Men are the most privileged women of all...

The insane hierarchy of privilege sponsored by the Left

If you watched the National Press Club address by Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins – which I did – and you blinked – which I didn’t – you may have missed the question that was asked by Shuba Krishnan from SBS World News, the answer to which qualifies sexual assault survivors in this country to have a voice.

Krishnan asked, ‘When you look at the debate over lesbian, gay, and trans students do you think the parliament is doing enough to protect their rights?’

Women in Australia are not allowed to talk about themselves without acknowledging that there is a more vulnerable type of woman than those women who have a vagina … and that is a male woman.

In reality, walking around in possession of a vagina is the single biggest risk to rape and sexual assault anywhere in the world. This risk is most certainly exacerbated by being Indigenous, by being poor, and by being unable in some way to protect your body from males. This is why disabled women are especially vulnerable. We know this because of aggregate statistics and because we understand reality.

Women like me – who have survived sexual abuse and campaign for safeguarding around sex primarily, and gender secondarily – are shouted down and called bigots and transphobes.

My testimony is framed as a type of hatred that is exactly the same as racism because I ‘demonise’ trans-identified men by not including them in the category of women. Indigenous women are silenced because they are told they will ‘demonise Indigenous men’.

What we end up with are protected categories of men that feminists can’t touch.

The only conversation about violence against Indigenous women that we are allowed to have in Australia places the driver of violence in colonisation and white men, which completely removes agency from Indigenous men. This is an example of adapted American Critical Race Theory, just as gendered speech is controlled by gender theory. The imposition of these American systems of ideological control is itself a form of cultural imperialism – a point our media is unlikely to raise.

The reality for all women is that we are most in danger from sexual assault by men in our own communities, men we are in relationships with, and men with whom we share intimate physical space. Not all men, but they are almost all men.

Of course, Tame and Higgins passed the ideology test with flying colours, otherwise their platform would be taken from under their feet. Tame answered Krishnan’s question with a very sweet and innocent question: ‘Why does one group of people have more of a right to be themselves than another?’ I am very disinclined to attribute malevolent intent to Grace Tame, even toward our Prime Minister, of whom she is clearly not a fan. I think Tame is a young woman who is doing her best within the cultural limitations her supporters have given her.

The more politically savvy Brittney Higgins said that there has to be a ‘sensitivity around the dialogue’ and that during the same-sex marriage referendum people were deeply re-traumatised just by having a debate. She said that these ‘are people’s lives and identities and it’s a deeply triggering and difficult time for them’.

And here we get the crux of the issue.

The legislation around LGBTQ rights are key tools in the Left’s armoury that it desperately needs to gain and maintain power – not just in government – but its stifling control over language, speech and culture. Under the cultural language control dominating the media white, upper-middle class, professional, left-wing, educated women are permitted the loudest voice in the conversation around sexual violence in Australia because those women can be trusted to stay within the boundaries they are given.

Compliant women in this country have exchanged truth for power. A series of purity tests will make sure that they will not gain a platform if they fall outside of the advocacy space they are permitted. They are permitted to advocate only for cultural change in ‘gender’ or policies that will protect and empower the most privileged of Australian women against the most privileged of Australian men.

Internationally left-wing governments are re-enforcing speech control with hate speech laws that aim to silence women who raise concerns about redefining women or the sexual boundaries of protective infrastructure.

In Britain, women are bearing the brunt of this legislation, many of them lesbian. Some women are being arrested (Marion Millar) and harassed by police (Ceri Black), others have faced ongoing legal expenses to fight workplace discrimination and sanction (Maya Forstater, Allison Bailey), and more have been hounded out of their jobs (Dr Kathleen Stock). All of these women are feminists who are concerned about the failure of female and child protection mechanisms from gender identity legislation.

Just a few weeks ago, a disabled middle-aged woman in Wales was arrested and held in a prison cell for over ten hours for placing feminist stickers around her town. Jenni Swayne’s stickers read, ‘3+ women killed by men each week’ and ‘Domestic violence kills’. The stickers were called ‘transphobic’ by police.

