How Modern Feminism Became Cringe
After radical progressives hijacked the feminist movement for outwardly political purposes, I can’t lie – women may actually be the victims! No, I’m not talking about an unproductive victimhood mentality. I’m talking about how modern feminism has demeaned womanhood, and as such, the sex seems to be eating itself alive.
It’s the end of an era for women’s media. The feminist brand had its moment in the spotlight, but if you’re following the trends, you’ve probably noticed how digital feminism is on the decline. The latest victim in this vicious take-down is Anna Holmes’s progressive feminist rag Jezebel, which is shutting down after running for over 16 years. Apparently, it’s getting resurrected by Atlanta-based Paste Magazine, but we’ll see how long that could last.
One thing is abundantly clear: Feminism as we know it is simply not marketable anymore. Post-sexual revolution, independent media and legacy media joined forces, working double-time to deconstruct gender roles and rewrite logic right before our eyes. Jezebel’s demise – a publication that once brought in solid revenue publishing vitriolic takes on women’s empowerment – signals just how styleless it is to shout about smashing the patriarchy. And they’re not the only ones.
Marie Claire, Teen Vogue, Seventeen, Glamour, and Cosmopolitan took deep cuts to their print circulations a few years ago, which shouldn’t be too much of a shock considering you can’t tear people away from their digital devices to instead read articles or books on actual, physical paper anymore. Then this year, Bustle Digital Group (owner of Bustle, Nylon, and more) and Hearst Magazines (parent company of brands like Elle, Seventeen, Cosmo, Harper’s Bazaar, and more) laid off a hefty volume of editorial employees. Online feminist outlets are shuttering at shocking speeds, from bigger publications like Bitch Media and The Lily, which were discontinued last year, to many smaller blogs and publications that recently went defunct.
When we watch typical women’s publications as we have come to know them fade into irrelevance, we’re observing just one symptom of the festering disease, which may indeed be terminal, ultimately leading to the demise of the feminist movement. It’s not really much of a hot take anymore to say that feminism is cringe. It’s simply fact. You’d think that as more women wake up and admit exhaustion over the media working double-time to deconstruct gender roles and thrust us into lifestyles entirely incompatible with our nature that the establishment would catch on…and yet, they haven’t. Some people clearly haven’t gotten the memo.
Somehow, Pantsuit Girlbossing Still Exists in the Current Year
Presidential candidate and former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley appeared on the Ruthless Podcast in mid-November to share her proposed platform if elected president, describe her thoughts on the political landscape du jour, and explain how she elevated herself to the national stage.
Haley, running in the Republican primary, has had a unique opportunity to rewrite the narrative for female politicians and move us past Hillary Clinton-style pantsuit girlbossing. Alas, it seems unlikely that the top female conservative candidate will divorce herself from Clinton’s game of constantly playing the woman card.
“And I’m not saying anything,” Haley says with her hands up in a faux-surrender stance while chatting about fellow candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, “but he might have a girl problem.”
This comment from Haley came a couple of weeks after she called Ramaswamy “scum” on live television during a GOP primary debate for pointing out how Haley supports a TikTok ban but hadn’t restricted her own daughter (who is in her mid-20s, by the way) from using the app. Nothing has even stopped politicians from blaming the parents for their adult children’s behavior. Just look at the critiques both Trump and Biden have received over their own kids’ choices. But Haley has the “advantage” of being able to dodge this judgment by playing the “I’m a woman” card and saying her critics have “a girl problem.”
Time after time, women weaponize these feminist tactics by acting inconsistently or engaging in denial behaviors like refusing to accept responsibility. Clinton herself basically wrote the guidebook on the latter in her 2016 election post-mortem book What Happened by regularly pulling the woman card. It wouldn’t be such a big deal if these same gals could at least outwardly admit crucial differences between the sexes, but their out-of-date rhetoric just screams Rosie the Riveter.