Fundamentalist Feminism

My purpose here is to expose fundamentalist feminism, an ideological and political movement that I believe is one of the greatest threats facing women, men, the family and society generally today.

Like fundamentalist religious, racial, political and other ideological systems, fundamentalist feminism is based on predominantly simplistic, one-sided analysis that favours its "messiah-types". So, just as Christians, Rastafarians, black people or white people are viewed as "infallible" heroes in their respective fundamentalist systems, women are viewed as humanity's only hope in fundamentalist feminism. The interdependence of males and females - an essential feature of the human condition and an inescapable prerequisite of our material and spiritual well-being, that is normally apparent to all - is thus ignored or understated by fundamentalist feminists. The joint responsibility of men and women for humanity's successes and failures is denied. The basic belief of fundamentalist feminism is that women are good and men are bad: women are non-violent and peacemakers, men are violent and war mongers; women are honest, men are dishonest. In short, fundamentalist feminism teaches that women are morally superior to men.

Writing on feminist legal theory, Erin Pizzey, founder of the women's refuge movement, notes in a December 2000 article that "the ideology of legal feminism today goes far beyond the original and widely supported goal of equal treatment for both sexes." She says "The new agenda is to redistribute power from the 'dominant class' (men) to the 'subordinate class' (women), and such key concepts of Western jurisprudence as judicial neutrality and individual rights are declared to be patriarchal fictions designed to protect male privilege."

On November 18th 2005, I sought to share Pizzey's views with an audience gathered at the eleventh annual Caribbean Women Catalysts for Change Lecture, hosted by the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus' Centre for Gender and Development Studies. The lecture was delivered by Madame Justice Desiree Bernard, the first female judge of the recently instituted Caribbean Court of Justice.

"There was, and still is, a strict censorship against anyone trying to break the code of silence. No one wants to acknowledge the extent of the damage that the feminist movement has done to the family and to men in the last thirty years."

Pizzey also tells of boycotts by members of the press, withdrawn invitations to speak publicly and other obstacles that have been set in her path since she has left the movement and has been seeking to challenge what she sees as its ill-founded and socially destructive strains - what I call fundamentalist feminism.

1. fundamentalist feminist propagation of such erroneous ideas as a) women are not as capable of violence as men b) women are not as likely to abuse children as men and therefore make better parents than men and c) women are less likely than men to be afflicted by "political power-hunger"
2. fundamentalist feminist corruption of the legal system, leading to a) fathers of children being denied their rights b) the introduction of laws that are founded on presumptions of women's innocence or are otherwise biased toward women
3. fundamentalist feminist influence on education leading to discrimination against boys by both male and female teachers
4. fundamentalist feminist domination of the discipline of "women studies" (I benefited from a few courses in this discipline and think it has redeeming qualities but I am not sure Pizzey would agree)
5. fundamentalist feminists' high-jacking of the legitimate causes of women - for political and monetary gain, and
6. media cover-up or suppression of the very real short-comings and dangers of fundamentalist feminism.

I also identify in a profoundly personal way with Pizzey's story. I share the following details of my own experience because I think it provides significant insights into the essential pathos of the fundamentalist feminist psyche (power-hungriness and glory grabbing - what I call the Lie-e-lah syndrome) and its opportunistic operation in the political realm.

By exposing the evil that fundamentalist feminism generates I hope to encourage a more wholesome, authentic feminism. I do not believe fundamentalist feminism's primary threats are its threats to men's well-being: I believe its primary threats are to the well-being of women.

The stories of the sociopathic behaviour of two individuals recounted here, makes this clear. Their stories, intertwined with my own, are set out below. I have given them fictitious but appropriate names - "The Liar" and "Market Guilt" - to conceal their identities. I have also "confused" their genders, deliberately using masculine or feminine nouns and pronouns inaccurately to refer to either or both them, and in some cases, to their allies and/or consorts.

At a basic level, of course, the concealment of these individuals' identities also protects me from legal liability. I can vouch for the truth of what I say here, but it has so far been impossible to find anyone else that can do that who is willing to. A wall of intimidating silence has been constructed to shield The Liar and Market Guilt from the just consequences of the distressingly deceitful behaviour they and their allies have perpetrated.

My experience of fundamentalist feminism

I have never joined a feminist organization, but like Pizzey, I have been a supporter of legitimate, genuine feminist causes for many years. Among other things, as a free-lance journalist I have written and produced material on Violence Against Women for UNIFEM and the Caribbean Media Corporation (formerly the Caribbean News Agency or CANA). I was also the privileged, sole male participant at a "round-table" on women in politics, hosted by the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research (CAFRA), some years ago.

The media in Barbados is playing a critical role in this. On the March 14th, 2002 edition of the popular local radio call-in program "Brass Tacks", senior Starcom Network staff member and host David Ellis launched a broadside against my organization Intelek International and myself. I had by then been engaged in a little publicized "feud" with other staff members or associates of Starcom Network, or its parent organization, the Nation Publishing Company for some time.