Early critics of gender identity legislation feared that removing words that describe women as a sex would lead to a situation where women are not allowed to speak about male violence in meaningful ways. The evidence that this is happening is met with nauseating claims of the virtue of those who hold the correct opinions.

This virtue is gained in the way all dictators gain virtue – by shielding themselves with the most vulnerable. Evil dictators will store their weapons in the children’s hospitals. If you attack, you destroy the innocent, validating the virtuous claim of the dictator. If you expose the weaponry, they will claim the weapons are there to protect the children. Either way, the dictator mines virtue from vulnerability and uses it to shield the most sinister type of power.

Unfortunately, there is a segment of the right who have such little value for women and gender non-conforming children that they happily attack the vulnerable or cede the cultural and political ground around the protection of the vulnerable to those who have no intention to provide the protections that women have fought and paid for.

In the new political space that is not left and not right, we must fight this stifling authoritarian control over what belongs to us; our language, our space, our bodies, and our rights to contend with each other in open and honest dialogue.

https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/02/men-are-the-most-privileged-women-of-all/

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As a woman, I can say men today have never been so diminished... and it’s high time we stood up for them: Philosopher Nina Power says masculinity is in crisis

Growing up in a little village in Wiltshire, my lovely dad, Clive, was always there. I remember him making dinner and giving fatherly advice to my brother and me, a constant, reassuring presence, frequently telling us he loved us.

My father worked for 40 years as a dentist, never going private as he wanted to provide free, or at least affordable, care for everyone. Now 75 and retired, he knows all the neighbours, he’s very practical and good at fixing things, and spends much of his time building fold-up dental chairs to send to countries that need them.

As my dad reminds us, life’s not always fair. Even so, perhaps life was more straightforward for men of my dad’s generation, who came into adulthood before the economy shifted away from industry.

I think it’s not overstating the case to say that in the current climate many men, especially young men, feel lost and alienated. They struggle to establish themselves in a job market which increasingly values ‘feminine’ skills like communication over manual labour; they have also lost the respect that being a strong provider and protector — ‘head of the family’ — traditionally conferred.

And they have to contend with the fear that any romantic move they make may be misinterpreted and used to publicly shame them, too.

In my new book, What Do Men Want? I look at masculinity in crisis. Modern-day realities such as capitalism, consumerism and constant interconnectedness mean that the values that once held us together — family, religion, service and honour — are in retreat. Some women have thrived, economically at least, in this brave new world, but in righting historic injustices I believe we have somehow tipped the balance toward the idea that men as a class are inherently oppressive.

That’s just not true. In my experience, in my personal life and during my time as a philosophy lecturer at university, the majority of men are kind, thoughtful, self-aware, interested and loving, as friends and as partners. Perhaps I have been lucky. But I suspect most women would say the same.

Now, thanks to Harvey Weinstein and his like, all men stand charged with ‘toxic masculinity’. In the popular imagination, men are now violent, selfish, greedy, misogynist and entitled.

So many headline-making stories of recent times have concerned crimes by men against women: not just Weinstein but Jeffrey Epstein and others. For example, the killing of Sarah Everard, murdered by a police officer who should have been her protector. These stories are appalling. Hearing them, it’s hard not to feel alarmed that such men seem to fear or hate women. But we must not start to believe that all men do.

There’s another old idea that says feminists hate men. Neither is true. What is true is that life for the average man is confusing.

Men are subject to a series of contradictory instructions: they are told to take charge, to be responsible, to show initiative; but at the same time warned that their version of masculinity might be exhibiting privilege.

Once, we knew what we prized as manliness. To call a man ‘virile’ today is to limit the word to its sexual sense. Etymologically, we also get the word ‘virtue’ from the word vir, an ancient term across several languages meaning ‘man’.

Thus, virility is not just what a man does with his manhood. To the Ancient Greeks, to be a man was not to display one’s sexual prowess, nor was it to enact brute force. It was instead a question of noble behaviour. To be virile was to be self-possessed, and to take care of oneself, the better to support others. So virility was associated with goodness. Perhaps one day it will be again.

