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Oppressive. Authoritarian. Patronizing. Choosing "intimidation and groupthink" over reason and education. Pursuing their own political agenda at the expense of women. These descriptions now apply more accurately to American feminists than to any vestigial "patriarchy," argues Ashley Herzog, Ohio University student and author of Feminism vs. Women. Herzog lucidly presents the facts that undermine such items of feminist orthodoxy as the prevalence of domestic abuse, the disadvantages women face in school and the workplace, and the ways the sexual revolution and the erosion of marriage have benefited women. Feminists have shown a disturbing tendency to ignore or distort research that does not advance their goals, and Herzog's book endeavors to set the record straight. Herzog quotes feminists' actual statements of disdain and dislike for women who make "choices" different from their own, such as this from Linda Hirshman: "The tasks of housekeeping and child rearing [are] not worthy of the full time and talents of intelligent and educated human beings." Ominously, Hirshman wants to actively constrain women's life choices: "Prying women out of their traditional roles is not going to be easy. It will require rules." The book also exposes the feminist abortion agenda--an agenda "that involves a lot more abortions, but not necessarily more choice." First-wave feminists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton opposed abortion as an unmitigated evil, for children, society, and women. Stanton herself had seven children--"If Stanton applied for a teaching position in a women's studies department today, she would be labeled a 'Jesus freak' and promptly dismissed," writes Herzog. Stanton's true heirs are women who actually help other women-like the crisis pregnancy center (CPC) volunteers who support unwed mothers throughout their pregnancies and beyond. According to Jennifer Roback Morse, "pro-life women are the real champions of the most vulnerable women's interests. The pro-life movement is the New Women's Movement." . Ashley Herzog is a natural leader of the new movement of young conservative women who really do champion equity, freedom, and quality of life for women everywhere-even when those things don't line up with far-left policy goals. (Xulon Press, 2008, 154 pp., $14.99) |
Herzog brings to her first book careful research, as well as her experiences at the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute, as a researcher for Unprotected author Dr. Miriam Grossman, and as a conservative columnist for her campus's liberal student paper.
