The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Young Feminist Has Problems

Posted on | June 18, 2014 | 112 Comments

Erin McKelle Fischer (@ErinMcKelle) is a Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies major at Ohio University whose name I recognized because in February I quoted her denunciation of “heteronormative” virginity:

“The idea of your first penis-in-vagina sexual encounter being something significant and life altering (well, for women anyway) has origins in women being considered property.
“That is to say, virginity is a social construction that came about because of the commodification of women. . . .
“Virginity is heteronormative.
“Virginity assumes that penis-in-vagina sex is somehow a special type of sex that is different from all others.
“This means that there is an assumption that engaging in heterosexual vaginal sex is the standard (and should be) for your sexual activities.
“Heterosexuality is the norm, and virginity just works as reinforcement to this.”

So I was already familiar with Ms. Fischer’s name before I encountered her column today at Everyday Feminism about “the very real struggles that young feminists face,” e.g.:

A lot of it comes down to there not being a whole lot of opportunities for young people to get paid for their work. If more paid internships and fellowships, programming, and feminist-based work designed for young people existed . . . this could help bridge the age gap.

In other words, Feminism, Inc., doesn’t have enough job openings for all the Women’s Studies majors who would like to become full-time professional Marxist lesbian man-haters, but Ms. Fischer declares our belief that feminists hate men to be a “stereotype”:

Unfortunately, because of common stereotypes about feminism, many people think feminists are all just angry people, man-haters, or “killjoys.”

Excuse me, Ms. Fischer, for logically inferring that a woman who expresses hostility toward “penis-in-vagina sex” and the “norm” of heterosexuality might be hostile toward men in general. Also, Ms. Fischer, have your Ohio University professors taught you that your historical analysis — “women being considered property . . . the commodification of women” — is derived from Marx and Engels? If you haven’t yet read Engels’ Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, you should, so that you understand that those who teach you this stuff are just repeating the errors of 19th-century radicalism. The idea of “traditional sexual relations” as “oppressive and humiliating” to women, of “the woman . . . being humiliated by the domination of the man,” and monogamy as a male imposition required by “economic development” — it’s all right there in Engels. The fact that tens of millions of people were killed on behalf of the insane Marxist vision . . . Well, I don’t suppose they teach that history at Ohio University, do they?

In her column, Ms. Fischer describes her own feminist journey:

I discovered feminism first when I was 15 and read Jessica Valenti’s book Full Frontal Feminism. . . .
My stepmom found out about a program taking place through my local rape crisis center that was geared towards developing youth activists and educators. We would be learning about sexual violence, as well as doing projects out in our communities that we would be compensated for. . . .
This changed my life.
This was what brought me back to feminism, as I would check out hooks, Lorde, and MacKinnon out from their resource library, not to mention learning about gender-based violence, oppression, and privilege. It inspired me and my mentors encouraged me to take action and do more.

Permit me to say that any high-school kid who reads radical feminists like bell hooks, Audre Lorde and Catharine MacKinnon is likely to suffer permanent brain-warp. It’s like Nietzsche. I have long been of the opinion that no one should read Nietzsche until they’re old enough to realize that the syphilitic weirdo was a dangerous madman. Maybe by the time you’re 35, and have a full-time job, kids and a mortgage, you can read Nietzsche without suffering permanent brain-warp. Still, his books should come with a warning label: THIS NOTORIOUS GERMAN LUNATIC DIED OF BRAIN SYPHILIS.

But I digress . . .

In February, Ohio University’s Women, Gender and Sexuality program hosted a conference at which were presented such papers as “Using the Lesbian Gothic to Combat the Male Gaze in Film and Literature” (Alane Presswood), “Is Your Vampire Boyfriend Abusing You?: The Twilight Saga and Perceptions of Intimate Partner Abuse” (Kelly Choyke) and “Bridging the Paradox: SlutWalk, Culture, and the Quest for Identity” (Jennifer Seifert). Erin McKelle Fischer also contributed a conference paper entitled, “‘Am I Pretty Or Ugly?’: Why Online Harassment is the New Sexism.” While I can’t find Ms. Fischer’s paper onlline, the title refers to a much-discussed YouTube video genre in which teenage girls invite criticism of their looks. Ms. Fischer is very much an activist against “lookism”:

Why are “Fatphobia” and “Fat-Shaming” feminist issues? Maybe for the same reason the federal government spent $2.2 million for research on why lesbians are obese. And now, Erin McKelle Fischer presents, “5 Ways to Have a Body Positive Summer”:

 

Category: Feminism

Comments

112 Responses to “Young Feminist Has Problems”

  1. texlovera
    June 18th, 2014 @ 5:09 pm

    Dude. Find a mirror and use it, OK???

  2. robertstacymccain
    June 18th, 2014 @ 5:18 pm

    Fake AOL e-mail address using two different IP addresses (192.151.154.142 and 192.95.39.56) — what’s up, troll?

