Those Nasty Suffragettes
May 20, 2022
Susan B. Anthony
TERRY MORRIS, writing at Identity Dixie, makes a point I have made in posts here and in my interview “Real History and the Suffragettes” at In the Spirit of Chartres:
Perhaps one of the strongest, most enduring misconceptions ever to come down the pike regarding the infamous 19th Amendment – of “female emancipation” and its predictable disastrous aftermath – is the idea that the original “suffragettes” were “conservative” in their overall world and life view, and had altogether, or at least mostly, pure intentions and motives in mind when a few of them first organized to meet in Seneca Falls, New York, July 19-20, 1848. A modern iteration of the point may readily be found in the following exchange between two (silly) American women who count themselves among the leadership ranks of today’s “conservative women” and who came together to discuss the topic as such on a post-2020 election Heritage Foundation-sponsored podcast ironically named Problematic Women. To wit (beginning @ 11:09):
Problematic Host: I know, I’m … such a nerd; I … love the House Freedom Caucus, and,… I just can’t wait for the day where… – We do conversations with conservatives at the Daily Signal and with the Heritage Foundation, and that’s where the … House Freedom Caucus comes into a press conference – …and I just can’t wait till the day I show up and it’s … half women, half men, and women are represented there; it’s just going to be such a, uh, I dunno, a proud lady moment for me.
Problematic Guest: A “proud lady moment,” I mean, that’s an awesome way to think about it, right! Conservative women are … resolute, and it seems like we’ve finally come to the other side of the, y’know, the very harsh and extreme feminist movement of the last thirty years, and we’re ready to reclaim the original type of feminism that started in Seneca Falls and take it back for conservative women, and be what it’s really supposed to be about, which is providing opportunity, umm, and advancement for all women, not just a specific type of women, and I think that’s why so many people are so excited about Justice Barrett, about these thirteen new [female] House members, …
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Yes, Mr. Morris.
The new feminism is the same as the old feminism. Just because the suffragettes wore long skirts and frilly caps doesn’t mean they were not revolutionaries.
There were no first waves, second waves, third waves, or fourth waves. It’s all the same tsunami, crashing incessantly over our heads since the 19th century, based on the same principles, on the denial of essential differences between the sexes and on a war against the family. It was never about the vote and women could have received the vote without a feminist campaign; it was about transforming all of society.
