Buckley Speaker Series: Christina Hoff Sommers | Trigger Warnings, Male-Shaming & Moral Panic — Transcript
Full transcript
- 0:10well hello everybody thank you for
- 0:11joining us uh I am Zach young I'm the
- 0:13president of the willth Buckley program
- 0:16at Yale today we are delighted to be
- 0:18able to host Dr Christina Hoff Summers
- 0:22um but first I would like to just
- 0:24briefly describe who we are as the
- 0:26Buckley program and what exactly we do
- 0:28so the Buckley program is an
- 0:30organization that was founded by Yale
- 0:32students a few years ago in order to
- 0:35promote intellectual diversity at Yale
- 0:37and to expand political discourse we
- 0:41host uh debates seminars discussions we
- 0:44fund summer internships we also do a
- 0:47range of other activities if you're
- 0:49interested in learning more about the
- 0:50Buckley program I would suggest
- 0:52contacting Adam Ericson he is our
- 0:54membership director and we're also going
- 0:55to have a new application um semester
- 0:59open up very soon for new Buckley
- 1:01fellows contact Adam if you're
- 1:03interested we delighted to have Dr
- 1:05Christina Hoff Summers with us she is a
- 1:07resident scholar at the American
- 1:08Enterprise Institute she's also the
- 1:11noted author of numerous books including
- 1:13who stole feminism the war against boys
- 1:16and freedom feminism uh she's also a
- 1:19former professor of philosophy and she
- 1:21has a best-selling textbook on ethics
- 1:24she also has an active Twitter following
- 1:26and she has been featured on MSNBC Fox
- 1:29News and a show that many of us are well
- 1:31aware of The Daily Show with John
- 1:33Stewart um so I could certainly say more
- 1:36but I'd rather clear the floor uh please
- 1:39welcome give a warm buckly welcome for
- 1:41Dr off Saunders good afternoon our early
- 1:43evening it's so wonderful to be here a
- 1:46guest of the Buckley program and to be
- 1:49back in New England my old stomping
- 1:51ground are there any Patriots fans here
- 1:54oh my goodness not too many oh good back
- 1:57in the back yes well I'm a great
- 1:59Patriots fan although I'm a little
- 2:00worried about the latest Scandal did you
- 2:02hear about that well I think it's
- 2:04inflated I don't think we should worry
- 2:06about it
- 2:09overblown but they should uh real I
- 2:13better not say this but never mind I
- 2:14will continue um this afternoon I am
- 2:18going to talk about the need to reform
- 2:22feminism I think it is a movement that
- 2:24needs an infusion of new ideas and new
- 2:27directions and um
- 2:30if you ask typical American are you a
- 2:32feminist 75% say no they people don't
- 2:37identify with a movement that is
- 2:39symbolic of the liberation of women
- 2:41which is one of the great achievements
- 2:43of Western
- 2:44Civilization um so I think it's time to
- 2:47reboot feminism I am going to propose a
- 2:50new school which I think uh will greatly
- 2:53improve the numbers of people who would
- 2:54identify as feminists I call it Freedom
- 2:56feminist Freedom feminism now I know
- 2:59some of you are thinking uh well
- 3:03feminism is just fine thank you very
- 3:04much we don't need your new uh School of
- 3:07feminism others are
- 3:09thinking uh who others who are not a
- 3:12fans of feminism may be
- 3:14thinking uh why why reform it why why
- 3:18bother with it at all it's so misguided
- 3:21and and irritating just you know it's
- 3:23like reforming the Aven flu just let it
- 3:27go uh well
- 3:30if I do my job today I will persuade
- 3:33many of you maybe most of you I hope
- 3:36that freedom feminism is our best hope I
- 3:39think it provides a path away from
- 3:41today's very strident gender Wars I
- 3:45think it also could lead to a more just
- 3:47and and happy Society so um oh and by
- 3:52the way I think it can improve your
- 3:53personal life even your love life but
- 3:55and I'll touch on that so before um
