Was Feminism A Backlash Against Abuse?

One claim made by well-meaning rightwingers is that feminism, although a terrible idea that has done significant damage to society, must be understood in the context of backlash against the abuses women suffered by men. This view postulates that feminism is an overreaction against certain ills that women faced and, in order to both understand and properly combat feminism, it must be understood in this situation. While this idea may have (on the surface) some merit, and many early feminists cited abuse as the origin of their work, it as an oversimplification of what actually took place.

Before I begin this essay, first let me state that I do not deny that women, at times, faced horrific abuses by men in the pre-feminist world. It was deplorable and there was no excuse for it. But, it is critical to remember that abusive men were, in fact, considered wicked in the West and, more importantly, measures were taken to combat their misbehavior. Yes, it was not a perfect system, but no system built by men can be. And, this leads to the major problem with understanding feminism in terms of backlash – the major civilization that treated women the best was also the one that birthed feminism. The fact that the West treated the fairer sex better than any other civilization is beyond serious debate at this point. Thanks to the influence of Christianity, women married later and had a far greater choice over whom they married. Furthermore, by banning polygamy, women had greater leverage within their own marriage, for they were the one and only wife rather than just another wife, if not a sex slave. Making divorce difficult, by drawing from Matthew 19: 1-11, also improved the condition of women because it meant a man could no longer abandon his wife for growing old.

Contrast this to the rest of the world and we can clearly see just how well Western women have historically been treated. The Islamic world tends to be viewed as the biggest offender in contemporary society, but in reality, women in both India and China had it even worse due complete male dominance – hence why those societies were able to produce something like the sati and feet binding. Many White feminists have ended up in horrifically abusive situations by marrying non-White men, a situation that could have been avoided had they simply understood the trends of world history rather than adopt the stunningly naïve view that White women are the natural allies of non-Whites against the “evil” White patriarchy. If feminism could be understood, in terms of backlash against abuse, it certainly would have arisen in the area of the world where cruel mistreatment was far more common. But not only did it not originate there, its cultural impact has been far more minimal than in the West, even to this day.

What’s more, these women are often strong supporters of practices that would be deemed as deplorably sexist in the West. To pick just one particularly illustrative example we can look to Afghanistan. Though it might seem impossible to Western ears, the Taliban does enjoy a significant amount of support from Afghan women, especially outside Kabul. There is simply no way for a guerrilla army to sustain itself for 20 years, as the Taliban did, without significant civilian, and particularly female, support. Guerrilla armies live and die by the willingness of the civilian population to put their lives in danger by supporting them, and the Taliban clearly met this goal. Furthermore, they would not have been able to take over the country practically overnight without a great deal of support among women. The simple fact of the matter is that, to Afghan women, the United States is a wicked occupying force bringing sin and destruction with them and the Taliban is fighting for the Afghan way of wife.

To understand the real origins of feminism we must not look at “the West” for its origins, but a particular area of the West – Yankeedom. A map of the active feminist organizations during the 19^th century will show one curious fact – they hit a hard stop at the Mason-Dixon line. Feminism was the interest of Yankee women, not Southern women. Feminism, although it has overtaken the West, is ultimately a product of Yankees and the areas of England Yankees came from. Feminism is the product of a Yankee mindset that is on a mission to change the world and remake it in their own image. In practice, this means going on crusades to rid the world of “oppression.” As soon as Yankee women decided that women were oppressed, feminism became part of this little crusade. Yankees, who should be distinguished from some of the good folks who live up north, were the natural people by which feminism could triumph. And because the Yankees have largely ruled the world since 1945, it is only natural that this era has been the success of their ideas, one of which is feminism.

I certainly do not deny that women have faced horrific abuses in the past, and while the West was certainly better than the other major civilizations, it was not entirely blameless. However, the rise of modern feminism, and especially its radicalization in the 1960s, cannot be understood as backlash against that abuse. It was simply too limited in the areas from which it arose. Rather, it was (and is) another Yankee attempt to make everyone else like them, the same mentality Southerners have been fighting against for nearly two centuries.

Harmonica