Great peice! Also illuminates a confusion I've always felt as a child of soviet refugees in a western county. It's the one clear difference. I'm a gen x and My mum and both grandmothers had senior university degrees, no problem. One was an engineer and the other an economist and a nurse. It was absolutely fine to be pregnant and give a phd dissertation and lactate all over it. It's one of my 97 yo granny's funny stories. I wouldn't swap my life for that of authorarian Russia ever but my friends mums and granny's were a lot Less equal in their lives.
> Among the most transformative of these was the second-wave feminist movement, which radically reshaped Western domestic life, political economy, institutional norms, and cultural assumptions.
Minor niggle: I don't think the "wave" terminology with regards to feminism should be adopted. Prior to the "second wave" there was almost no examples of activists on women's issues calling themselves feminist. In addition they were significantly ideologically different from the "second wave." As such I don't see any reason to associate them, even though modern feminists very much like to claim them in order to portray their order as being much older and more important than it really is.
In reality the "second wave" were actually the first wave and have almost no victories to claim credit for. The "third wave" are not ideologically distinct enough to justify a new label.
As such it makes more sense to me to describe the cultural-marxist women's activists who emerged in the 1960s - present as "feminist" and the predecessors as "sufragettes."
I agree it is important to recognise that feminism could not have prevailed without fertile conditions already being present. It is correct to locate the movement's origins with the Enlightenment and the French Revolution; feminism is an extension of, and a reaction to, liberalism – it demands that liberalism lives up its values of autonomy and egalitarianism.
Feminism has failed because liberalism has failed. It was intriguing to see James Burnham's name here. I was aware he started out on the left before becoming one of liberalism's fiercest critics (Suicide Of The West, 1964) – as did his intellectual successor Christopher Lasch, who in turn Matthew Crawford cites as an influence. Crawford's book The World Beyond Your Head (2016) is an essential read for "post-liberal" thought.
This was very interesting and I appreciate the research and the share, thank you.
However, I kept feeling like the Marxism of the individual American actors was somewhat glossed over - having taken a brief university-level course in Women’s Studies (because I was focusing on counselling women using Feminist Theory) I came to see a lot of the information was based in communist practise, particularly the social services aspect.
By that I mean, the collective of poor women, the collective of pregnant women, the collective of immigrant women, et al - the umbrella of ‘feminism’ that ‘protected’, ‘supported’, ‘valued’, ‘honoured’ etc the women in those collectives was ultimately delivered with the intention of disrupting the greater social environment - the mainstay of invasive Communism.
And by That I mean, the underlying - and sometimes even specific - message was more of anti-patriarchy, anti-White-‘systems’, and anti-traditional cultural norms for females.
If this isn’t understood as the greater plan of pervasiveness of Communist intent, a big part of the picture is missed.
Personal experience has shown me, easily, that the ardent and often insensitive insistence of women holding the essential acceptance of communism is far stronger than the uninformed women who just want a better job, a safe place to lay alone without insult, the freedom to contribute to her own lifestyle .. those women don’t force their desires on the world around them without the instigation of more vocal and persuasive means; they will, however exactly use the vocalizations of the more ardent and aggressive women to reach their own goals, getting subsumed into the commune-ism of the movement.
This aspect of the movement of ‘feminism’, no matter its origins, financing, or controlled direction should not be glossed over.
The underlying constant of the slave morality: the battle for liberation of the oppressed (whether Christianity, Marxism, Feminism, racial justice), and then watch the inevitable implosion. It’s less about the reality of relationships and functions within an intact society, and more about tearing it apart. Tacitus and other Romans warned about this when they first saw it: the spiritual and moral slave revolt after the physical ones failed repeatedly.
This is excellent historical work, thank you. A very important aspect of first wave feminism was its blatant anti-christian bias that even crossed the line into lucifer worship. Famous first wave feminists such as Tallulah Bankhead and Marlene Dietrich were so openly decadent and debauched that they outraged a large number of prominent Christian organisations. Many well known early feminists were into the occult and openly promoted Lucifer worship. Helena Blavatsky and Alice Bailey wrote popular books that openly promoted Lucifer worship. There's an Oxford University Press book about early feminists and the occult called Satanic Feminism. It was written by a doctor of religious studies whose speciality is Western Occultism. https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30280964466&dest=AUS&ref_=ps_ggl_21018577892&cm_mmc=ggl-_-AU_Shopp_ISBN-_-product_id=AU9780190664473USED-_-keyword=&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21018577892&gbraid=0AAAAAD3Y6gvl5Cl6rs5Nx765YXR0hPU1A&gclid=CjwKCAjw-8vPBhBbEiwAoA39WopIuVlpaBdi7cHcFS9AYFFvLngGz3ogtHZQqJ89Gnmun9OXpFptGBoCrdoQAvD_BwE
Great peice! Also illuminates a confusion I've always felt as a child of soviet refugees in a western county. It's the one clear difference. I'm a gen x and My mum and both grandmothers had senior university degrees, no problem. One was an engineer and the other an economist and a nurse. It was absolutely fine to be pregnant and give a phd dissertation and lactate all over it. It's one of my 97 yo granny's funny stories. I wouldn't swap my life for that of authorarian Russia ever but my friends mums and granny's were a lot Less equal in their lives.
