Rudy Takala: The Spectacles of Feminism

The Spectacles of Feminism
Violence against women is plaguing the United States today. According to liberals, pornography and public vulgarity appear to be the answer. I will forewarn readers that the following is a discussion of feminists and liberals, some of whom are adolescents attending public high schools. As such, parts of the discussion are, to use a liberal buzzword, "inappropriate."

Carrie Rethlefsen attends Winona High School in Minnesota. She recently watched the play, "The Vagina Monologues." Its proponents allege that the play raises awareness to violence against women. After watching the play, Carrie Rethlefsen and a friend wore "I [heart] My Vagina" buttons to school. School administrators have called the pins "inappropriate" and threatened expulsion.

Unfortunately, Carrie Rethlefsen "can't really find out what is inappropriate about it." She doesn't "think banning things like this is appropriate." She said the buttons raise awareness to women's issues, whatever those may be.

That Rethlefsen can't see anything "inappropriate" about it isn't particularly surprising to me. In that she's referencing genitalia with something other than slang when most residents of the public schools don't know anything but slang, she is an anomaly. Relative to her peers, she's being conservative.

The Minnesota American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) recently became involved and called the buttons political speech. If they are taken as political speech, rather than as simply obscene speech, Supreme Court precedent seems to suggest that they can't be prohibited.

In a show of support, more than 100 students have ordered T-shirts displaying "I (heart) My Vagina" for girls and "I Support Your Vagina" for boys. Many things could be said of this fascinating exhibition, but it will suffice to let readers find their own humor in the matter.

As traditionally liberal issues evaporate and the case for government action in certain areas begins to dwindle, liberals contrive new ways to incite controversy, associate the controversies with older issues, and claim that they're the same thing. Feminism, for example, began as a women’s rights movement. As time went on, socialists saw an opportunity to hijack the movement and took it. By the 1970s, feminism was no longer about equal rights. It was about passing socialist legislation and requiring employers to consider non-economic factors in operating their businesses.

Socialism today has made considerable economic advances, disproportionate to its social agenda. Its adherents have realized this, and liberal feminists are acting accordingly. Feminism is now being utilized as a means to promoting pornography and cultural debasement. It has nothing to do with equal rights, of course, and the freedom to partake in such debasement generally isn't disputed. Nonetheless, they claim that not just poor taste, but flamboyant, public vulgarity is necessary to the advancement of "women's rights."

That the ACLU would call the buttons political speech is indicative of the fact that the real issue isn't about women's rights or violence against women. No one publicly advocates for violence against women. It isn't a political issue. If The Vagina Monologues were truly about violence against women, it wouldn't be a political issue, either. It's a political issue because it advocates public obscenity and nothing else.

Perhaps Carrie Rethlefsen doesn't perceive this and is simply an unwitting pawn in the agenda of "feminism." Or perhaps she does perceive it, and understands her unique position to aid in their degenerate cause.

On a point that I find amusing, I must speak to the situation as it exists within the context of a public school. The buttons in question are undoubtedly among the least offensive of things available for viewing in the Winona High School during the course of an average school day. Such is the nature of public schools. It is extremely improbable that any of the students are witnessing anything they haven't been witnessing since the sixth grade. If they were truly offended by such things, they wouldn't be in attendance at a government high school.

But the most compelling question at hand in this, and all other controversies of the sort, is to what degree the citizens of a nation may be coerced into attending government institutions and forced to coexist with their fellow attendees. To what extent must their coexistence be compelled? To what extent can it be? When one party views a second as the licentious manifestation of spiritual darkness, and the second party views the first as primitive, stupid and superstitious, reconciliation is a not a realistic objective.

Two observations should be made of this debacle. The first is of the public schools. As segments of American culture become more contrasted, the continuation of forced congregation will be made more difficult. Individuals must possess the freedom to act as they wish, or certain factions will inevitably come to express hegemony over the others. Individual autonomy was disposed of long ago, and we are currently experiencing the consequences of that action.

The second observation must be made of feminism. Feminists don't advocate for rights. The contemplation of violence against women plays no role in their considerations; if it did, they would display their love for genitals in the nations of the Middle East and Africa, where human rights violations tend to be more egregious than in the United States. But rights aren’t what they’re concerned with. All they’re concerned with is transforming American culture to better match their values; to do this, they must redefine their gender as one characterized by depraved perverts.

It will be interesting to view the outcome of these matters. They are the evolving face of our culture, and they may be an interesting portrayal of things to come.

Rudy Takala is 16 years old and enjoys freelance writing as a hobby. His columns have appeared on more than twenty Websites across the Internet. He can be contacted at RudyTakala@Yahoo.com.