gender roles.
More importantly, they will have to rediscover a commitment to free speech and start showing up to debates again, armed with facts instead of feelings.
MANIPULATORS
I often face accusations that I’m too harsh toward feminists, and I can see why people say so. After all, I don’t just critique feminist arguments, do I? I never miss a chance to draw attention to their appearance. And let’s face facts: some of them look frightful. My old favorite Lena Dunham is a particular travesty, being both shockingly unattractive and determined to pose nude or semi-nude at every chance she gets. And she loves bitching about how people give her a hard time about it. So as a thoughtful gentleman, I will comply. No one wants to see obese hairy men with their tops off, so why does she assume people want to see her sprawling naked like a beached manatee? I just don’t understand it. Luckily for all of us, the stress of President Trump is getting her skinny. That’s my Daddy, always helping the helpless.
I will readily admit that my fixation on appearance is part of my faggy obsession with aesthetics. Like a true gay stereotype, I used to do a lot of interior design. Bad aesthetics offend me on a visceral level, and I can’t help but point them out on both men and women. I often draw attention to the pallid complexions and thinning hairlines of my male opponents—but enough about Ben Shapiro.
If there wasn’t a point to my appearance-focused one-liners, if they served no greater purpose, and if all they accomplished was mere cruelty, I would happily contain my impulses. However, there is an important, underlying point to this that most people overlook.
It’s so much fun!
Okay, okay, I’m kidding. It’s this.