Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Womyn and Free Speech

Alykhan highlights the Carleton University Student's Association bid to ban all anti-abortion ("anti-choice" in Canadian politically correctese) activity on campus. Apparently the Womyn's Centre is pushing this after an anti-abortion group organised a debate, of all things, and this upset campus feminists. The ban's proposer told the local paper "[These women] were upset the debate was happening on campus in a space that they thought they were safe and protected, and that respected their rights and freedoms"

For anyone lucky enough not to have come across the term "womyn" yet it is apparently used by ultra-feminists because "women" suggests they are somehow subsidiary. I think this all highlights how ridiculous feminism can become once the pressure of justifying making a simple campaign against discrimination an intellectual movement begins to tell. To quote Alykhan:

"How utterly shocking, that these fair young ladies are forced to listen to opinions they may disagree with. How ever will they cope and avoid fainting from the trauma?

Read about the silliness here, and ponder whether the feminist infantalization of women is empowering or, well, infantalizing."


Feminist crusades like the Womyn's Centre's absurd drive to ban debate hurts the credibility of the sensible movement to defend legal abortion and fight genuine discrimination. They hurt the chances of women being treated as able to participate in a discourse with men as equals.

1 comment:

John Page said...

These intolerant idiots should contemplate that one of the glories of university of having your own views opposed and tested - sometimes to destruction.

At university of all places there should be no intellectually safe spaces.

What did these would-be dictators think they were signing up for?