  3. robertstacymccain
    June 18th, 2014 @ 5:20 pm

    Fake AOL e-mail address using two different IP addresses (192.151.154.142 and 192.95.39.56) — how long you gonna keep this up, gutless liar?

  4. robertstacymccain
    June 18th, 2014 @ 5:27 pm

    You’re a troll using a fake AOL email address. Who you calling “loser”?

  5. jdp
    June 18th, 2014 @ 5:30 pm

    “Nietzsche is dead.”

  6. ThomasD
    June 18th, 2014 @ 5:31 pm

    Nietzsche is no better, and no worse than a long line of Utopians, probably starting with Plato. Some of his ideas are not necessarily bad (ie. eternal recurrence.) I’s just that coupled with some of his other ideas, or the ideas he learned from his forebears, his conclusions end up badly.

    The true font of continental poisons is no doubt Hegel – being responsible for not just the likes of Nietzsche, but also the entire socialist/communist/fascist totalitarian left, and Nietzsche’s lunacy holds no candle to that evil mass.

  7. concern00
    June 18th, 2014 @ 5:31 pm

    Liberals and logic? Surely you jest?

  8. The Daley Gator | Someone call a WAAAAmbulance for poor, victimized Feminists
    June 18th, 2014 @ 5:39 pm

    […] Since I am posting about Feminuts, I call them Feminuts because, well, they are NUTS, you might assume I am going to reference the internet expert on Feminist, Robert Stacy McCain. And you would be right […]

  9. Peregrine John
    June 18th, 2014 @ 5:48 pm

    Not that kind of mad. Dude is nuts.

  10. Peregrine John
    June 18th, 2014 @ 5:49 pm

    To be fair, they weren’t otherwise Occupied at the time.

  11. Jeanette Victoria
    June 18th, 2014 @ 5:54 pm

    Who would of thought an ugly fat man hater

  12. Del Truman
    June 18th, 2014 @ 6:06 pm

    “Virginity assumes that penis-in-vagina sex is somehow a special type of sex that is different from all others … ”

    You tell ’em, sister! I mean, other than it being the only type of sex that can propagate the human species … there’s nothing special at all about it.

  13. Mike G.
    June 18th, 2014 @ 6:14 pm

    Damn John…how does it feel to get owned every. single. time you come to comment on this blog?

  14. Mike G.
    June 18th, 2014 @ 6:15 pm

    But you’d be mostly wrong, as usual.

  15. DaTechGuy on DaRadio
    June 18th, 2014 @ 6:16 pm

    Worth noting that Jezebel is most famous for arranging the murder of someone who wouldn’t sell his property to her husband arranging for him to be falsely accused & stoned to death.

    Just the person I want my feminist web site named after!

  16. Dianna Deeley
    June 18th, 2014 @ 6:34 pm

    For which sign of a tenuous grip upon reality we remain devoutly grateful.

  17. Dianna Deeley
    June 18th, 2014 @ 6:40 pm

    And if we bring John Barleycorn into it, as you subtly suggest, we can have a merry time of it, as well.

  18. Dianna Deeley
    June 18th, 2014 @ 6:43 pm

    Especially exercise. It lifts the mood, as well as being good for the body. Maybe she would hurt a little less.

  19. Nan
    June 18th, 2014 @ 7:19 pm

    Babies R Us, right?

  20. Nan
    June 18th, 2014 @ 7:19 pm

    They’re attention-starved.

  21. Bob Belvedere
    June 18th, 2014 @ 7:25 pm

    It’s The Thelma & Louise Worship Syndrome.

  22. Quartermaster
    June 18th, 2014 @ 8:38 pm

    Did anyone tell Dan Collins about the video clip?

  23. Quartermaster
    June 18th, 2014 @ 8:40 pm

    They’re imported special from China for Walmart.

  24. Quartermaster
    June 18th, 2014 @ 8:43 pm

    The Germans were looking at moving his grave to allow expansion of a Brown Coal Mine. I’m guessing they might be a bit tender these days to any kind of perceived insult. as a result.

  25. Quartermaster
    June 18th, 2014 @ 8:44 pm

    No one has said otherwise. Genetics, however, determines limits to a very great extent. UnPC it maybe, but the universe really could not care less.

  26. Quartermaster
    June 18th, 2014 @ 8:46 pm

    The problem is he did. He just described the wrong guy while gazed in the mirror.

  27. Mentally Ill Male Feminists | Batshit Crazy News
    June 18th, 2014 @ 8:54 pm

    […] Young Feminist has problems (why go full on stupid so early in […]

  28. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    June 18th, 2014 @ 8:55 pm

    And they call me evil, jeeze louise!

  29. Jason Lee
    June 18th, 2014 @ 9:17 pm

    There’s certainly an element of irrational hypersexual hysteria, but they also have an aversion to procreative sex that in some ways harkens back to puritanical or Victorian attitudes. It’s very schizoid.

