Tara Reade’s sexual assault allegations against Joe Biden have forced a lot of supposed feminists to confront what it means to be a feminist and #MeToo advocate. And by “confront,” we mean, of course, “redefine.”
Celebrated feminist journalist and author Susan Faludi took to the New York Times’ opinion section to do just that:
"The preferred hashtag of the #MeToo movement is #BelieveWomen. It’s different without the 'all,'" writes Susan Faludi. https://t.co/MEq4BiJFbF
— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) May 18, 2020
"Feminism was birthed out of a desire that women be treated as individuals, not as a cookie-cutter ideal or a faceless stereotype," writes Susan Faludi https://t.co/oNIN4eQ4Wj
— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) May 18, 2020
The whole thing is decidedly ridiculous, but this excerpt seems pretty representative of Faludi’s fundamental unseriousness:
Feminism has, indeed, believed many things about “all women.” That all women are deserving of equal treatment under the law, equal pay in the workplace, reproductive health, freedom from domestic violence. And feminists have long held that “all women” should be believed when the “all” refers to all categories of women — i.e., equal regardless of race, religion or economic status. This is what Anita Hill meant when she said in a CNN town hall in 2017, “And until we can believe all women, every woman’s voice has value, none of us really will be seen as equal.” Read her comments in full, and it’s clear she wasn’t giving equal credence to every individual woman, but equal standing to women of “all races, all ages, all sizes, all backgrounds.”
Good luck finding any feminist who thinks we should believe everything all women say — even what they say about sexual assault. History offers ample evidence of the horrors that can ensue when a woman or a man is believed who shouldn’t be: Remember the Scottsboro Boys?
Since at least the late ’90s, gotcha conservativism’s specialty has been condemning feminists for failing to live up to their dogmatist label. First, caricature feminists as a bunch of groupthink totalitarians, then accuse them of hypocrisy every time they are not in lock step. But guess what? Feminism has never, for five minutes, been about lock step. If anything, we tend to be at each other’s throats more often than we’re marching in ranks. And that’s on subjects from comparable worth to women in combat to pornography to #MeToo, where feminists from Margaret Atwood to yours truly have argued for proportion and due process. The broad spectrum of opinion within feminism is one of its strengths, not a frailty. If feminists see distinctions between Anita Hill, Monica Lewinsky, Christine Blasey Ford and Tara Reade, I’d say they’re doing their jobs. That’s not hypocrisy, that’s integrity.
Oh, OK.
— Michelle Goldberg (@michelleinbklyn) May 18, 2020
Yes this a thousand times this: “Feminism has never, for five minutes, been about lock step.” https://t.co/b3MUHQ13CU
— Rebecca Traister (@rtraister) May 18, 2020
Suuuuuure it hasn’t.
Oh. https://t.co/NQ3xhuvnJ7 pic.twitter.com/gbugPdmuPk
— China is lying (@jtLOL) May 18, 2020
There’s some serious gaslighting in progress.
This from Susan Faludi is so important. Feminists never said "believe all women" – the right inserted the "all." Feminists said "believe women": that is, start with the assumption that women are telling the truth instead of reflexively doubting them. https://t.co/CtQ1gyCsEC
— Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) May 18, 2020
You are not going to find a feminist who says "women never ever lie. Believe all women." You will find lots of feminists who say "there is a long-standing presumption that women lie about sexual violence, and we need to reverse that. Believe women."
— Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) May 18, 2020
The point here is not whether Reade is lying or not. I don't know! The point is that when you hear someone say, "but FEMINISTS SAID BELIEVE ALL WOMEN," trust that that's a cynical gotcha from someone who has zero investment in either truth or feminism.
— Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) May 18, 2020
“A” for effort.
So this is gaslighting.
By people who aren't smarter than the average American.— Branch Covidian (@Richard27363694) May 18, 2020
I see that we have always been at war with Eastasia
— Dixie Flatline (@UncleBobsReason) May 18, 2020
Does all that spinning make you dizzy, Jill? Maybe you should lie down before you hurt yourself.
Panicked backpedaling…
— Mark Hankins (@DebtHope) May 18, 2020
And memory-holing:
Same author 20 years ago: pic.twitter.com/rTFcBlLm4V
— Andrew McMillan (@mcmileable) May 18, 2020
Welp.
#MeToo is dead. pic.twitter.com/bFf4Yh9JG0
— China is lying (@jtLOL) May 18, 2020
cc: @rosemcgowan https://t.co/nvlOk72hFC
— Sam Valley (@SamValley) May 18, 2020
Duly noted.
— Zach Plichta (@PlichtaZach) May 18, 2020
lol, watching you people walk back your own positions is hilarious.
— Davis F (@DavisF_SC) May 18, 2020
So the Left is going with this?
— Bob Sikes (@BobSikes) May 18, 2020
A stunning monument to cowardice.
— hell of a dad thing (@WorstPlace) May 18, 2020
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