I Am All About the Witchcraft, Doncha Know

Anti feminists look like me. Seriously, I am wearing that outfit as I type this, though not with the apron, because aprons are inside clothing, like bathrobes. Do try to have some class next time, dear. (edited: i managed to fix random underline with commenters' help. thanks guys!)

"The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians."

- Pat Robertson

I didn't get that from Pat Robertson's website, I got that from the blog of a young woman planning to submit to her future husband, and convert to Orthodox Judaism why believing in Jesus as the Messiah. That's a whole 'nother post for a whole 'nother blogger, but the fact that this young woman is taking Pat Robertson's word on what feminism is motivates me to do what I do.

This young women reads the above quote and thinks, "Oh, well, I don't want to be a feminist if it means killing my children, selling out to the commies and eating bush. Just not into that, sorry." The fact that the above quote is completely insane and intersects with reality only in the sense that those are indeed words is irrelevant. Millions of women believe that feminism is something it is not.

Socialism/Destroying Capitalism: I am a feminist and a socialist, but notice that I have to specify that. I have to use "and" because feminism and socialism are two different things. Some feminists are socialist, but most are not and socialism is not a central tenant of feminism. So, where does Pat get that from? Feminists are generally very concerned with the treatment of poor women, so feminists will often argue in favor of welfare, food stamps and WIC. Yes, according to Pat, feeding and sheltering poor women and their children is evil.

Think about that for a bit, antifeminist.

Practicing Witchcraft: First of all, I suspect that is simply Pat's way of saying "wicked,evil person". I assure you I am not an evil person, and I'm offended you think I am. That's rude at best. You don't even know me. Secondly, two groups of people in the US believe in witchcraft as an actual, real thing that affects events: fundamentalist Christians and certain pagan groups. (Not all pagans believe in witchcraft, mind you.) Now, all the pagans I know are serious feminists, but most feminists I know are not pagans. So, the vast majority of feminists regard accusations of witchcraft as being, well, lolwut? It's laughable. Obviously, since I find the concept of witchcraft to be rather silly, I am not practicing it.

Antifamily/Husband Leaving: Most feminists I know are married and have or want children. We're not some different species, dear. We live in the same general culture you do, and the general culture promotes getting married and having babies. (Seriously, the celebrity bump watch is getting really creepy.) As for divorce, I hate to tell you this, but atheists have the lowest divorce rate and fundamentalist Christians and Jews have the highest divorce rate.

Killing of Children: At first I found that kind of shocking, and then I remembered Pat considers a newly fertilized egg to be the same thing as a toddler, so abortion. Look, people who are prochoice do not consider a fetus to be the same thing as a child. We just don't. If you can wrap your mind around that, you can understand why we don't consider a fetus to be of more importance than the woman it's inside. I'm sorry you consider yourself as less important than a fertilized egg, but I'm not a child murderer.

Becoming Lesbians: Lina, Lina, Lina, one does not "become" a lesbian. One can certainly become a feminist, or become poor, or become ill or become a Jesus worshipping . . . Jew? Really, you are confusing. One cannot become a lesbian. One is either a woman who is sexually attracted to other women or one is not. I am a feminist and I am not sexually attracted to other women. I like me the penis. A lot. Of the feminists I know and talk to on a regular basis, 75% have no attraction to other women. And of the 25% who do have at least some attraction to other women, about half are married to men and are faithful to their husbands. So, either we're spectacularly bad at becoming lesbians, or that has nothing to do with being a feminist. You decide.

So, to recap, Pat Robertson has no idea what feminism is and I dress like an antifeminist.