- 3:59giving you this elixir of love I want to
- 4:02tell you a little bit about myself my
- 4:04background uh before uh well actually
- 4:08back in the last century uh in the early
- 4:1090s I was a feminist academic in good
- 4:14standing I was invited to feminist
- 4:16conferences I was asked to review papers
- 4:18for uh feminist philosophy journals my
- 4:21classes were cross-listed with women's
- 4:23studies I was never sure why because I
- 4:25didn't teach feminist Theory but I was a
- 4:27woman I taught philosophy so it was
- 4:29feminist philosophy
- 4:31fine but my my good standing uh that all
- 4:35it came to an end in 1994 I published a
- 4:38book called who stole feminism now I
- 4:41felt the book was strongly feminist in
- 4:43the classical Equity sense of equality
- 4:46um but I rejected the idea that American
- 4:50women are oppressed that you know were
- 4:53brought were kept down by a patriarchal
- 4:55oppressive system and that that was the
- 4:57language that was fashionable at the
- 4:59time
- 5:00um and uh so I just I thought that for
- 5:04the most part feminism classical
- 5:06equality feminism had been a great
- 5:08American success story and as I said to
- 5:10speak of women as second class citizens
- 5:14or uh you know sub you know subject to a
- 5:18a masculine Society it just didn't seem
- 5:20to me to apply in fact it seemed absurd
- 5:23so in the book I tried to show how
- 5:25feminism had been taken over in a way at
- 5:29least in the academy by a very eccentric
- 5:32group of of gender Scholars and I do
- 5:34mean eccentric at the time for example
- 5:37just one quick example there was a a
- 5:39feminist philosopher and I remember
- 5:41looking at her textbook and she had
- 5:43dedicated it to the women of my women
- 5:45studies ovular in the spring of whatever
- 5:4892 and I hadn't heard the word ovular
- 5:51before and I was curious about it and I
- 5:53walked to the dictionary to look it up
- 5:55only to realize before I opened the
- 5:58Webster that she had made it up she
- 6:01didn't like the word seminar and you can
- 6:04understand why the very essence the root
- 6:06word is associated with a very essence
- 6:08of male power and so she replaced it
- 6:12with an equivalent now this was funny it
- 6:15was amusing maybe witty maybe uh but she
- 6:18wasn't kidding and U so anyway in the
- 6:21book I tried to show that these
- 6:24theorists were taking it off in too many
- 6:27exotic directions leaving most women
- 6:29behind
- 6:30and
- 6:32um when it first came out I received fan
- 6:36letters from feminists A few from Erica
- 6:39Jong was I don't know if you has anyone
- 6:41heard of Erica Jong he still fear of
- 6:42flying the first kind of pro-ex feminist
- 6:45uh and uh naen strawson who was
- 6:47president of the ACLU she wrote me a
- 6:49letter even Iris Murdoch this wonderful
- 6:52brilliant British novelist uh however
- 6:55for the most part I did not receive fan
- 6:57mail in fact it would not be an exagger
- 6:59ation to say I was excommunicated from a
- 7:01religion I did not know existed um and
- 7:05my colleagues and and I lost some
- 7:06friends I was I was subjected to a
- 7:09colorful attack for my heresies uh many
- 7:12feminist activist academics did not um
- 7:15well they remained convinced that the
- 7:17American society was oppressive for
- 7:19women that it was an an oppressive
- 7:22patriarchy they did not appreciate my
- 7:23please for
- 7:25moderation and some called me a backlash
- 7:28or a traitor to my my gender anti-woman
- 7:31even a non-w woman one one critic
- 7:34referred to let's see Christina Hoff
- 7:36Summers and Margaret Thatcher those two
- 7:38female
- 7:40impersonators well uh just as an aside I
- 7:44should tell you that this is not easy
- 7:46for my for my parents um I lost my Dad
- 7:49recently but my my mom and dad were my
- 7:53mom's still very liberal so I mean wow
- 7:56you can't be more liberal than my mom
- 7:58and dad uh and uh they were dismayed to
