It’s not in trouble here. I have hit the ground running upon returning from my month in Idaho and week-long road trip on either end, have fallen in love with LA all over again, and am obsessed with migrating (eventually) to a new website. The light in September! Every day I am torn, and from about three pm on, would easily simply sit on my balcony and drink it all in till the sun goes down.
I love women. In fact it’s because I do love us that I feel we have veered somewhat off track. I think the woman who wrote the below is onto something.
“The idea that men don’t have to think about the things women think about—but should!—is at the heart of feminism’s complaints today. It is at once a silly and impossible demand. It requires that we not only reorient society to accommodate all of women’s desires but that we rewire men’s brains to share all of women’s concerns.
This is a game men cannot win. Having been twisted into pretzels to be supportive and thoughtful and to limit their ambitions to make room for those of their wives, men in the American elite are now being publicly blamed for the fact that their wives cannot turn off their consciences, their sense of obligation to their children, and the nagging sense that maybe making money and having things aren’t the most rewarding things to do with your life…
Feminism has already largely corrected everything it can possibly correct, including the behavior of men. So now what?
Fourth-wave feminists are living through a period in which feminist dreams have become reality. And they are finding that reality unpleasant… Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised. Feminism may have delivered greater freedom for women, but it has never delivered greater happiness. In fact, longitudinal surveys suggest that women are less satisfied with their lives today than they were a few decades ago. Having more choices—as we all do in an age where Amazon can bring thousands of brands of shampoo to our doorstep tomorrow and Facebook allows us to pick among 17 different gender identities—does not make our lives richer…
This is not a problem that feminism or any political or social movement can solve. It is not a problem at all.
It is the human condition. [italics mine].”
–Naomi Schaeffer Riley, from a piece entitled “Feminism Is In Trouble”, from Commentary.
Check out my newest book, RAVISHED: NOTES ON WOMANHOOD, if the spirit moves as well.