‘Hi, We’re Lesbian Feminists and We’re Here to Talk to Your Daughter About Sex’

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Carmen Rios (@c_rios) is a “raging lesbian feminist” who is (a) communications coordinator for the Feminist Majority Foundation, and (b) a columnist for the lesbian blog Autostraddle.

On her Twitter account, Rios calls herself the “Tweeter-in-Chief” for the Feminist Majority Foundation’s account @Majority Speaks, which means Rios was responsible for this message:

That message linked a blog post at the Feminist Majority Foundation’s blog, which cites a study that claims: “Children should begin receiving formal education about sexual health as early as age 10” because “sexuality and gender identity begin emerging between the ages of 10 and 14.” It’s important to reach kids while they are “still malleable,” the researchers said:

“If programs, based on the healthy adolescent framework, rooted in human rights and gender equity, are implemented at a time when adolescents are still malleable and relatively free of sexual and reproductive health problems and gender role bias, very young adolescents can be guided safely through this life stage, supported by their parents, families and communities.”

Hmmm. They want to target these programs, based on “gender equity,” at kids who “are still malleable and relatively free of . . . gender role bias.” What do you think those terms “gender equity” and “gender role bias” mean? And why are Carmen Rios and the Feminist Majority Foundation so excited about this? If you were a suspicious type of person, you might wonder about such things.

People sometimes ask me, “Stacy, where do you find this crazy stuff?” In this case, I was looking for some information about university Women’s Studies programs and — thank you, Carmen Rios! — encountered a very interesting Autostraddle article:

Rebel Girls: The Illustrated (And Quite
Condensed) History of Women’s Studies

Among other things, Ms. Rios reported in that article:

Ms. magazine found that over 900 programs in the women’s studies field were functioning in the US in 2009. That meant 10,000 courses teaching over 90,000 students at 700 colleges and universities across the nation were fueling critical thought on gender, class, race and sexuality. That included 31 Master’s programs and 13 Ph.D. programs across the country and the world.

This was the information I was looking for — data on the number of Women’s Studies programs and their enrollment — and it is further helpful to know that (a) Ms. magazine is published by the Feminist Majority Foundation, and (b) this research about Women’s Studies was done “with generous support from the Ford Foundation.” However, Carmen Rios’ article at Autrostraddle did not merely chronicle the history and provide statistical data about Women’s Studies. She included this bit of colorful commentary:

In the early 2000s, academics across the discipline grappled with a title for their field. . . .
Is it Gender Studies? Women’s Studies? Women’s And Gender Studies? Sexuality Studies? Gender and Sexuality Studies? LGBT Studies? Queer Studies? Feminist Studies? . . .
Coursework in a women’s studies class today might cover issues of race, sexuality, gender expression and identity, sexualization and socialization of women, global women’s rights and various international diaspora, history, art or peace. Women’s Studies remains an interdisciplinary field, making its name all the more difficult to decide on. Is it Women’s History and Theory, or is the program really Lesbo Recruitment 101?

She said that, not me, although it is helpful to have — from the communications coordinator of the Feminist Majority Foundation, no less — such a frank admission of the not-so-hidden agenda in Women’s Studies as it is generally taught on American college campuses. And obviously, “the personal is the political” for Carmen Rios:

Women’s Studies Saved My Life, And
I Want It To Change Yours, Too
I think women’s studies saved my life, but I don’t know what that means. Maybe that I’m not good at anything else – that I failed at being normal, that I failed at falling into line, that I failed at being everyone else, that I’ll never talk to God. . . .

(This is another possible definition of “feminist” — a woman who has “failed at being normal.”)

When I was 17, I took my first women’s studies class. I was still in high school, but I had elected to take courses at the local community college. . . .

(Got to reach ’em early, you see.)

The woman at the helm of this experience was named Bonnie. “I try to remain impartial about most things,” she told us, “except for two: Ronald Reagan and Phyllis Schafly.”
That was when everything changed. . . .

(Not that there’s any political agenda involved, you see.)

I was raised a feminist — albeit one who, before this class, knew almost nothing of my foremothers or the movement I would come to call home. . . .
Then one day, I was 17, and Hillary Clinton was running for President, and every day I would eat yogurt with granola at the café in the student center and swing my legs while I read from our textbooks for my course. I started to realize how connected I was to something so much larger than myself, and how important it was for me to recognize that, to own it, to live it. . . . This one course had shifted my core. It had shattered my entire understanding of the world. . . .
For me, the rest is herstory: I graduated high school, became a women’s studies major and a raging lesbian feminist in college, and moved into the non-profit sector. I went into that movement and never came back out — and now, I do my best in my professional life to bring it to everyone else.