My western friends mums and grannies I mean. They were all housewives or teachers not allowed to own credit cards
> Among the most transformative of these was the second-wave feminist movement, which radically reshaped Western domestic life, political economy, institutional norms, and cultural assumptions.
Minor niggle: I don't think the "wave" terminology with regards to feminism should be adopted. Prior to the "second wave" there was almost no examples of activists on women's issues calling themselves feminist. In addition they were significantly ideologically different from the "second wave." As such I don't see any reason to associate them, even though modern feminists very much like to claim them in order to portray their order as being much older and more important than it really is.
In reality the "second wave" were actually the first wave and have almost no victories to claim credit for. The "third wave" are not ideologically distinct enough to justify a new label.
As such it makes more sense to me to describe the cultural-marxist women's activists who emerged in the 1960s - present as "feminist" and the predecessors as "sufragettes."
Niggle
Matthew Crawford traced a similar history of US government interventionism against fascism by employing Reichian psychology:
https://archive.is/ZACj5
I agree it is important to recognise that feminism could not have prevailed without fertile conditions already being present. It is correct to locate the movement's origins with the Enlightenment and the French Revolution; feminism is an extension of, and a reaction to, liberalism – it demands that liberalism lives up its values of autonomy and egalitarianism.
Feminism has failed because liberalism has failed. It was intriguing to see James Burnham's name here. I was aware he started out on the left before becoming one of liberalism's fiercest critics (Suicide Of The West, 1964) – as did his intellectual successor Christopher Lasch, who in turn Matthew Crawford cites as an influence. Crawford's book The World Beyond Your Head (2016) is an essential read for "post-liberal" thought.
repeal the 19th Amendment or America continues to unnecessarily and irreparably damage itself.
Edit: or amend it, heavily
Wow! I came here to write and think I just stumbled upon the first Substack I would pay for! Excellent article!
Huhhhhh. I’ve been hearing whispers of this for years, mainly Gloria Steinem being a CIA op, but I never knew it went this deep
This was very interesting and I appreciate the research and the share, thank you.
However, I kept feeling like the Marxism of the individual American actors was somewhat glossed over - having taken a brief university-level course in Women’s Studies (because I was focusing on counselling women using Feminist Theory) I came to see a lot of the information was based in communist practise, particularly the social services aspect.
By that I mean, the collective of poor women, the collective of pregnant women, the collective of immigrant women, et al - the umbrella of ‘feminism’ that ‘protected’, ‘supported’, ‘valued’, ‘honoured’ etc the women in those collectives was ultimately delivered with the intention of disrupting the greater social environment - the mainstay of invasive Communism.
And by That I mean, the underlying - and sometimes even specific - message was more of anti-patriarchy, anti-White-‘systems’, and anti-traditional cultural norms for females.
If this isn’t understood as the greater plan of pervasiveness of Communist intent, a big part of the picture is missed.
Personal experience has shown me, easily, that the ardent and often insensitive insistence of women holding the essential acceptance of communism is far stronger than the uninformed women who just want a better job, a safe place to lay alone without insult, the freedom to contribute to her own lifestyle .. those women don’t force their desires on the world around them without the instigation of more vocal and persuasive means; they will, however exactly use the vocalizations of the more ardent and aggressive women to reach their own goals, getting subsumed into the commune-ism of the movement.
This aspect of the movement of ‘feminism’, no matter its origins, financing, or controlled direction should not be glossed over.
The underlying constant of the slave morality: the battle for liberation of the oppressed (whether Christianity, Marxism, Feminism, racial justice), and then watch the inevitable implosion. It’s less about the reality of relationships and functions within an intact society, and more about tearing it apart. Tacitus and other Romans warned about this when they first saw it: the spiritual and moral slave revolt after the physical ones failed repeatedly.