You could say we now live in a post-virtue world where desire is everything. As an individual, you put your wants and needs above everything else. Virtue, like self-sacrifice, is seen as old-fashioned, anachronistic.

Our ancestors were not stupid. The fact that we’ve got sophisticated technology such as mobile phones does not make us superior in the art of understanding human nature. If anything, our addiction to social media has undermined our judgment.

Remember, patriarchy is not all about oppression — it also denotes responsibility. A patriarch should be someone who looks after everyone else. In our self-obsessed world, where you’re encouraged to be a child forever and everyone’s having fun, no one wants to be the adult in the room, not even the prime minister.

So we might want to think about creating a new kind of culture in which authority and taking responsibility are valued. This goes for women as well as men — no one benefits from an irresponsible culture. Meanwhile, other aspects of men’s lives have also changed.

Many very serious incidents were exposed through #MeToo, but I can’t help thinking that others could have been resolved by a simple conversation. There is a paranoia among men because the internet has become a terrifying potential weapon. If a date goes wrong, you can get online and slag someone off to the entire world.

Dates sometimes go wrong. It’s not always harassment or abuse, it could be a misreading of a situation. I think everyone’s probably had that experience, but we live in a very punishing culture.

Young people are afraid of making a mistake: it’s perhaps why many millennials don’t drink. They don’t want to become disinhibited. When we had a more Christian culture, it was more accepted that people were flawed, but there was forgiveness and atonement. Today, though, there is a false sense of moral superiority — accompanied by a punitiveness that does not allow for an awareness that people mess up.

Let us be clear. This is nothing to do with male violence at its most extreme, when women are hurt or killed by men. I’m talking about everyday, minor skirmishes or flirtations, where unfairly casting men as predators means seeing women as victims. We’re not victims: many women not only value but enjoy a little carefree flirting and admire the qualities traditional manliness represents.

As a riposte to the ripples of fear created by #MeToo, the actress Catherine Deneuve was one of a number of signatories to a letter published in France, arguing a woman’s right to be ‘bothered’ (ie to be flirted with):

‘As women, we don’t recognise ourselves in feminism that, beyond the denunciation of abuses of power, takes the face of a hatred of men and sexuality . . . Incidents that can affect a woman’s body do not necessarily affect her dignity and must not, as difficult as they can be, make her a perpetual victim.’

In other words, there are flirtatious games that men and women play that are a part — often a delightful part — of life. But no wonder men now fear getting it wrong. It is far safer to stay away.

In that sense, the relationship between the sexes lies in a kind of no man’s land.

We still talk about it being a man’s world, but it’s not the case that men hold all the power.

Some rich men are powerful, of course — but if you look at life expectancy in deprived areas, or at the opioid crisis in America where it’s essentially working class men who die incredibly early, it’s manifestly obvious that some men have little power.

Men occupy 90 per cent of the world’s most dangerous jobs, including roofing, logging and piloting helicopters. Of the 144 people killed in the workforce in the UK in 2017-18, 96 per cent were men. Conversely, there are areas of life where women’s roles are undervalued. Ultimately, men and women complement each other. We are not enemies.

So how can we help men to regain the respect they deserve? I think they need to band together, not in opposition to women, but in appreciation of one another.

Many men already do — sports and gym culture are very popular for a reason. The pendulum of history that has swung women forward into the post-war economy will settle. Men and women will call a truce.

Meanwhile, young men growing up need mentors. My father supported a boy who had no father.

I believe women-only spaces are a good thing. Could the reintroduction of men-only spaces be of benefit too? Keeping fit helps many men stay focused. Looking after yourself and mentoring young boys to show them what it is to be a man. More talking, more listening and more understanding is the way to get along better.

