Leah Mickens makes a good point about The Benedict Option

It's obvious from her about page that I don't have a lot in common philosophically with Leah Mickens, but she says something I generally agree with in this piece:

While it’s true that monasteries helped drain swamps, preserve those works that were considered worthy of being saved, and maintained a culture of literacy, it’s unclear how much the average peasant or serf would have benefited from their efforts. Monasteries, especially those in the early Middle Ages, were essentially closed communities, and monks weren’t supposed to have much contact with the masses, because that could lead to too much worldiness. Most people living in classical antiquity, the medieval period, and beyond would not have shared in the cultural inheritance of their society, because they weren’t literate.... Presumably, everyone in Dreher’s Benedict community would be literate, but that in and of itself, is a modern innovation that he doesn’t seem to understand.

I think the monasteries in Benedict's time were probably a benefit to the world, but not in the way the mendicant orders were. They encountered the world in more of a direct way which is, frankly, what I think we need now.

The mendicant friars were bound by a vow of absolute poverty and dedication to an ascetic way of life. They lived as Christ did, renouncing property and traveling the world to preach. Their survival was dependent upon the good will of their listeners. It was this way of life that gave them their name, "mendicant," derived from the Latin mendicare, meaning "to beg." Unlike monks of the Cistercian or Benedictine orders, mendicants spread God's word in the cities. They were active in community life, teaching, healing, and helping the sick, poor, and destitute. Their personal maxim was: sibi soli vivere sed et aliis proficere ("not to live for themselves only but to serve others").

Nota bene: If you decide to become a Dominican or Franciscan Friar, please don't call it the Mendicant Option or the Friar Option. Just go do it.

For example, Saint Angela Merici was a member of the Third Order of St. Francis and founded the Ursulines who actually started schools for girls so they wouldn't end up in prostitution. That's an example of the true and correct type of feminism which Pope JPII called for.

Speaking of just go do it, I heartily agree with Mickens's point that all kinds of cultural, religious and literary stuff is available to us now that wasn't in the past. All we have to do is tap it in our domestic churches.

Props to Destiny for saying what needs to be said

I was appalled at the clownish females dressed in pink parading down Center Ridge about a month or two ago, tying up traffic and causing me to feel embarrassment for the ridiculous-looking participants. It was some type of breast cancer walk, I guess, You know to raise awareness about breast cancer, yada, yada, yada. (Wow, I had no idea women could actually get cancer in their breasts, did you? Why aren't the Republicans and the people who own Wal-mart doing something about that?!) There was a huge bread truck with some type of risque boobie theme on the side. I forget the exact innuendo; unmemorable at this point in my life. There were SAVE THE TA-TAS signs everywhere, etc. I only had one son with me and we were going to get his new glasses, so that was probably a small blessing. He did ask me what everyone was doing and I told him the official line: "They are making sure everyone knows about breast cancer." What I wanted to say is "These women are making absolute clowns of themselves in public because they've been brainwashed to think they are doing something helpful."

This is why Destiny's rant is welcome on the even worse phenomenon of Boob-sta-gram, a risque cleavage-picture-rating site which brazenly claims to be about promoting cancer awareness. Her title is true and carries the apropros amount of bluntness: This Just In: Letting Dudes Jerk Off To Your Rack Will Not Cure Breast Cancer.

It might give a giggle (among other things) to the men... if you even want to call them that... who thought up this stupid gimmick, but contrary to popular belief "No Bra Day" is just another dumb ploy to turn young women into pieces of porn. The idea behind the campaign is to raise awareness by going braless on the 13th and then posting pics or your chi-chi's on the internet. Hate to break it to ya, but this will NOT raise breast cancer awareness, ladies. Unless of course "breast cancer awareness" is your gross little codename for trouser tents.

As a matter of fact, a friend of a friend had a wonderful idea just in case the sleazeballs behind this "campaign" really did want to raise awareness...

"If you want to use pictures... show women who have lost their breasts to a mastectomy! Now THAT might scare women into being aware and getting those all important mammograms... but of course MEN won't want to see that."

Of course not. But that's not the point here anyway, is it?

