The troubling rise of the ‘femplainers’

Submitted by Mastodon on Fri, 2015-01-09 06:40

Article here. Excerpt:

'A new kind of feminism has taken root in popular culture, leading some prominent doyennes of social media to proclaim 2014 a watershed year for womankind.

Combine the machine-gun fire of Twitter outrage, a wave of celebrity rape revelations and activists making careers of berating businesses for their unequal gender ratio, and apparently the result is some sort of giant leap for the cause of women.

It looks to me more like a reactionary leap than a progressive one. The feminism of sexual freedom and against gender stereotyping has given way to one that insists on lumping all women together (#YESALLWOMEN) as a collective victim of sexual assault.

The feminism of equality, of toughness, of anti-discrimination, has been overwhelmed by one of victimhood and demands for special treatment. The feminism of solidarity across class divides has been sidelined by an exaggerated concern with the problems of the elite.

One prominent example: a nonprofit calling itself “Change the Ratio” hassles companies to hire more female executives and venture capitalists to extend financing to female-run businesses, presumably not because they are the best candidates, but because they have two ‘X’ chromosomes.'

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