So They Say: "Why Most Feminists Are Voting for Obama"

Today, in the spirit of bipartisanship, civil discourse, and plain old curiosity, I attended an informational session hosted by the College Democrats at my school entitled, "Why Most Feminists Are Voting for Obama." The speakers were two professors, who unabashedly support Obama, and obviously want to let everyone else in the entire world know why they should too. Actually, I don't think there's really anything wrong with that. Professors should certainly not be censored for their political views. I do, however, worry about the influence these professors may have on the impressionable voter, which is why I am fairly outspoken when it comes to politics, providing the conservative alternative or reaction to liberal ideology. Thus, this blog.

For those of you even barely familiar with me, you know I'd be the last to trumpet the causes of liberalism and feminism, but that doesn't mean I didn't learn a few things at the presentation. Mostly, I was confronted with liberal reckoning and forced to offer a valid refute to their ideas (all in my head, of course). So, not surprisingly, by attending a liberal event, I came away with reinforced conservative values. (Go ahead, call me stubborn- I’m not going to lose sleep over it.)

I had one major objection with the presentation today: the idea that feminists alone stand for women and women’s rights.

Feminists claim to be engaged in an ideological crusade for women's "rights," but this claim has to be taken cum grano salis. You should never take a group's own description of itself for granted. So, I have attempted to come up with a clear idea of feminism.

To oversimplify the matter, feminists stand for women. One thing that really bugs me about feminists is their presumption that they speak for all women, and that they truly know what is best for women. Obviously, this doesn't stand. Take my own mother for instance: a single working mom, raising three kids, putting one through college and dealing with the teenage rebelliousness of another. She is the feministic archetype of a woman. And she is a conservative- not because of Sarah Palin, but because of what she has always personally believed. My mother would reject the feminist claim that they accurately represent her. Feminists do not represent all womankind; instead, they stand for advancing their own liberal agenda, and unfortunately, anyone who criticizes them will be labeled as sexists.

So, I’ve established that feminists do not stand for women in general. Well, perhaps they stand for women’s rights, as they often claim.

But, what exactly are women's "rights"? The right to an abortion? I hardly think so. Abortion, I gathered from the presentation, is a huge issue for feminists. To digress slightly, the professor emphasized that liberals support a woman's right to choose, and that includes choosing to keep her baby. I have a feeling that many conservatives misinterpret this liberal approach as encouraging women to have abortions. That's not necessarily true; liberals just want to keep the abortion option open on the table for women. However, I don't buy the liberal approach to abortion because it is nobody's choice to terminate another's life. (I know I’ll probably get objections to this, but let’s move on, since it’s not the point of this blog.)

So then, moving on… What are some other women’s “rights”? Perhaps the right to equal pay? I completely agree- that's not exclusively a liberal or feminist issue. That’s something we all believe in, regardless of political affiliation. You don’t need to be a feminist to advocate something like that.

Here’s a phrase that kept coming up during the presentation: "reproductive rights." What exactly is that supposed to mean, anyway? Partially the right to an abortion, no doubt. I suppose it also means the right to birth control. Well, okay, I also have no objections to that- this idea is also not an exclusively liberal or feminist issue, despite the fact that many liberals have self-righteously convinced themselves it is.

I’ve heard feminism described as “the radical concept that women are people too.” Are feminists implying that the rest of us are “anti-women?” I’m offended by that, as if conservatives were secretly planning to repeal the 19th Amendment or something.

I’m becoming frustrated here- what are the unique issues that feminists fight for? What is it that the political establishment supposedly oppresses in women? Why do feminists even exist, if they have no unique purpose?

I eventually concluded that feminists, in the sense of the word we all are familiar with, are not for women or women’s rights, they are just liberals who happen to be women. As I’ve already stated, the abortion issue is just a liberal issue, and all the other issues about women are issues that are universally accepted, for the most part. To be honest, I can find no unique reason for the existence of feminists.

To wrap up this blog, I’ll close with this. The reason why most feminists are voting for Obama is not because he supports the feminist agenda (and therefore, the feminists’ ludicrous claim that he supports all women's "rights" in general). Most feminists are voting for Obama because they are liberals- it’s that simple. I didn’t need to attend an informational session to know that. No one should mistakenly believe that because feminists favor Obama, all intelligently minded women should also.