Destiny is a new feminist, pro-life, happily married with kids and realistic about the difference between men and women. She is appropriately funny even when she's incensed. Some people need to read this kind of take-down because these sleazeballs slap a "BREAST CANCER AWARENESS" label on their exploitation site, proclaim it edgy, fun and original, and some people won't think there's anything harmful about it. That's the problem: people don't think, the corollary is that women don't think, men think with their nads, and those facts explains why this kind of thing has 16,000+ Facebook likes.

One of the reasons young women fall for this is because they bought the old guard feminist mantra that this sort of flaunting of their feminine charms empowers them. But even the old guard feminists would realize this website isn't breast cancer prevention but merely what Destiny says it is, jerk off material. The people which are empowered most by women exposing themselves are men who wish to target them and use them. This turns them into lesser beings as well so, in the end, everyone is exploited and made more miserable.

"[T]he gigantic, flaming, multi-car pileup that is modern-day feminism"

Insightful article by pro-life feminist Heather Wilhelm. Wilhelm is smart and attractive so when she claims to be a feminist we'll have to take her word for it. Here's an excerpt:

The problem, I suppose, is that most “real” feminists I know of—Caitlin Moran and Slate writers like Marcotte likely among them—would probably consider me a weapons-grade woman betrayer with a full-time residence on Planet Patriarchy. I am, after all, pro-life. I have been known to vote for Republicans. If you want to be a stay-at-home mom, I think that’s fine. If you want to be the CEO of Yahoo and say you’ll only take three weeks of maternity leave—interestingly, Mayer is getting pilloried for this decision as well—that’s fine too. I believe that casual sex is destructive, not empowering. I often don impractical footwear crafted by male oppressors.

I also generally shy away from celebrations of meaningless vulgarity, which, sadly, seems to be the leading theme in both Moran’s book and in the gigantic, flaming, multi-car pileup that is modern-day feminism. In “How to Be a Woman,” it’s OK to be a “slag” or a “slut,” as long as we’re “simply being honest about who we really are.” In interviews, Moran expresses approval for the recent rash of mortifying “Slut Walks,” in which young women strut down the street in ill-fitting, body-baring “clothing” in order to prove that they are empowered, not sexual objects. Which totally makes sense, if you’re crazy.

I see in Wilhelm's analysis the birth pangs of the new feminism that Pope John Paul II saw the need for. I've blogged on this topic before and it is really near and dear to my heart. The "old feminism" has become crazy and senseless—decrying strip clubs yet favoring "slut walks"—and amid it's insane ravings, desperation may be easily sensed. Here's now new feminist Heather Wilhelm ends her article on the impending doom of the old feminism.

No wonder certain feminists are getting so wound up. They have reason to be worried. Something new is out there—conservatism, decorum, chastity, and respect are downright radical these days—but it’s not poor Gaga.

It also shouldn’t be all that surprising that more and more high-profile women are shrugging off the traditional “feminist” label. It’s gotten kind of embarrassing. “How to Be a Woman,” celebrated as it may be, shows off that fact in spades.

Ross Douthat on the New Liberal Misogyny

In the past, I've noted the similarity between the emergence of pro-life Republican female candidates for office and what Pope John Paul II seemed to be talking about when he called for a "New Feminism". I also pointed out one person, Camille Paglia, a standard bearer of the feminist left who welcomed Sarah Palin into what she felt should be a "big tent" and reprimanded those who didn't by slamming them forcefully as "whining, sniping...establishment feminists" before going on to praise Palin for her "bravura" and "moose-hunting feminism".

Here's Ross Douthat's op-ed analyzing last Tuesday's primary results along the same lines. Excerpt:

What Tuesday’s results demonstrated, convincingly, is that America is now a country where social conservatives are as comfortable as liberals with the idea of women in high office. More strikingly, they’re comfortable voting for working mothers — for women publicly juggling careers and family obligations in ways that would have been unthinkable for the generations of female leaders, from Elizabeth I’s Virgin Queen down to Margaret Thatcher’s Iron Lady, who were expected to unsex themselves before being entrusted with the responsibilities of state.

It's sad yet sort of humorous that we conservatives have to prove we're not misogynists and chauvinists by choosing women to represent us. But we don't mind. These people speak for us, not wimpy-assed white men like Harry Reid.