How many times do I have to repeat it? Feminism is a journey to lesbianism. Women’s Studies is a vehicle for that journey, as Carmen Rios is honest enough to admit. It’s interesting to see how prominent she was as a student at American University in 2011:

You’ve definitely heard her name around campus or at least seen her and her hard-to-miss hairdo crossing the quad on a mission. Frankly, if you haven’t, you don’t even go here. Carmen Rios, current director of Women’s Initiative (WI) is a staple on American University’s campus. She’s got wild hair and a feisty attitude to match. . . .
Carmen was a big part of Slut Walk DC back in the summer [of 2011] and even spoke at the event! Because she came to DC, she was able to nail awesome internships like Holla Back DC!, a grassroots organization aimed at ending sexual harassment and assault in DC. As well as the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, which conducts research geared toward the needs of women to promote public dialog, and the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF), which promotes women’s equality and empowerment. . . .
Keep an eye out for some study breaks and big events this spring from Women’s Initiative! They’ll be hosting The Vagina Monologues, celebrating Women’s History Month in March, and, of course, Take Back the Night will take place in April again.

You can read the whole thing, but there are two words you won’t find in that feature profile: “gay” or “lesbian.” Why would this campus publication omit these terms from an article about the student director of American University’s Women’s Initiative, when she herself identified as a “raging lesbian”? Never mind. The more relevant point is her involvement with events like Slut Walk DC and “Take Back the Night,” both of which are about rape. Campus activism about rape provides a means of disseminating the core message of feminist ideology, i.e., that men are evil and dangerous and that male sexuality is inherently violent and oppressive to women. She won an award for this:

Carmen Rios, current Director of Women’s Initiative, was the co-recipient of the Feminist Research Award for her efforts to end sexual violence on college campuses. Rios says, “the topic of sexual violence is consistently relevant to college-aged women, since one out of every four undergraduate women will experience sexual assault.”

This “one out of every four” claim is a phony statistic lacking empirical support. But who needs facts when you’ve got an ideology?

As anti-rape strategies go, becoming a “raging lesbian feminist in college” could arguably be effective, which may be why lesbian feminists so frequently lament that their numbers are so few. According to a Huffington Post survey last year, only 18 percent of women identify themselves as feminists, and only 5 percent call themselves “strong” feminists. By a 32-29 margin, a larger percentage of women consider “feminist” a negative term than a positive term. And despite decades of gay activism, about 98 percent of women are heterosexual, according to government research.

Fanatical ideologues are not easily deterred, however. If decades of campus activism aimed at turning college girls into man-haters — Women’s Studies as “Lesbo Recruitment 101,” as Ms. Rios calls it — have so far failed to have the intended effect, then obviously they need to reach girls at an earlier age. There might be some parental resistance, of course, if these radicals were honest, showing up at your local elementary school and declaring: “Hi, we’re lesbian feminists and we’re here to talk to your daughter about sex.”

Instead, the American Association of University Women has started advocating to implement “gender studies” programs in public high schools, and the Feminist Majority Foundation is enthusiastic about the prospect of teaching 10-year-olds about “sexuality and gender identity” with a focus on “gender equity” while girls “are still malleable and relatively free of . . . gender role bias.” Now, if only they can do something to stop all those heteronormative Disney cartoons . . .





 

 

THE ‘SEX TROUBLE’ SERIES:

 

141 comments

  5. Wilhelm Reich’s ideas are alive and well in these people. In The Mass Psychology of Fascism Reich talked about how it’s much easier to break down moral standards when people are in groups as opposed to individually. We see this same strategy today with the feminists mentioned here, colleges having shows of The Vagina Monologues and so-called sex education (read initiation) programs introduced in the 1970s. After all he coined the term “sexual revolution”.

    I view it as another reason to avoid public schooling or if this isn’t possible parents should at least be aware of the philosophy behind getting children into group situations where moral reorientation is happening (see also: Miriam Weeks / Belle Knox).

  6. “getting children into group situations where moral reorientation is happening”

    An apt and concise phrase.

  7. I bet an in-person meeting with her is a Twilight Zone experience. She looks like stumbled into some space-time anomaly in 1973 and emerged in the here and now.

  8. You know, at age 10, most kids are at about the introduction to human biolology phase, than the how to get down and dirty with someone.

    These people are MAD.

    And their Gods of the Marketplace will soon fall.

  9. They want to get them at an early age because deep down, they know sexual orientation is not predetermined at birth. They want “converts.”

    If they truly felt all lesbians were “born that way”, they wouldn’t feel the need to do outreach like this.

  10. There is only one major issue today, and that is economics and those who have the power to control it. Yes, economics is an umbrella under which numerous other issues fit like the wealth gap, rising living costs, banking, corporate taxes, consumption, and the environment, but still it’s the only thing worthy of consideration. Lesbians are not trying to brainwash young girls during their public school education. You are gay, or you’re not. Handing them a pamphlet or doing a lecture on their options is not going to change that. The rest is just right wing moral hysteria.

  11. To hear conservatives tell it you’d think lesbians are using the Ludovico technique to turn your children queer. If you took this article and substituted the word lesbian for Jew it would read like something out of Nazi propaganda.

  12. Utter bullshit. Even in today’s semi tolerant environment gay youth live in fear, and letting them know they need not feel ashamed, and there is a system of support available to them is a positive thing. Only lunatics on the socially conservative right see nefarious intentions where none exist.

  14. “The Dyke Squad”

    I can hear the wocka-wocka guitar riffs from the theme song just looking at that hairdo.

