The Backlash! - December 1994

Headline News


Ms. magazine - feminists, or flakes?

Ms. magazine, September/October, 1994 - "It's been ... exactly two decades since Erin Pizzey's groundbreaking book, Scream Quietly or the Neighbors Will Hear was published in the United Kingdom, the first to give battered women a chance to speak out about the issue."

True. And not long at all since Ms. Pizzey said American women are "the most aggressive and dangerous women ... in the world."

"Fact: Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women, causing more injuries than muggings, stranger rapes, and car accidents combined."

Their source, Surgeon General Antonia Novello, never said that. What she did say, is that "One study found violence to be... the leading cause of injury to women ages 15 through 44 years."

"Fact: In the U.S., almost four million women are beaten by male partners every year."

This is based on the 1993 Harris/Commonwealth Fund survey which, "to arrive at the figure of four million for physical abuse," as author Christina Hoff Sommers notes in Who Stole Feminism?, is biased: "the survey used the simple expedient of ignoring the distinction between minor and severe violent acts, counting all acts of violence as abuse." Pushing, grabbing, shoving and slapping were all included. By that definition, is there a man alive who hasn't been "beaten" by a woman?

Better get your facts straight, ladies, or we might begin to suspect you're nothing more than lunatic fringe flakes.


Whiny WAC wins $1.7 million

Seattle Times, October 29, 1994 - Poor Paula Coughlin collects $1.7 million for getting her legs shaved at the '92 Tailhook convention.

Good thing she never had to go into combat. "Don't let any nasty enemies shoot at me, or I'll sue!"

Right, Paula, and what about the draftees shot to bits in Vietnam? How much do you think they should get for losing body parts?


Black women oppress white women?

New York Times, October 31, 1994 - Writes Sam Roberts, "according to census figures," among recent college grads, black "women now earn more than men."

Roberts goes on to note that "black college-educated women have made such financial strides since 1980 that many now earn as much or more than white women with similar education and similar work experience."

Since it's men oppressing women when men earn more than women, does this mean that among the college-educated, black women are now oppressing white women?


Starvation is relative?

Seattle Times, November 11, 1994 - Jennifer Harbury ends a 32-day hunger strike in Guatemala City, and it makes headlines in the U.S. Roy Lambert ends a 60-day hunger strike in Seattle, and nobody cares.

While we're happy for Mrs. Harbury, the two cases serve to demonstrate how little the American media values men.


Murder is not a gender issue

Colorado Daily, November 11, 1994 - "Susan Smith's boyfriend broke up with her because, among other things, he was not ready 'to assume the responsibility of being a father.' So the young mother killed her sons Michael, 3, and Alexander, 14 months."

So she killed her sons for the sake of her lover. Maybe it's true. So what? It doesn't matter.

But before we go on a witch hunt, let's put this into perspective: A couple of weeks before Smith confessed, Bellevue, Washington resident Ken Westmark took his two sons into the garage, sat them down in the family car, started the car, and attempted a murder-suicide.

"Attempted" because he survived. His wife, who had recently decided to file for divorce, came home to find them in the garage. The boys were dead, and he was in a coma.

Both Westmark and Smith committed egregious crimes, and their motives, while pertinent in other contexts, are irrelevant to justice. Or to the four little boys who died.


Idiot justice

Boston Sunday Globe, November 13, 1994 - According to the new book, Strange Justice, Hill told the truth about Thomas. Okay, maybe she did. So what?

Most women I know have as bawdy a sense of humor as any man, and if Professor Hill's ears really are that delicate, then maybe she's living in the wrong century. Maybe she belongs in the ultra-patriarchal Victorian era, when vaporous creatures like her were confined to protective pedestal where they could swoon in safety.

Look, ladies, if you can't stand the heat, go back to the kitchen and leave the real world to grown ups. We don't have time for your vapors.


The Groveling Mantis

FOX Television Network, November 18, 1994 - In the new television action series, The Mantis, our hero's secret identity is revealed to his lady copy friend, and now she's all huffy because he kept it from her.

Well, excuuuuuuse me! And will the writers explain why men can't have secrets, but women can?

Enough of this groveling. If sexist sows don't like that men can have secrets, too, then it's just too damn bad.


Baby killers!

November 21, 1994 - Oprah does an episode on baby abusing, baby killing baby- sitters, out it comes that most of these (female) criminals get away with mayhem and murder, and we just have to ask -- with women committing such atrocities, why in our culture do people still trust women more than men?

Somebody's pulled off one hell of a con.

Equal Rights: Special Rights

Seattle Times, August 5, 1994 (the following is contributed by Paul Shaner) - If you have been following the saga of Shannon Faulkner, who has been trying to get into The Citadel, then of course it has occurred to you that if only some male tried, he should be able to make a similar stink about trying to get into an all-female school, based on the same argument of government support. No university is without federal or state support.

But Ms. Faulkner, once in, wants to exempt herself from the rules. All cadets heads are shaved on entrance, the usual male way of removing individual differences: essentially a rite of passage. Faulkner asked the court to be exempt from that because it would further "stigmatize" her.

The Citadel attorneys pointed out the obvious contradiction: she wants to be treated like men, but she doesn't want to be treated like men.

This young woman "just doesn't get it." The military is a machine designed to make men follow orders unto their death. It is not just a good school with pretty uniforms and cute traditions. The military deals in death, and Faulkner needs to realize this quickly.

Columnist Ellen Goodman took Faulkner's side, arguing for female choice sans responsibility, as feminists often do. When are feminists going to grow up?


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