- 8:01find their daughter we're all very close
- 8:03but they were dismayed to find me
- 8:04reviled by people they admired like I
- 8:06don't know glorious Dynam and then
- 8:08occasionally praised by people they
- 8:10thought were diabolical my father would
- 8:12in the car sometimes insist on uh
- 8:14listening to Rush limbo just to get his
- 8:16blood pressure up you know get really
- 8:18mad and mother would say darling turn it
- 8:20off it upsets you no not that man turn
- 8:22it down and as soon as mom was out of
- 8:24the car Dad would turn it on and get
- 8:25really mad and one day he was driving
- 8:28and and limbo had read something of mine
- 8:30and and and said oh well this is good
- 8:32this Christina hop Summers my dad almost
- 8:35lost control of the
- 8:37car uh but whatever you know he he
- 8:40remained to the end very proud of me
- 8:41every time I did anything he would rush
- 8:43out and get a copy of an interview or an
- 8:46article and on one occasion I had been
- 8:48interviewed by Playboy magazine and dad
- 8:51wanted to see it but what do you do when
- 8:53you're an 80 plus Old Gentleman living
- 8:56in at that time they they're from
- 8:58California but they were living in
- 8:59Vermont California was too conservative
- 9:01they went to
- 9:03Vermont and in Vermont but my dad
- 9:06thought I'm not going to go there was a
- 9:07little store everybody in the town in
- 9:09this Brattleboro store everybody knew
- 9:11you so Daddy went across the border to
- 9:13the more Le less puritanical Keen New
- 9:16Hampshire to get the Playboy but even
- 9:18there he was nervous and he felt he had
- 9:20to explain himself to the clerk and he
- 9:22said I'm only buying this because my
- 9:24daughter's in
- 9:27it well anyway um to the topic at hand
- 9:31um I am not a backlashers I hope a
- 9:34traitor no a female impersonator I don't
- 9:37think so um I am a former philosophy
- 9:40Professor with a respect for logic clear
- 9:43thinking and Rules of
- 9:44Evidence and um and I hope basic
- 9:47fairness so uh I promise you that if I
- 9:50say anything the next I hope I keep this
- 9:52I was going to time myself but I never
- 9:54quite got it together would someone
- 9:56raised my hand after I've gone on for 32
- 9:58minutes okay okay what does that mean
- 10:01you'll give me a 10-minute
- 10:03warning oh my God
- 10:06okay uh okay
- 10:09um anyway if I say anything right now
- 10:13that strikes you as wrong or illogical
- 10:15or or just plain bloody-minded as the
- 10:18British say um give me good reasons um
- 10:21and I'll consider your objections and I
- 10:24change my mind sometimes so I'm I try to
- 10:26be intellectually open I think it's a
- 10:28very crucial intellectual virtue I don't
- 10:30always succeed but I I try mightily so
- 10:34Freedom feminism Freedom feminism is a
- 10:37style of feminism which I submit is a
- 10:41great improvement over what we have now
- 10:43it stands for the moral social and legal
- 10:45equality of the Sexes it affirms for
- 10:48women what it affirms for everyone it
- 10:51and and that would be dignity
- 10:53opportunity personal Liberty now it
- 10:56differs from most contemporary schools
- 10:58of feminism in one critical
- 11:03way it accepts the fact that taken as a
- 11:07group the Sexes are somewhat
- 11:10different uh if Freedom feminism has a
- 11:12first principle it is this one in the
- 11:15pursuit of happiness men and women tend
- 11:17to take somewhat different paths now I
- 11:20know some of you are going to get
- 11:21nervous and think essentialism and what
- 11:23is she talking about hear me out now a
- 11:26few years ago I came across an article
- 11:29in uh it was a 200 this was a few years
- 11:32ago it was an older article from 20 2008
- 11:34in the Journal of Personality and Social
- 11:37Psychology this article blew my mind um
- 11:42because it it had a
- 11:45paradoxical conclusion it had
