Monday, February 16, 2004

Trumping feminism

Trump's show The Apprentice fascinates me despite my disgust with every other reality TV show that has preceded it. It exposes in high relief the New Feminism, which has yet to be coherently explained to me as an evolutionary improvement on the classic feminism of the 60s. Slate has a great article that outlines some of the unnerving trends in gender and identity politics the show reveals. Women's bodies are still being exploited except now the only difference from the past is that women are willfully participating, panegyrizing, and profiting from it just as much as, if not more than men. It teases men's obsession with sex sure enough, but there's something "de-masculating" about it all too. Feminists pull out all their guns to ensure that the destruction of fetuses continues unabated but will sit docile as cows as mass media razes the dignity of women to the ground. Maybe they enjoy seeing men degrade themselves into dry-humping beasts and reaping financial rewards for it. But then I thought women hated men who have no mastery over their libidoes. I fail to see how you can have it both ways.