I guess "thanks" really is a "magic word"

Like all good, obnoxious parents, I routinely tell my kids that "please" and "thank you" are magic words. But sometimes I forget that I'm not really distorting the truth too much when I say that. Sometimes they are as close to magic as we get in our "muggle world".

For example, check out Tammy Bruce's comments on Sarah Palin's appreciative remarks toward Geraldine Ferraro:

On the day McCain announced her selection as his running mate, Palin thanked Clinton and Ferraro for blazing her trail. A day later, Ferraro noted her shock at Palin's comment. You see, none of her peers, no one, had ever publicly thanked her in the 24 years since her historic run for the White House. Ferraro has since refused to divulge for whom she's voting. Many more now are realizing that it does indeed take a woman - who happens to be a Republican named Sarah Palin.

Bruce, a gun-owning pro-choice Lesbian who voted for Reagan and fills in on Laura Ingraham's show is probably voting for McCain anyway. But it looks like for Ferraro the magic words sealed the deal. I guess she's not divulging who she's voting for so she doesn't wake up with a bloody horse head in her bed.

Sarah Palin: Flagship of the New Feminism?

When I heard Sarah Palin was a member of Feminists for Life obviously I thought first of Pope John Paul II. This is because the first time I encountered the elucidation of a "new feminism", which incorporated respect for all life, born and unborn, it was while reading his encyclical The Gospel of Life. The pertinent excerpt is in part 99.

99. In transforming culture so that it supports life, women occupy a place, in thought and action, which is unique and decisive. It depends on them to promote a "new feminism" which rejects the temptation of imitating models of "male domination", in order to acknowledge and affirm the true genius of women in every aspect of the life of society, and overcome all discrimination, violence and exploitation.

Rough words here for the "old feminism"; the Holy Father is basically saying "You became as bad as the boys whose behavior you rightly decried, girls." Then he turns to the positive and begins to expound upon the "true genius of women in every aspect of the life of society" by quoting earlier remarks from Vatican II and his Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem:

You are called to bear witness to the meaning of genuine love, of that gift of self and of that acceptance of others which are present in a special way in the relationship of husband and wife, but which ought also to be at the heart of every other interpersonal relationship. The experience of motherhood makes you acutely aware of the other person and, at the same time, confers on you a particular task: "Motherhood involves a special communion with the mystery of life, as it develops in the woman's womb ... This unique contact with the new human being developing within her gives rise to an attitude towards human beings not only towards her own child, but every human being, which profoundly marks the woman's personality". A mother welcomes and carries in herself another human being, enabling it to grow inside her, giving it room, respecting it in its otherness. Women first learn and then teach others that human relations are authentic if they are open to accepting the other person: a person who is recognized and loved because of the dignity which comes from being a person and not from other considerations, such as usefulness, strength, intelligence, beauty or health. This is the fundamental contribution which the Church and humanity expect from women. And it is the indispensable prerequisite for an authentic cultural change.

Emphasis mine. Because I couldn't help thinking of widely-reported life affirming remarks regarding her little boy, Trig, who was born with Down's Syndrome:

Palin knew there were complications while she was pregnant but never considered an abortion. When he was born, she said, "I'm looking at him right now and I see perfection. Yeah, he has an extra chromosome. I keep thinking: in our world, what is normal and what is perfect?" Undaunted, she held a meeting as governor three days after giving birth. "I just put down the BlackBerrys and pick up the breast pump," she said of her life as a working mother.

It would seem to me that Sarah Palin is someone who is intimately acquainted with the qualities of usefulness, strength, intelligence, beauty and health in her own person, and yet that is not what she ultimately values the most. She loves her son for the dignity of his own otherness, his personhood. From her simple words, we see the attitude of accepting, unconditional love toward another person which the Holy Father says is the "profound mark of the woman's personality."

"This is the fundamental contribution which the Church and humanity expect from women. And it is the indispensable prerequisite for an authentic cultural change."

Does this not make her a more than adequate spokesperson for this New Feminism, if not a veritable embodiment?

So, unlike New Coke and "the New Math", I have to say I like the New Feminism better than the old stuff. And just in the interest of full disclosure, I do not own any stock in brassiere companies.

(What's the "V" for anyway, Betty?)