  15. Fanatical ideologues are not easily deterred, however. If decades of campus activism aimed at turning college girls into man-haters —Women’s Studies as “Lesbo Recruitment 101,” as Ms. Rios calls it — have so far failed to have the intended effect, then obviously they need toreach girls at an earlier age.

    I, for one, cannot wait for the first university rape culture kangaroo court to be convened to assess the credibility of an 18 year old freshman coed who claims she was mauled by the 21 year old Lesbian Womyn”s Studies major at a mixer. The Andrea Dworkin quote tattoos will be key physical evidence, I think.

  17. And you have not been paying attention. As our host as so ably documented, the Radical Feminist Movement which populates Women’s Studies programs preaches as fact that gender and sexual preference is a social construct created by the nefarious Patriarchy to subjugate women. They maintain that political, chosen Lesbianism is the only escape. They specifically deny the “born that way” explanation. Again, this is not some conservative conspiracy delusion. It comes from their own writings and statements.

  19. You know, when people who are passionate about their religion talk about how it saved their lives and how they want to spread it to other people, they are called all sorts of names, told they are Christofascist nutbags, made fun of for believing in a higher power, and in general read the riot act about how they are oppressing people by sharing their beliefs. A lesbian feminist finds salvation in feminism? We gotta spread this to impressionable youth everywhere! And how DARE you imply we are trying to brainwash your kids (even though we’ll openly admit that’s exactly what we are doing)?

  22. Boy it did not take you long to go all Godwin.

    Here is something to ponder SoltGoes, most parents do not want their kids indoctrinated with strangers BS (especially when those strangers seem focused on corrupting youth for their own sexual pleasure). Funny how lefties love to bash Catholic Priests, but when their own “priesthood” engages in things that should not be part of public education is is mostly crickets or claims those protesting are the bigots.

  25. Evi, don’t you know you’re supposed to be overjoyed and awed at the opportunity to have your children’s minds “fixed” by the all-knowing intelligencia and any reservations or hesitation on your part means you are a huge bigot and you want your children to be trapped in heteronormativity?

  26. If one has to talk to someone about something, then that thing is obviously not what comes naturally. It is clear that homosexuality is something that has to be taught and indoctrinated otherwise no one would practice it.

  27. You are the lunatic. Homosexuality needs to be indoctrinated to survive. And homosexuals need to recruit at a younger and younger age as lesbians leave the life quite often, per the current wife of the Mayor of New York. She proves homosexuality is learned behavior, not natural. Go back from whence you came demon!

  29. Do you have any references to substantiate that claim that “gay youth live in fear” or is this more appeal to emotion like your Reductio ad Hitlerium comment below?

  30. Yeah, I’m a communist doofus, and a hate filled world view is one that tolerates difference which you seem so expert at. Try again.

  31. Yes, letting young people know they don’t need to hate themselves, and have a support system is a terrible evil, and they must be forced to live inside confines you personally find acceptable. It’s pathetic that people like you waste your intelligence with such petty ignorance, and fear.

  32. Yes, I had the audacity to read feminist books and articles, and quote them.

    Facts are the new hate.

  33. The 1970’s called, they want their hair back….

    I would say that this kind of crazy surprises me, but it doesn’t.

  35. ad hominem

    Ad baculum

    Appeal to ridicule

    Appeal to spite

    Wishful thinking

    Godwin/ Reductio ad Hitlerium

    Your arguments are sound … nothing but sound

  36. The fact that they are bullied at greater rates, commit suicide at higher rates, and runaway from home at higher rates. as far as sources, do your own homework. a quick google search will give you all the info you need.

  37. […] ‘Hi, We’re Lesbian Feminists and We’re Here to Talk to Your Daughter About Sex’ That message linked a blog post at the Feminist Majority Foundation’s blog, which cites a study that claims: “Children should begin receiving formal education about sexual health as early as age 10? because “sexuality and gender identity begin emerging between the ages of 10 and 14.” It’s important to reach kids while they are “still malleable,” the researchers said […]

  38. I think you need to write that book Instapundit suggested about these freaks and behind each story of this sickness known as feminism include a story of a devastated life of pedophilia on a child.

  40. Yap yap yap yap. Blah blah blah blah. It really frosts your cookies that there are people in the world who don’t see deviance as a badge of honor, doesn’t it?

  42. How dare you! Report immediately to your local re-education camp and denounce yourself at once to the camp commandant.

  43. It is absolutely bizarre, but for some odd reason Disqus is making it look like you are replying to yourself and therefore are incredibly schizophrenic. I’ve seen it do this before, so I get that you’re not, it’s just weird that Disqus does this.

  48. Maybe because homosexuality accompanies a lot of mental disorders?

    At one time homosexuality was considered mental illness by the American Psychiatric Association, but the gay lobby bullied them into changing that definition.

    Everybody has been bullied and ridiculed at some point in their life, yet homosexuals have much higher rates of suicide.

    Homosexuals are not happy even when they fully embrace their homosexuality and live in communities that welcome them with open arms.

    It’s not society that’s the enemy.

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