- 11:47paradoxical findings but it seemed to me
- 11:49to be the closest study I'd ever seen to
- 11:53to to human reality and let me tell you
- 11:55what that was uh these researchers
- 11:58looked at 50 55 societies and they
- 12:01compare data on gender and personality
- 12:05now uh throughout the world they found
- 12:07women tend to be tend I'm not saying
- 12:10every single woman there are exceptions
- 12:11I'm talking about the rules they said
- 12:13women tend to be more nurturing more
- 12:16risk averse and uh more
- 12:19emotionally uh
- 12:21expressive uh while men usually tend to
- 12:25be a little more competitive more
- 12:26risk-taking and emotionally flat
- 12:29that sounds a little pejorative let's
- 12:31say say
- 12:32stoical now of course as I said there
- 12:35are exceptions I'm talking about just
- 12:37overall patterns now the most
- 12:40fascinating finding was this one they
- 12:42found that personality differences
- 12:44between men and women are the largest
- 12:48and most robust in the more prosperous
- 12:51egalitarian educated
- 12:53societies now according to the authors
- 12:56nations with very high levels of human
- 12:58development that means you know people
- 12:59with you know long uh life expectancy
- 13:03high levels of literacy education
- 13:06economic
- 13:07wealth these are likely to have the
- 13:09largest sex differences in
- 13:11personality H A New York Times science
- 13:14column to summarized the study this way
- 13:16it looks as if the personality
- 13:18differences between men and women are
- 13:19smaller in traditional cultures and you
- 13:22know in rural India or Zimbabwe than in
- 13:25the Netherlands or the United States a
- 13:27husband and a stay-at-home wife in
- 13:29patriarchal batswana may be more seem to
- 13:31be more alike than working couples in
- 13:33Denmark or New
- 13:35York now why should that be how can that
- 13:38be well the authors of the study
- 13:40hypothesize that prosperity and equality
- 13:45bring people just greater opportunities
- 13:47for self-realization for
- 13:49self-actualization that if you have
- 13:51wealth and freedom and health and
- 13:52education it empowers men and women to
- 13:55be who they truly are and it is
- 13:58conspicuous ously the case that Gay
- 14:00Liberation has thrived in in
- 14:04post-industrial advanced Highly Educated
- 14:06societies that's where we see the most
- 14:08advantes for the for the lb gqt
- 14:11Community uh more opportunities to
- 14:14embrace their identities the
- 14:16crosscultural
- 14:17research uh suggests this is not
- 14:20conclusive but to me it was very
- 14:23suggestive H to the point of as I said
- 14:27uh just striking me as profound
- 14:30gender differentiation if they're right
- 14:32may not it's not always a sign of
- 14:34Oppression it can be a sign of
- 14:37well-being of freedom of Happiness H now
- 14:40let me get you give you an example I
- 14:42recently read an article uh this was
- 14:44just on a Blog at the Wharton School uh
- 14:47someone was lamenting the pity of women
- 14:49engineers and they held up China and
- 14:51Russia as Superior examples of equality
- 14:55uh according to this post quote in China
- 14:5740% of Engineers are women and the
- 14:59former USSR they account for about 58%
- 15:02of working
- 15:04Engineers I didn't check her statistics
- 15:06but that's what she said now the author
- 15:08blames uh workplace biases and
- 15:11stereotypes for the fact that women in
- 15:12the United States earn only about 20% of
- 15:15doctorates in engineering well uh what
- 15:18if American women what if it turns out
- 15:20that we earn fewer doctorates in
- 15:22engineering because we don't have to
- 15:24study engineering uh we have more
- 15:26opportunities to pursue what interests
- 15:29Us in other words if you're in a country
- 15:32where you have to study something that
- 15:34is so uh you know connected to your
- 15:37well-being and your family survival but
