From In These Times: http://inthesetimes.com/article/16157/our_feminized_society
How the gender perception gap makes a female minority feel like a majority.
BY Sady Doyle
January 22, 2014
Congratulations, feminism! It’s 2014—not even a hundred years since women won the right to vote in America—and already, the United States has been transformed into a man-loathing dystopia, where women rule all we survey, and men work night and day to appease us.
At any rate, this is what I gather from Fox News’ Brit Hume. With regards to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s growing reputation as a bully who takes disproportionate and petty revenge in response to any perceived slight, Hume opined that “in this sort of feminized atmosphere in which we exist today, guys who are masculine and muscular like [Christie] in their private conduct, kind of old-fashioned tough guys, run some risks.” Specifically, Hume says, “If you act like a kind of an old-fashioned guy’s guy, you’re in constant danger of slipping out and saying something that’s going to get you in trouble and make you look like a sexist or make you look like you seem thuggish or whatever.”
Hume’s remarks, granted, are politics-as-tediously-usual; anyone who’s suffered through an electoral news cycle can see the gears grinding. Christie is an early front-runner for the 2016 Republican presidential candidate, with the Democratic nomination widely presumed to be Hillary Clinton’s for the taking. Much of Christie’s potential appeal to moderates and undecided voters comes from his positioning as a “reasonable right-winger”: a moderate, big-tent nice guy, capable of getting votes from Democrats when need be, known to praise (and even hug!) President Obama upon occasion without spontaneously combusting or turning into a pillar of salt. Therefore, the “nice guy” image is being dismantled by Christie’s opponents, and his vindictive, belittling, confrontational side is being dragged out into full view. Hume’s sexist feint—the idea that Christie’s personal cruelty is essentially and admirably male; male like every other President in history, male like Hillary isn’t—can clearly be read as a bit of re-positioning. By stirring up fears of female power, of a nation so “feminized” that being openly male can actually get you “in trouble,” he’s not-so-subtly rallying male voters’ insecurity, rage and entitlement, trusting them to cling tighter to Christie as they instinctively resist the idea of a woman holding the highest office in the nation. Men aren’t inherently thuggish and nasty, but people like Hume surely aim to make them act that way in 2016.
But the nightmare of a female-dominated world is not uniquely Hume’s. In fact, it’s not even uncommon.
Take, for instance, Kyle Smith’s now-infamous review of the Golden Globes in the New York Post, which summed up the whole three-hour event with three words: “Too Much Estrogen!” Specifically, it was hosted by known estrogen-havers Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who—in their 15 total minutes of screen time—lobbed “feminist joke-bombs” at the audience, remorselessly causing thousands to smirk, or perhaps even chuckle, at mildly risqué humor about famous men. (Smith was particularly offended by Fey’s “and now, like a supermodel’s vagina, let’s all give a warm welcome to Leonardo DiCaprio,” because no straight man is ever more deeply wounded than when he is supposed to have frequent sex with beautiful and enthusiastic women.) Never mind that both “Best TV Series” awards went to male-run, male-led shows; that both “Best Picture” awards went to male-directed, male-led movies; that Best Director went to Alfonso Cuaron, Best Screenplay award went to Spike Jonze, Best Score went to Alex Ebert, Best Song went to the all-male U2, and the Lifetime Achievement Award went to Woody Freaking Allen; that, in fact, there was only one notable female winner outside of the female-specific “actress” categories, Frozen co-director Jennifer Lee, who was one-half of a half-male team accepting for “Best Animated Film.” Women were allowed to pass out the trophies that all those men received, and that constitutes a radical feminist takeover.
And it doesn’t stop there. It’s not just a matter of one corrupt politician getting punished for his “muscular” bridge-closing abilities, or one award show allowing women to ruin it with all their female yapping. Just a few days later, on Fox & Friends, author and self-described “philosopher” Nick Adams—along with his eager interlocutor, Elisabeth Hasselbeck—noted that the impending matriarchy has advanced so far that it poses a threat to American national security.
Continue reading at: http://inthesetimes.com/article/16157/our_feminized_society
