What Choice Does A Woman Have?

Well, what choices do you WANT?

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(Written by me, the Radical Individualist, but previously published in Liberty Magazine)

What choice does a woman have?

We have recently had a Supreme Court nominee testify under oath that she did not feel qualified to determine what a woman is. It is not that she is stupid, and it is not that she is smart.  It is that she knows how to play the game. There have been many political footballs in the history of man, and now, womanhood itself is one of them.

Are we better for this?  I’d say, no.

I’m going to set out two scenarios for you to consider.  I don’t want you to form any judgments, until you have read them both. Stay impartial.  You can do that, right?  OK, here we go…

Scenario One: In a certain culture, young girls are taught from birth that their well-being is dependent on men. Women cannot hope, in this aggressive world, to be able to hold their own at the forefront of their own life. And so, girls are taught that they must seek a man in their life to protect her, to see to her needs, to oversee her life. That man is at first her father, and later her husband. He will provide for her and her children.  It is his responsibility, and he will be looked down upon if he shuns that responsibility.

Scenario Two: In a certain culture, young girls are taught from birth that their well-being is dependent on government. Women cannot hope, in this aggressive world, to be able to hold their own at the forefront of their own life. And so, girls are taught they must seek government to protect them, to see to their needs, to oversee their life. Government will provide for her and her children.  It is government’s responsibility, and the government will be looked down upon if it shuns that responsibility.

OK, NOW form a judgment.  Am I way off?  Am I spot on? Is there anyone in the culture we know today :

 Who says, “Hey girls, it’s your life, own it.” 

Who says, “Don’t wait for us to tell you what to do.” 

Who says, “Don’t wait for men or government to lead the way. Blaze your own trail.”

Who says, “Don’t expect special consideration due to your ‘weakness’.  Are you indeed weak?  Are you incapable of seeing to your own interests and needs?”

Oh, but how can I be independent, a woman might say, when men conspire to not pay me as much as they pay other men? Well, wouldn’t that be a really GOOD reason to be independent? Wouldn’t it be a good time to develop skills and capabilities such that you needn’t be dependent on those dastardly men?  Does it really improve anything to switch from being dependent upon men to being dependent upon government? Oh, you say, but the government cares about me.  Well, so do fathers and husbands, even if they are misogynist while they do it.

I would suggest that government is misogynistic.  Doesn’t it treat you like it knows what’s best for you?  Doesn’t it dictate to you, right down to deciding for you what a woman is and is not?  Do government officials ever ask you for your opinion? Are they tolerant of your efforts to define yourself on your own terms?  I’m trying to see what difference there really is between my two scenarios. Sure, it was a set-up.  But am I wrong? 

But it’s not just women.  In the past, white men presumed to be the best judge of how blacks should be treated.  Generally, those white men did not hate blacks or randomly lynch them.  Those white men, and this was LAW, were expected to be compassionate to their chattel.  What is chattel?  Chattel is any living thing that is owned.  Right there, in the law, it included horses, slaves, and wives and children. Feeling better now?  Feeling better now that you know that men were obligated to take good care of their chattel, to provide for their needs?

If being taken care of is your goal, you could do worse than to be chattel. Being self-sufficient, blazing your own trail, taking your own responsibilities is a lot of damned work, and can be quite stressful. But when you succeed, on your own terms and not in some make-believe program, it can be downright thrilling.  Even failure can be tolerable, when you can recognize that you gave it all you had and didn’t quit.

No, misogyny is misogyny, whether it comes from a man or from a government. If you won’t accept it from man, don’t accept it from government. Blanche Dubois “frequently relied upon the kindness of strangers.”  Don’t be Blanch Dubois. Be your own agent.  Whatever comes up, handle it instead of running to either Daddy or Big Brother.

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