My dispute with this individual escalated as members of Barbados' feminist movement, led by Market Guilt rallied to cover-up or otherwise excuse The Liar's "oversight". Among other things, Mr. Guilt, an acknowledged psychiatric sufferer (possibly a schizophrenic) has argued that The Liar was entitled to use an idea to which I introduced her because no one can claim "ownership" of an idea. I am familiar with this view, held by many communist-leaning persons, but have never seriously engaged Ms. Guilt on it because the fundamental point for me was The Liar's failure to acknowledge my contribution on the night of the production. I thought, and still think this was the least she could do, since she had asked my permission to use the idea.

The dispute has escalated even further though, taking on political dimensions, as one of the organizations hosting the production became a catalyst for the cultural renaissance that is currently sweeping Barbados. Bolstered by the innocent and perhaps naïve attention of then Minister of Education, Culture, Youth Affairs and Sport (subsequetly Barbados' Attorney General, now Minister of Economic Development) Mia Mottley, The Liar went on to claim that she was "the Founder" of that organization.

The founding of this organization is in fact a fine example of the operation of the male-female interdependence to which I referred above.

Indeed, Ms. Mottley, The Liar, Market Guilt and other local fundamentalist feminists seem to prefer a radical feminist interpretation of the history of the organization that erases the seminal male influences behind it, represented by its male founding members. They seem to favour a fundamentalist feminist interpreta tion of Barbados' cultural legacy that exaggerates women's contributions - implying that the organization in question was the product of a virtual "virgin birth". They seem committed to projecting the idea that it is mainly women who were (and are) prepared to bear the sacrifices and take the risks that have transformed the particular area of Barbados' cultural landscape with which I am concerned, from a virtual barren wasteland (as far as the current generation of practitioners is concerned (no disrespect is intended toward outstanding Barbadian forerunners of this artistic discipline), to the fruitful plain that it now is.

Now, I am not suggesting that this academic is a fundamentalist feminist. On the contrary, my interactions with her suggest that she is a quite reasonable human being whose thinking is characterized by balance, not extreme opinion. A successful academic, she certainly does not seem disposed to the power-hunger or glory grabbing of the Lie-e- lah syndrome.

That exaggerated, Lie-e-lan impression of Barbados' current cultural flowering is based fundamentally on a denial or devaluation of the role of male artists - including my own role. And, at least in my case, this denial or devaluation has not come about "accidentally": it has been achieved by a sustained, systematic campaign of character assassination, beginning with the charge that my disagreement with The Liar over the project mentioned above, stemmed from my being jealous over her success with that project.

1. The non-playing of music and other audio material I have produced by local radio stations.

2. The silence of media personnel and other social commentators on my contribution to Barbados' current cultural renaissance.

3. The omission of any reference to my work among that of Barbadian artists who were featured on an edition of the Art Club, a television program produced by ARTV in London, and aired on CNN several times a week.

4. The omission of any reference to my work in the UNESCO/NCF sponsored "Country Cultural System, Profile: Barbados", authored by Dr. Glenford D. Howe".

5. The rescinding of an invitation to present copies of a poster I published (the "Bowler's Psalm") to the West Indies cricket team (I had previously presented the team with copies of my "Batsman's Psalm").

6. A "side-lining" I suffered after I was invited to participate in a popular local cricket discussion radio program.

7. The rescinding of an invitation I received to perform some of my work at a local farewell function for a foreign diplomat.

In her 1997 book When She Was Bad: Violent Women and the Myth of Innocence (New York: Viking, ISBN: 0-607-85925-7) Patricia Pearson highlights this kind of violence, known as "indirect aggression". Indirect aggression, as noted by Stuart Birks of Massey University, New Zealand, in his review of Pearon's book, has been defined by Finnish psychologist Kaj Bjorkqvist as "'a kind of social manipulation: the aggressor manipulates others to attack the victim, or, by other means, makes use of the social structure in order to harm the target person, without being personally involved in the attack.'"

Pearson says girls develop the capacity for indirect aggression from very early. Distinguishing indirect aggression from the physical, direct violence commonly ascribed to men, she says,

I believe an extraordinary example of such violence against myself and my organization (Intelek International) occurred in 1998 or so, when a function I had organized with a local government department was "hijacked" by The Liar, probably with the help of Market Guilt.

Needless to say these and other indirect assaults by The Liar, Market Guilt and their fundamentalist feminist backers have taken and continue to take a tremendous toll on me physically, emotionally and financially. They impact negatively on my capacity to nurture and provide for my wife and daughter and participate to the optimum of my ability as a productive member of Barbados' creative community.

Other prey and predators in Barbados' fundamentalist feminist politics

Many males have benefited from the entrenchment of fundamentalist feminism in Barbadian politics, the media and broader commerce including: publishers/publicists, cultural and political activists, poets and politicians.