- 15:39what if you are a little more free
- 15:42economically and you can study art
- 15:45history or anthropology or Celtic
- 15:47languages I don't know uh philosophy is
- 15:50what I did um not practical but uh uh
- 15:56interesting so it women it maybe that
- 15:59women have far more opportunities to
- 16:02pursue careers that interest them now
- 16:05American women are behind men in
- 16:07engineering but guess what we're way
- 16:09ahead in both Bas and phds in Humanities
- 16:13in biology and social sciences Health
- 16:16Sciences veterinary medicine it was once
- 16:19almost all male now it's increasingly
- 16:21female dominated our best vet schools
- 16:24are approaching 70 80%
- 16:27female um so if you look at despite
- 16:30years of Consciousness raising and a few
- 16:32generations of feminism men and women
- 16:34are not doing the same things even if
- 16:36you broke down the majors at this
- 16:38college um you would find for for
- 16:41example a lot we we talk about the wage
- 16:43Gap we you could help close a wage Gap
- 16:46right now today by if you are typical
- 16:48maybe you're not but if this were a
- 16:49typical uh sample of of American
- 16:53undergraduates uh men are much more
- 16:56likely to study the highly remunerative
- 16:59uh Majors uh you you can earn quite a
- 17:02lot if you study uh let's see the
- 17:04highest would be petroleum engineering
- 17:07Naval architecture and metalurgy oh
- 17:11God uh okay it's those are it's like
- 17:15Naval architecture 97% men petroleum
- 17:18engineering
- 17:2087% now women uh actually are over
- 17:24represented in fulfilling Fields I will
- 17:27tell you that but lower paying early
- 17:29childhood education 97% female and this
- 17:32has hardly changed for for Generations
- 17:35if if anything there are more women than
- 17:36ever social work that's always been
- 17:39women but now it's
- 17:4088% uh communication disorders like
- 17:43special needs teachers and at 94% female
- 17:47and year after year um researchers at
- 17:50the Pew foundation and and Katherine
- 17:53hakee at the London School of Economics
- 17:55would ask women what is your preferred
- 17:58women and men what is your ideal if you
- 18:01you could have the perfect lifestyle
- 18:03about 20% of women are want to be
- 18:06full-time careerists about 20% want to
- 18:10stay home and they don't do not wish to
- 18:12work unless they have to uh 60%
- 18:15Katherine hakee calls them
- 18:17adaptivesportsmen.org
- 18:28entail some some part-time work a
- 18:31majority of mothers according to the Pew
- 18:33Foundation more than 60% said they would
- 18:35prefer to work part-time but fathers
- 18:37don't with fathers it was uh 79% said
- 18:40they would prefer a full-time work so
- 18:44now I look at this and I look at these
- 18:47changes at at these persistence
- 18:49differences that women do overall
- 18:52Prevail in the caring and nurturing
- 18:54professions and men are in the saving
- 18:57and rescuing and people free zone
- 19:00professions um now as a as a as a
- 19:03freedom feminist I respect preferences
- 19:06and for me a good Society is one uh
- 19:08defined but with high levels of human
- 19:10satisfaction not statistical parity uh
- 19:14and so so Freedom feminism stands for
- 19:16equality of
- 19:17opportunity uh but it it doesn't expect
- 19:21same sameness of results now I know
- 19:24critics I know what they're going to say
- 19:26uh they will say because they've told me
- 19:28you're your views are reactionary and
- 19:30harmful to women because they don't take
- 19:32into account how preferences are shaped
- 19:34by
- 19:35culture uh women who major in social
- 19:37work or education uh rather than
- 19:40petroleum engineering or Metallurgy
- 19:42they're not really making free choices
- 19:43they are making self-defeating choices
- 19:46uh that will undermine their long range
- 19:49economic
- 19:50well-being or the American Association
