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The Mockery Feminists

Everyone is angry with Katie Roiphe (again) for this piece more or less bemoaning the fading presence of “serious feminists”. I do like this part:

The tacit assumption is that we all take for granted a certain set of shared beliefs, and we should mock those few retrograde Neanderthals who do not agree with us. The tone is less urgent and more queenly. It contains the idea that feminism is cool, and that it will mock you like a cool and impressive girl at the lunch table if you are in violation of its principles. The idea is to make fun of your enemies, not preach at them.

It’s probably no secret by now that I like polite, reasoned debate, so I think snark should be employed only very sparingly. The rest of Roiphe’s piece is largely tripe, though. I’ve mentioned before that, if anything, feminists—like nearly everyone else—suffer from a lack of humor, not the other way around.

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