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Seriously?! Lets Blame Feminism for the Creation of a Wimpy Nation by MicheleStopera Freyhauf

It is so easy to blame feminism for the ills of the world mainly because of continuedmisconceptions and misunderstandings about what the definition or meaning of feminism.

Feminism is responsible for poverty, bad leadership, wars, the polar vortex, and the listgoes on. Feminism is still considered a derogatory term that serves to prejudice many wholabel themselves as one. In fact, negative connotations surrounding feminism areexacerbated in todays culture, especially in the media. Fox News seems to be the posterchild of femiphobia - a term coined by Stephen Ducat and defined as a person (orpersons) wanting to repress every mans feminine side and demoniz e the feminine andgay wherever we see them . Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Nick Adams , in a recent interview,illustrates this femiphobic viewpoint by blaming feminism for raising a culture of wimpsand wussies and thus compromising the U. S.s national security and weakening Globalpresence. According to this group, feminists are emasculating men, creating a nation ofwimps that threatens Americas national s ecurity and global reputation. In other words,

feminism is to blame for the problems of the world.

According to Adams, men around the world are no lo nger allowed to be manly and thatthis phenomenon is a dangerous problem:

American men are of course very susceptible to it. Its really important particularlyin America given the leadership role that America has in the world that Americanmen be al lowed to be men.

What does in mean to be a man and how is Adams defining that stereotype? While I amaware of the discussion of gender identity and roles even gendered stereotypes, this post isnot about what those roles mean. Rather, for this post, I want to address the issue ofmasculinity, feminism, and what it means to be a wimp as portrayed by popular media.

With that caveat in mind, I ask the following questions:

Is the author suggesting a move to a hypermasculinity?

Is Adams defining masculinity is such a way that moves our culture defined byaggression and violence where feminists even all women are demonized?

In a society dominated by an alpha male character trait , honor and pride is paramount.Let us replace so-called passive behavior with pride, abrasiveness, authoritarianism, andarrogance where women are demonized, assaulted, and raped. The call for real men orhyper -masculinity therefore provides a real potential to move us towards a misogynisticrape culture of violence on a level that moves us in the direction of barbarianism.

Inasmuch as my perception may seem radical, it is not. Our media is already moving thatdirection (a problem I previously addressed on this blog). Media and the culture of

http://www.latimes.com/la-oe-dery3may03,0,2749625.story#axzz2qxluh7GMhttp://www.latimes.com/la-oe-dery3may03,0,2749625.story#axzz2qxluh7GMhttp://www.latimes.com/la-oe-dery3may03,0,2749625.story#axzz2qxluh7GMhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/17/elisabeth-hasselbeck-feminism_n_4619669.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/17/elisabeth-hasselbeck-feminism_n_4619669.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/17/elisabeth-hasselbeck-feminism_n_4619669.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/17/elisabeth-hasselbeck-feminism_n_4619669.htmlhttp://www.latimes.com/la-oe-dery3may03,0,2749625.story#axzz2qxluh7GM

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enlightened sexism (the so-called new feminism or anti-feminism depending on yourviewpoint) encourages our daughters to be the servants and play things of men -submitting even when the lines are blurred. The exchange between Hasselbeck andAdams illustrate just how the media is demonizing feminism when Adams is asked aboutfeminisms role in emasculating our men:

Hasselbeck: Is this in direct relation to feminism on the rise ...Is it a result just sortof society seeing men that are not masculine and men that are as masculine beingkind of demonized?

Adams: Youve hit the nail on the head. The n the author goes on to say Its a veryhard time to be a man in todays society where feminists are creating angrywomen and feminine men.

Hasselbeck asks whether feminism impacts national security and reflects how a nation isseen globally by other countries. Adams answer is not a surprise:

AbsolutelyWimps and wussies deliver mediocrity, and men win . and whatAmericas always been about is winning.

So real men win? By blaming feminism for so-called character flaws, a bigger point is beingoverlooked. We are raising our children in a sanitized world where we eliminate as muchroom for failure as humanly possibly while, at the same time, removing fun and replacingthe time with academic exercises and extracurricular activities. This, my friends, is not afeminist issue of creating a world of so- called wimps this is a cultural issue. And insteadof playing the blame game, I think it is important to exam the crux of the problem.

It should be stated, before I continue, that being a wimp it is no t a p hysical trait nor is itan emasculated man; rather, it is a person who lacks backbone and gumption male orfemale. Hara Estroff Maran o states that large number of so-called wimps in our society isdirectly related to how parents are raising their child(ren) in a sanitized manner a worlddominated by Purell . From rubber cushion surfaces to minimize skinned knees, coachingor co-playing with our children, and sanitizing everything and everyone. Minimizing badexperiences no one loses in a game, no one gets lower than a C for a grade, never make amistake never fail error is removed from the equation.

Parents are going to ludicrous lengths to take the bumps out of life for their children .making kids more fragile; that may be why they re breaking down in record numbers,according to Marano.

The operative word here is parents not feminists. In such a framework, there is agenuine loss of leadership skills from the strict structures put into place by parents teachers coaches etc. Decisions do not need made; someone else is making thosedecisions.

http://politix.topix.com/homepage/9917-is-feminism-a-national-security-threathttp://politix.topix.com/homepage/9917-is-feminism-a-national-security-threathttp://politix.topix.com/homepage/9917-is-feminism-a-national-security-threathttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-466293/Mothers-raising-generation-wimps.htmlhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-466293/Mothers-raising-generation-wimps.htmlhttp://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200411/nation-wimpshttp://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200411/nation-wimpshttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-466293/Mothers-raising-generation-wimps.htmlhttp://politix.topix.com/homepage/9917-is-feminism-a-national-security-threat

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As a mother myself, I also look at the shifting pedagogical focus of our childrens primaryeducation: academic achievement rather than child development. I remember enrolling my eldest daughter in school and with a July birthday, there was a benchmark evaluation tosee if she was mature enough to attend kindergarten or not. The basis for enrollment wasmatured social skills. By the time my twins enrolled, seven years later, maturity was not

an issue, aptitude and cognitive ability was can they write the alphabet and answerrational questions. This emphasis of teaching to the test and intellectual emphasis from anearly age has compromised our childrens ability to think outside the box and robbedthem of the time needed to develop their creative and sensory abilities.

Between being overprotected and new pedagogical focus, any free time that remains isoccupied with a slew of extracurricular activities that does not allow our children todecompress or socially interact. Oversaturation and ignoring ample time for rest and socialinteraction compromises the development of important cognitive skills and socialengagement, which are interrelated.

I am sure three problems examined is only scratching the surface of the problem the tipof the iceberg, if you will. The point of this post is make a statement: instead of exhibitingfemiphobic behavior and shifting the blame for the issues or problems that exist within asociety, focus on what is actually causing the problems and find a way to fix it. Using termsof masculinity, alpha male, wimps, etc. plays into misunderstandings dependent onthe understanding or context of what those terms mean to an individual. If the problem islack of leadership skills, inability to think outside the box, etc. then identify the problem, donot play the blame game in the end that solves nothing and creates more problems andbigotry.