- 19:52of University women put it this way
- 19:54women's personal choices are fraught
- 19:56with inequities and uh and it the AAW
- 20:00speaks of women being pigeonholed into
- 20:02the pink collar jobs of of in health and
- 20:05education and according to the National
- 20:07Organization for Women powerful sexist
- 20:09stereotypes steer women and men towards
- 20:11different education training and career
- 20:14paths now here's my answer to that I
- 20:18agree that men and women's choices uh
- 20:22could we could say they're not truly
- 20:24free in a society where where they have
- 20:27little access to education
- 20:29uh information about the world but we
- 20:32don't live in that kind of society uh
- 20:34American and European women are among
- 20:36the most educated informed
- 20:38self-determining people in human history
- 20:41and it's it seems to me a little
- 20:44matronizing if you will uh to say that
- 20:47their choices are not free I mean how do
- 20:50we know whether Hardline feminists at
- 20:52the National Organization for Women how
- 20:54do we know that what they're doing was
- 20:56the result of free choices maybe they
- 20:58were all all sorts of burdensome
- 21:00stereotypes promoting them in their in
- 21:02their Direction um look I I was a
- 21:05philosophy freser for more than 20 years
- 21:07I can tell you we're not going to
- 21:08resolve this question about Free Will
- 21:10and and determinism today philosophers
- 21:13have been debating it for more than
- 21:142,000 years uh no resolution in sight so
- 21:19I think for the moment we should air on
- 21:21the side or on the side of Common Sense
- 21:24and Credit One Another with agency now
- 21:28I'm not saying that you shouldn't take
- 21:30your your little daughter or your friend
- 21:32or if you're a teacher and encourage
- 21:34them to try new things try new Fields
- 21:37find ways to make it interesting of
- 21:39course but in the end you have to accept
- 21:43the choice and and maybe even accept
- 21:46what as a freedom feminist I believe
- 21:49that in the pursuit of happiness men and
- 21:51women take somewhat different paths and
- 21:53there may be a limit to how much that is
- 21:56going to be changed now uh so far my
- 21:59point is that uh more than other schools
- 22:01of thought I feel that freedom feminism
- 22:04is more respectful of men and women and
- 22:07just more accommodating to to human
- 22:09reality but I'm going to go further I am
- 22:11going to say that freedom feminism is
- 22:13also more Progressive it is more
- 22:16forward-looking than
- 22:18other yeah more more Progressive more
- 22:21more liberal in a way uh than other
- 22:23forms of feminism and let me explain by
- 22:26way of an example from Sweden
- 22:29now the sedes can be remarkably thorough
- 22:33in their pursuit of gender parity like a
- 22:37few years ago there was a feminist
- 22:38political party that proposed a law
- 22:41requiring that men sit while
- 22:45urinating less messy more equal uh in
- 22:492004 the leader of Sweden's left party
- 22:52feminist Council goodin schan sounds
- 22:56more German but never mind she osed a
- 22:59man tax a special tariff to be levied on
- 23:01men to pay for all the violence and
- 23:03Mayhem wrought by their sex men for
- 23:06their part uh suggested that women pay a
- 23:08special tax every time they crossed a
- 23:11bridge that men had built I don't know
- 23:12they wanted to get back at them this
- 23:15would not end well for
- 23:17anyone uh but anyway there is a school
- 23:19called ealia ealia is a state sponsored
- 23:23School in Stockholm and it is dedicated
- 23:26to eradicating the gender dis iction and
- 23:29in this school there are no boys and
- 23:31girls just friends and buddies they're
- 23:34um they've replaced classic fairy tales
- 23:37like Cinderella Sleeping Beauty oh no no
- 23:40these have been replaced by Tales like
- 23:42two giraffes adopt uh some abandoned