  30. jakee308
    June 18th, 2014 @ 9:57 pm

    Feminism is fat, ugly, stupid women complaining that they can’t get a date. (and since men will hit on just about anything, that’s a tough place to be)

    That they then develop this into a philosophy to justify their anger is not a surprise. What is a surprise is that they are entirely clueless as to the consequences to themselves, their family and their community if even 20% of what they believe were to become reality.

    But then they’re mostly all insane anyway. Mostly.

  31. jakee308
    June 18th, 2014 @ 10:01 pm

    That’s okay, the Nietzschean fan club hates itself too.

  32. jakee308
    June 18th, 2014 @ 10:02 pm

    Yes. You must.

  33. jakee308
    June 18th, 2014 @ 10:06 pm

    John, a slang term for toilet or bathroom. Someplace that ingests human waste and usually is a hygienically borderline space.

    Also slang for male who solicits prostitutes. Used by the prostitutes it’s considered a derogatory term. Someone who’s unable to attract anyone to interact with sexually or for mutual affection and has limited means to express themselves sexually.

    I think you qualify on both counts.

  34. jakee308
    June 18th, 2014 @ 10:08 pm

    It’s Amanda Marcotte.

  35. darleenclick
    June 18th, 2014 @ 10:18 pm

    geez, Missy Erin is ticked off because she started reading feminism at 15 then getting active at 17 and ZOMG feminists didn’t immediately make the leader .. or something.

    The entitlement attitude grates like fingernails on a chalkboard.

  36. cmdr358
    June 18th, 2014 @ 11:24 pm

    You sure that’s not just Paul Giamatti cross dressing for a new movie role?

  37. cmdr358
    June 18th, 2014 @ 11:37 pm

    I bet Ms. McKelle Fischer is enormously turned on by !s. Dunham.

  38. Bob Belvedere
    June 18th, 2014 @ 11:50 pm

    John Adams: The Hidden Tranny Years

  39. Allen
    June 19th, 2014 @ 4:49 am

    Personally, I revel in the idea that I have to drill a water well somewhere in the world for people who need clean water. It’s what we do.
    Is that H20normative?
    I do draw the line at stock tanks however.

  40. Dana
    June 19th, 2014 @ 6:46 am

    I believe that is properly spelled H8ER! Please make a note of it.

  41. Dana
    June 19th, 2014 @ 6:47 am

    Even Stevie Wonder thinks she’s ugly.

  42. Dana
    June 19th, 2014 @ 7:47 am

    Whilst a lot of people are making fun of the lovely Miss McKelle’s looks, I’m a bit more interested in what she wrote, specifically:

    A lot of it comes down to there not being a whole lot of opportunities for young people to get paid for their work. If more paid internships and fellowships, programming, and feminist-based work designed for young people existed (since there are many opportunities for older folks), this could help bridge the age gap.

    Perhaps, with Miss McKelle being only 19, there is time for her to reflect upon the answers to a few very obvious questions:

    1 – What is “feminist-based work,” and what economic value does it provide?
    2 – If you are unable to define “feminist-based work” and the economic value it provides, into what professions do you believe that studying such things in college will help you enter?
    3 – If you are unable to determine for which professions studying feminism and the like will prepare you, wouldn’t it make more sense to major in electrical engineering?

    Miss McKelle is certainly young enough to change majors, and, in engineering school would be a rare enough student — a white female — that she’d actually have more opportunities for normal, penis-in-vagina sexual intercourse, and would thus have the opportunity to become a useful and normal member of our economy.

  43. Dana
    June 19th, 2014 @ 7:50 am

    “Angry zaftig gal?” Ouch! 🙂

  44. Dana
    June 19th, 2014 @ 7:51 am

    But Sheldon, Leonard, Howard and Raj love reading comic books; it’s just that they got jobs in real fields to support their comic book habit.

  45. Dana
    June 19th, 2014 @ 7:55 am

    There should be points awarded for that comment.

  46. Dana
    June 19th, 2014 @ 7:56 am

    You know, if she’d just given Elliot Rodger some pussy . . . .

  47. Dana
    June 19th, 2014 @ 8:01 am

    Mr 308 wrote:

    Feminism is fat, ugly, stupid women complaining that they can’t get a date. (and since men will hit on just about anything, that’s a tough place to be)

    Alas! The ones who would actually hit on her, she wouldn’t want, the one’s she’d want would have already scored while playing in a higher league, and the ones with whom she’d have a chance of something real are too timid to hit on anyone, but still think that they deserved someone who wasn’t previously described as “zaftig.”

  48. Dana
    June 19th, 2014 @ 8:08 am

    If only she had turned around, so we could have seen if that blue bikini bottom was a thong. 🙂

  49. Daniel O'Brien
    June 19th, 2014 @ 8:45 am

    I’m sorry, that white flesh has not been exposed to the sun, bikini or otherwise.

  50. Dana
    June 19th, 2014 @ 9:29 am

    Are you suggesting that she’s a vampire?