Editor's note: This interview was originally published in February 2017.
Story by Joseph Ford Cotto
Story by Joseph Ford Cotto
What does it mean to be a
feminist?
“FEMINISM, a term, supposed to have originated in France in 1890,
which includes all phases of the modern tendency of women to assert their
equality in the social life with men; their right to enter the professions on
an equal basis with men, equal suffrage for both sexes in political matters,
and a general recognition of the rights of women to interest themselves in public
affairs,” Collier’s Encyclopedia told in 1921.
More recently, Michael Che, while performing his act on Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update, asked “what makes a
feminist a feminist? It’s confusing …. A feminist is really just someone who
believes in equal rights for women, and that’s easy to get behind. That is
until you see an actual feminist screaming into a cop’s face, wearing a homemade
uterus hat, and then you’re like, ‘Oh, there are different levels to this!’”
Indeed, there are.
Few people can navigate
these choppy waters so well as Wendy McElroy. She is a feminist –
of the pro-capitalism individualist anarchist variety. There are not many women’s
rights activists who connect the dots between limited government and female
empowerment, but McElroy is undaunted at being outnumbered.
That should be unsurprising.
After all, how odd would it be if an individualist anarchist liked the idea of
being but a face in the crowd?
An ardent opponent of sex-negative
propaganda, third-wave feminism, and social justice warrior culture, McElroy is
one of the few people who can say she has gotten a rise out of religious
rightists – she vociferously supported the right to watch pornography in the
1980s, when Los Angeles County considered legislation which countered this – and
movement progressives – she praises free enterprise and dislikes the trigger
warning-prone nature of modern liberalism – alike.
I like her already!
She recently spoke with me
about several issues of the day. Some of our conversation is included below.
****
Joseph Ford Cotto: What
do you anticipate the primary legacy of Donald Trump's presidency will be;
specifically as far as American conservatism is concerned?
Wendy McElroy: I believe he will enlarge and cement into society the worst aspects of
American conservatism.
I admire much about what is
called "Old Right" conservatism which was prominent during Franklin
Roosevelt's presidency and much of the Cold War era. Specifically, I am attracted
to its emphasis on small government, free trade rather than military intervention
abroad, free markets and civil liberties domestically.
By contrast, Trump
expresses many of the worst aspects of American conservatism. Despite claims to
oppose sprawling government, his high-price tag policies will almost certainly
bloat the bureaucracy no matter how many regulations he removes. Trump is
anti-free trade as illustrated by the threatened tariffs on foreign
manufactured goods. His hawkish stance against terrorists, which includes talk
of torturing them and "taking out" their families, is frightening.
Trump seems willing to replace many civil liberties, such as freedom of the
press, with an intrusive rule of law.
As his legacy, I expect
these disturbing aspects of conservativism to rise in dominance.
Cotto: What is likely to be the
most important way in which Trump's presidency impacts American progressivism?
McElroy:
I hoped it would highlight the errors both of advancing political correctness
and of doing so through political means, which is coercive. I hoped
progressives would return to the earlier more benevolent form of liberalism
which stressed themes of anti-war, the common man, anti-corporatism and freedom
of speech.
So far, however, the most prominent
leaders have hardened behind political correctness; they have become more
shrill in their fury and in accusations such as "all disagreement is
racism or sexism or..." So far, progressivism continues its march toward
becoming a fanatical secular religion.
Fortunately, more
reasonable voices give cause for hope. These voices are crucial because there
needs to be a coherent and cogent anti-Trump movement. The current division and
hysteria are a gift to him.