- 23:45crocodile
- 23:47eggs ealia gives the children according
- 23:50to one
- 23:51teacher teacher said it gives them a
- 23:53fantastic opportunity to be whoever they
- 23:56want to be and she was very excited they
- 23:58can just they're just going to be you
- 24:01know I don't know I I some I sort of see
- 24:03that do you remember that character Pat
- 24:04in Saturday Night Live who was you know
- 24:07androgynous being but you have to see
- 24:10the school and I'm going to quote
- 24:11someone who did see the school um it
- 24:14turns out that it's it's actually a
- 24:18fantastic opportunity not for the kids
- 24:20but for adults to coerce micromanage and
- 24:24police children because children will
- 24:27lapse into convention
- 24:29gendered play if you leave them alone
- 24:30for too long and this has turned out to
- 24:32be a huge problem in the school in their
- 24:36efforts uh to get the children liberated
- 24:38from the constraints of gender they have
- 24:40had to impose their own rigid little
- 24:43regime of you know tabos and uh here is
- 24:46how a slate author na Natalie Rothchild
- 24:50describes I don't think this is igalia
- 24:52it's another gender neutral classroom
- 24:55one oh it is ealia one Swedish school
- 24:57got rid of its toy cars because boy boys
- 25:01gender coded them and ascribed the cars
- 25:04higher status than other toys another
- 25:07preschool removed free playtime free
- 25:10playtime turned out uh to be as a
- 25:12pedagogue at the school put it when
- 25:14children play freely stereotyped
- 25:16patterns are born and
- 25:19cemented so every detail of the child's
- 25:22interaction was micromanaged by these
- 25:24concerned
- 25:26adults now again few would deny that a
- 25:30parent a
- 25:32teacher should should expose a child to
- 25:35a wide range of toys and play activities
- 25:37and and you want your child to develop
- 25:39in all sorts of ways and all possible
- 25:41interests but what the sweds are doing
- 25:44in some of their classrooms this is not
- 25:46all their classrooms these are these are
- 25:47some extremes it goes beyond encouraging
- 25:51it it goes beyond sort of urging
- 25:53children to try new things they are
- 25:55requiring it now today
- 25:59many experts on gender will tell you
- 26:01that um tolerance understanding uh that
- 26:05we should there are gender variant kids
- 26:07who completely defy the stereotypes of
- 26:09their sex a boy who wants to dress up
- 26:11like a princess a persistent interest in
- 26:13a girl who and it used to be they wanted
- 26:15to subject these kids to some kind of
- 26:16radical behavior modification more
- 26:18enlightened Theory says leave them alone
- 26:21and and you know to be just allow them
- 26:24to be who they are and as a freedom
- 26:27feminist I say yes I agree with that but
- 26:28do that for the for the kids who are
- 26:31conventionally gendered as
- 26:33well do it for both that's why I say I
- 26:36feel this is more Progressive uh the
- 26:39swedes should extend their tolerant
- 26:41understanding to the gendered identity
- 26:43and preferences of of the vast majority
- 26:45of children they should be like My
- 26:47Heroine Vivian gusen paly now Vivian
- 26:50gusen paly is a beloved kindergarten
- 26:52teacher now retired she's in her
- 26:5580s this is not just any kindergarten
- 26:57teacher she won the uh MacArthur genius
- 27:00award it's a genius teacher 30 years ago
- 27:03she published a classic children's book
- 27:05called boys and girls superheroes in the
- 27:07doll corner now it's nearly impossible
- 27:10to imagine anyone writing a book quite
- 27:13like this today she encouraged the kids
- 27:15in her class to try all kinds of
- 27:17activities and but she accepted that
- 27:20they would separate by gender they
- 27:22always did and at the time she wrote her
- 27:24book uh Luke Skywalk Walker and and
- 27:27Darth were all the rage H with the boys