After all, in the real world, millions of men are getting on with being kind, loyal partners and good fathers, just like my dad.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10520439/Top-female-philosopher-asks-time-stood-men.html

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Polls suggest New England could lead the country in a rebirth of freedom

Growing evidence shows the increasingly radical modern Democratic Party is pushing young people away. Nowhere is this more evident than in New England where recent polls show young people ages 18-26 are embracing conservative candidates and principles.

This runs contrary to the narrative Democrats have long held that young voters are the future of the progressive movement and will cut sharply into Republican victories as they enter the voter pool.

Data For Progress, a left-leaning think tank, just released a survey of young New Hampshire voters showing Republicans hold a strong enthusiasm advantage over Democrats entering the midterms.

The survey, conducted among Generation Z (ages 18 to 26) and young millennials (27 to 36), also found Republican Governor Chris Sununu holds a significant favorability advantage over the state’s two Democratic female senators.

Data For Progress reports that 67% of New Hampshire young people are either as enthusiastic as usual about voting this year or more enthusiastic about voting than usual. Young Republicans are twice as likely as young Democrats to say they are more excited about voting this year.

These level-headed New England youth are also far more focused more on strengthening the economy than on climate change, with 31 percent of young New Hampshire voters naming the economy as their top priority compared to only 13 percent who named climate change their number one issue. Just 12 percent identified student debt as their top concern. While zero percent of those polled say creating a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens is their highest priority.

Data For Progress also reports New Hampshire young people strongly favor Republican Governor Chris Sununu over the state’s two female Democratic Senators. Sununu earns +19 points of net support from young voters 18 to 36, while Democratic Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan earn +5 and +2 points of net support, respectively.

Interestingly, it is New Hampshire’s youngest voters in the eighteen to twenty-four age bracket who drag down the Democratic Senators’ favorability ratings.

According to Data for progress, GOP Governor Sununu has a +22 point margin of support from New Hampshire’s youngest voters, while Sens. Hassan and Shaheen earn -14 and -13 points net favorability, respectively.

While high school and college students holding more conservative views than young professionals may sound odd, exit polls from the 2020 presidential election show eighteen to twenty-four-year-olds supported Trump at significantly higher rates than other “young” voters.

According to CNN’s New Hampshire exit poll, Trump won 48% of New Hampshire’s eighteen to twenty-four-year-old voting bloc, compared to just 35% of voters twenty-five to twenty-nine, and 42% of voters thirty to thirty-nine. In other words, voters under twenty-five supported Trump at substantially higher rates than all other age groups under 40.

These findings are in line with research conducted by Market Research Foundation (MRF), showing young Americans in their teens and early twenties may hold more conservative views than Millennials, the oldest of whom are now 40 years old.

Market Research Foundation conducted a comprehensive survey of 1,500 members of Gen Z in 2018, and found that Gen Z is widely supportive of conservative policies including limited government, non-intervention, cuts to foreign aid, and strict immigration laws. MRF also found that young people from predominately White New England hold these views the strongest.

According to MRF, 48% percent of Gen Z believe people should strive to solve their own problems, compared to 39% who think government should solve them.

Gen Zers from New England show the highest support for the idea that people should strive to solve their own problems, instead of looking toward the government to do so. Fifty-seven percent of young New Englanders say people should think about what they can do to help themselves, rather than looking toward government, the highest share by region to express this preference as shown below.

Young New Englanders are also the most likely to say that it doesn’t matter if an illegal immigrant isn’t causing problems, if they came here illegally, they must leave or go through the proper procedures to stay. As shown below, 70% of young New Englanders agree that it doesn’t matter if an illegal immigrant isn’t causing problems, if they came here illegally they must leave or go through the proper procedures to stay.

MRF’s research also shows young New Englanders staunchly defend American independence and reject the idea that the United States is obligated to take care of the rest of the world financially or militarily. Over three-quarters of young New Englanders say they agree with the fundamental principle of the America First movement, that the primary goal of any law or policy must be to focus on the needs of Americans.

Eight in ten young New Englanders say if the United States government spent as much time dealing with economic problems at home as it does on the problems of foreign nations, our economy would be much better off. Seventy-three percent of Young New Englanders say they don’t like seeing U.S. taxpayer dollars that could be used domestically given to other countries.