The vagaries of fundamentalist feminism therefore do not manifest themselves with any kind of consistency or coherence. Its fruit are varied, and even contradictory because, again, of its lack of rootedness in reality - its lack of authenticity. This feature also accounts for the ease with which it can fuse with or fuel the agendas of other ideological systems, such as Christianity, Communism, Capitalism, Rastafarianism and Pan Africanism.

Fundamentalist feminism's adaptation by males to purely personal ends, whims and fancies is probably best demonstrated by the examples of individuals in the publicity/publishing field, who are some of The Liar's most committed supporters. Each has reaped personal benefits, though of different kinds, by either perpetuating The Liar's exaggerated opinion of his contribution to Barbados' current cultural renaissance or by shielding him from accountability for that exaggeration and related dubious deeds. One, a married man with whom she has been sharing an adulterous relationship for many years, is now the mother of The Liar's child.

The exploitation of the vagaries of fundamentalist feminism in the cultural and political arena by government and opposition actors in Barbados is particularly instructive. There is no question in this writer's mind that the popularity that some government and opposition figures have enjoyed has in large measure been achieved by accommodations reached with some of this country's most unprincipled fundamentalist feminists - women and men who are determined to assume positions of power in this country at any cost!

Personally, I shudder at what the implications of that alliance - which crosses political party lines - could mean for Barbadians.

I do not object to the honouring of the years of cultural activism by persons like Elombe Mottley, the Mighty Gabby, Cynthia Wilson, Kamau Brathwaite or the younger Aja, Arturro Tappin and Market Guilt. I however object to the suggestion that these and other Communist, Socialist, Pan Africanist or Rastafarian oriented cultural and political activists were the principle or only catalysts of Barbados' current cultural renaissance. Such a view marginalizes and minimizes the crucial reconciliation and syncretization of Christian and nationalist currents that myself and others (like the Reverends Harcourt Blackett, Dean Harold Crichlow, Canons Andrew Hatch and Noel Titus and Father Clement Paul) represent. It misrepresents the historical evolution that has led to the emergence of such fundamentalist and broader Christian cultural initiatives as the use of steel pan in churches, the Experience Christian Calypso Tent and the participation of fundamentalist church oriented groups like "Living Springs Dance Academy" in the National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA).

I explore these issues more fully in another document I am currently preparing. There I look, among other things, at some of the schizophrenic analysis and outcomes of the cultural awakening currently sweeping Barbados. My main concern here though is the schizophrenic analysis and society fragmenting fruit of fundamentalist feminism.

The emergence of fundamentalist feminism, a perversion of the legitimate concerns of the feminism of the 19th and 20th centuries, stems from our perennial, repeated failure to manage this age-old conflict. At the deepest psychic and most distant historical level, it stems from humanity's unhealthy, idealistic longing for and preoccupation with perfection.

In the context of fundamentalist feminism, this "authority" becomes feminity, as defined by fundamentalist feminists. For fundamentalist feminists, womanhood is the "inerrant and infallible" guide to truth - in more or less the same manner as "the Bible" is the "inerrant and infallible" guide to truth for fundamentalist Christians. In either case, what is needed is a more realistic, dynamic and, to that extent, authentic understanding of both authority and truth. (Let me say here that while useful and entertaining the treatment of "the sacred feminine" as a locus of power in Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code", probably does not facilitate this end as well as some might think).

In layman's terms, no man or woman, is always right. No human being is perfect. No human system of government is perfect. A dynamic, difference and change respecting understanding of authority and truth takes into account the fallibility of all humanity and all human systems of control and government. Such an understanding leads us to value each other more, irrespective of gender, racial, religious or any other ideological differences: it emphasizes our interdependence.

Furthermore, the indispensable value of truth needs to be emphasized. Wholesome relationships between men and women cannot be attained in the absence of honesty - especially honesty with oneself. We need to be able to admit when we are wrong; we need to be able to face our failings if there is to be balance and harmony in our relationships with others.

Patricia Pearson's book emphasizes the need to acknowledge unpleasant truths where they exist. In her chapter on women in prisons, she suggests we will not solve a problem if we deny its existence or its true nature. The fundamentalist feminist Lie-e-lah syndrome thrives on denial and self-deception.

While Pearson's book concentrates on extreme violence, much of what she says can be adapted to refer to more common interaction. Much insight can be gained from shifting one's perspective away from the prevailing paradigm which focuses on men's shortcomings and looking at the role of both males and females in instigating and perpetuating violence - physical and psychological.

In an advertisement televised as part of the recent UNIFEM project, International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and the Sixteen Days of Activism Global Campaign, Barbadian calypsonian Allison Hinds expressed the desire - and right - of Caribbean women to express themselves without fear. The prevailing paradigm, with its roots and fruit in fundamentalist feminism, is itself intimidating. As Starcom network's David Ellis suggested some time ago during an edition of Brass Tacks, any challenge of the prevailing paradigm is met with swift, sweeping claims of male insensitivity, bias, pettiness or worst (also recall parliamentarian Prescod's views, shared in the introduction above). Pizzey's and my own marginalization are also evidence of the treatment those who challenge this paradigm can expect - regardless of their gender.