© iStock PhotoFeminism has contributed to boys not having fathers, which is the root of their problems, Suzanne Venker writes.
I cannot think of a more preposterous argument. Feminism is a major cause of the predicament boys and men now face. In what world could it be the remedy?
What modern feminists want is to rid the world of traditional masculinity, pure and simple. They're consumed with the unwarranted and bogus notion that men in their natural state are prone to oppress women and that the male drive to provide and protect is evidence of said oppression.
While girls and young women have ample resources to seek "respite" from restrictive cultural mores, writes Valenti, boys do not - and this oversight makes them "susceptible to misogynist hucksters peddling get-manly-quick platitudes and dangerous online extremist communities."
She then points to none other than Jordan Peterson, the Canadian psychology professor and YouTube philosopher who's become a bona fide sensation ever since his interview with the U.K. feminist Cathy Newman. But Peterson's meteoric rise is hardly due to his being a "misogynist huckster." On the contrary, it is due entirely to his being a shining example of what it means to think for oneself and to be a mature, responsible man who's committed to his wife and kids.
I can't think of a single better role model for men.
The only reason Valenti views Peterson as a misogynist is that his work undermines the feminist agenda. No committed feminist wants other people, women in particular, to think for themselves. She wants people to think and behave the way feminists think people should think and behave. And no feminist leader worth her salt sings the praises of marriage and family since that institution, as we've heard for decades, is inherently oppressive to women.
The only thing Valenti gets right in her piece is recognizing that boys are in need of intervention. But her argument that boys should turn to feminists, rather than to the likes of Jordan Peterson, is laughable.
The single greatest problem boys face today is fatherlessness. Ergo, they need a father figure to replace the man who's missing in their lives. It is fathers, not feminists, who turn boys into men, and those who lack this father presence will turn toward any substitute who speaks to them. Right now that man is Jordan Peterson.
I'm actually glad Valenti wrote her article: It beautifully juxtaposes the feminist approach to parenting with the non-feminist, or more traditional, approach. Feminists want you to think old-school parenting is bad because they hate anything that smacks of tradition. They believe boys raised in traditional homes are taught to be "strong and stoic" and to shove all their feelings inside. That, they say, is why boys become toxic.
But those of us who raise children the "traditional" way, as opposed to the New Age feminist way, do not tell our sons to play with guns or to not cry. We parents of sons know that both are instinctive to boys. And it's our job (a dad's job, mostly) to help direct such instincts in a positive manner.
No, the real reason some boys become violent is not because they were raised in traditional households but because they weren't raised in traditional households. It is fatherlessness that creates the lost and angry boy who later becomes the lost and angry man.
And it is feminists who contributed greatly to fatherlessness. They are the group that demoted men from being respected providers and protectors of the family to superfluous Neanderthals. They are the group that encouraged their daughters to "never depend on a man" and to view marriage and motherhood as akin to slavery. They are the group that has rejected the very essence of manhood and that encouraged Americans to do the same.
Feminism, then, is the last thing in the world boys need. If feminists truly want to help boys (and I don't believe for a moment they do), the one and only thing they can do is to get out of their way.
Suzanne Venker (@SuzanneVenker) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. She is an author, speaker and cultural critic known as "The Feminist Fixer." She has authored several books to help women win with men in life and in love. Her most recent, The Alpha Female's Guide to Men & Marriage, was published in February 2017. Suzanne's website is www.suzannevenker.com.
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