As of early February, President Biden’s favorability rating with young people nationwide is in serious jeopardy, having fallen 25 percentage points since he entered office. Biden took office with a lukewarm 56% approval rating among young voters but that number has fallen to just 31%. In addition, favorability of the Democratic Party has fallen 13 points since last year.

It is easy to assume young people are a lost cause for conservatives when the mainstream media highlights the woke-est amongst them, but that conclusion is premature. President Biden did end up winning the youth vote by 25 percentage points in 2020, but Biden’s margin with young whites was just 6 percentage points, and Trump won young White men by six percentage points.

Gen Z’s views are a lot more nuanced than the mainstream media would have us believe, and many are open to conservative policies, especially in culturally distinct New England.

https://dailytorch.com/2022/02/polls-suggest-new-england-could-lead-the-country-in-a-rebirth-of-freedom/

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Mark Levin: Jan. 6's 'Real Travesty Is the Injustice Taking Place in Our Courts'

On a recent episode of LevinTV on The Blaze network, host Mark Levin sat down to speak with Brandon Straka, the founder of the WalkAway Campaign. This was Straka’s first in-depth interview since he was arrested for his alleged participation in the now notorious Jan. 6 protest at the U.S. Capitol in 2021. After a thirteen-month court battle, including five continuances and a legally-imposed silence, he is finally free to tell his side of the story about what he saw and did that infamous day.

Straka begins the interview by freely admitting he was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. He insists, however, that he didn’t take part in nor did he see any of the violence the radical Left claims he did. “There are four sides to the Capitol Building: north, south, east, and west,” Straka explains. While the violence and destruction occurred “almost exclusively on the west side of the Capitol,” Straka and his small crew were only ever on the east side of the building. They never went inside the doors of the Capitol, and they have the video to prove it.

Nonetheless, three weeks after Jan. 6, Straka was unceremoniously arrested at his home and held without charge, while the MSM smeared him with impunity as an insurrectionist and domestic terrorist.

Straka goes on to tell Levin his side of the story in great detail, and his unedited personal video from that day is also played. Unsurprisingly, Straka appears both flabbergasted and shellshocked over his experience of being viciously targeted and attacked by the radical left.

Surprisingly though, throughout the interview, neither Straka nor Levin acknowledges Straka was likely targeted by the radical left specifically because he “walked away” and continues to encourage others to do the same. We all know the left can’t have dissent; all dissenting voices must be silenced. It’s clear that Straka is being displayed as an example of what happens to those who have the gall to “walk away” from the Democratic Party. And do we really think it’s a coincidence Straka’s trial was delayed five times — not only to make the entire experience more painful and drawn-out but also to have its outcome and thus Straka’s own telling of what he went through that much closer to the upcoming elections? I think not.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party and their footmen in the MSM continue to push The Narrative that the events of Jan. 6 were a riotous insurrection and “a stain on our nation’s history.”

“But the real travesty is the injustice taking place in our courts,” says Levin. More than 700 hundred people were charged with so-called crimes perpetrated on Jan. 6. Many of them are being held in inhumane conditions, such as solitary confinement, that go well beyond the severity of their alleged crimes in an effort to break their spirits and deter others.

For Straka, this “horrific situation” has strengthened his “conviction and resolve to move forward” in his faith and belief “that America is worth fighting for and that this is a country that must be saved.” Straka declares, “Our values and our cherished freedoms must be defended, must be preserved. And so, as much as they tried their hardest to destroy me, to try to break me and to push me in a corner where I’m too scared or too broken to continue to defend the things that are so important to me … you did not win. … I’m coming back.”

“The Walkaway campaign is coming back, and I am never going to stop fighting for America,” promised Straka.

https://pjmedia.com/uncategorized/gwendolynsims/2022/02/14/mark-levin-jan-6s-real-travesty-is-the-injustice-taking-place-in-our-courts-n1558551

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My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)

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