- 27:30in her kindergarten class and some at
- 27:33the time there was some concern that
- 27:35girls you know don't have their
- 27:36superheroes and maybe we should get
- 27:38girls to play with Luke's and and Darth
- 27:42um and here's what she wrote she said
- 27:45that um it's true that the girls do not
- 27:48partake in the boys super hero play but
- 27:53then she looked very carefully at the
- 27:55doll
- 27:56corner and she said
- 27:59that girls are interested in their own
- 28:01kind of domination boys imaginative play
- 28:04yes it involves a lot of conflict
- 28:06imaginary violence but girls play it
- 28:08appears to be more gentle and peaceful
- 28:10but this very perceptive teacher noticed
- 28:12that uh girls fantasies can be very
- 28:15aggressive exciting intense but
- 28:17different that's equal but different uh
- 28:20there was a lot of conflict pesky
- 28:22characters imaginary power struggles and
- 28:24then she said I love this line mothers
- 28:26and princesses are as power powerful as
- 28:28any superheroes the boys can
- 28:30devise this teacher
- 28:33appreciated the benefits of of gender
- 28:36play for both children she had no
- 28:38Illusions about its
- 28:40elimination now Freedom feminism is
- 28:43inspired more by Vivian paly not those
- 28:47micromanaging sex policing Swedish
- 28:49School teachers in ealia um there now
- 28:53there's still a place for sort of
- 28:55old-fashioned equality feminism and all
- 28:57of this I mean as a as as a freedom
- 28:59feminist I want a society where
- 29:01everything all opportunities are
- 29:03available to women if they want to be I
- 29:05want more SE women CEOs or uh I don't
- 29:08know uh bull fighters no not bull
- 29:11fighters that's so cruel race car
- 29:13drivers um I think that we need there
- 29:16are always going to be women and men who
- 29:18defy the stereotypes of their sex and in
- 29:21a a free Society you open the doors to
- 29:23them and find ways to allow them to
- 29:26pursue their happiness is Define it um
- 29:29so what I'm arguing is that equality of
- 29:33outcome is not necessarily A measure of
- 29:35wellbe and freedom feminism can make a
- 29:38place for that now so far I've tried to
- 29:41justify the core PR principle of Freedom
- 29:43feminism that the Sexes taken as a group
- 29:45are different but equal uh but I have
- 29:49very little time but I quickly want to
- 29:50assert another principle uh quoting
- 29:53let's see Emanuel Kant truth is better
- 29:55than BS well it wasn't Kant but it's a
- 29:58translation of what he might have said
- 30:01uh truth is Our Truth should be your
- 30:03Ally and as a freedom feminist I care a
- 30:06lot about solid research I do not think
- 30:09women especially women at risk for
- 30:11violence or exploitation I do not
- 30:13believe that women are helped by
- 30:17exaggeration fake statistics hyperbole
- 30:21spin
- 30:22truthiness uh it just in the end it
- 30:25doesn't work it creates a false picture
- 30:28and I tell you now with all the
- 30:30sincerity I can muster today's women's
- 30:33movement is drowning in misinformation
- 30:37misinformation if you can excuse the
- 30:40pun uh it's it's it's saturated with
- 30:44advocacy data faux
- 30:47narratives factoids fct toids I can't
- 30:50take it anymore it's just too much and
- 30:53it's it's propaganda some of it is is
- 30:56even hate propaganda against men I mean
- 30:59there's been just outbreak of misry uh
- 31:01which is quite astonishing it is
- 31:03saturated with phony claims now uh how
- 31:06many times have you heard um you know a
- 31:09woman is cheated out of you know 25% of
- 31:12her salary or now they say 23% or one in
- 31:14five women on campuses sexually
- 31:16assaulted one in three college men would
- 31:18rape if they were permitted if they if
- 31:20they were allowed to do so and wouldn't
- 31:22get caught one in three American women
- 31:24are battered or my favorite of all on
- 31:27Super Bowl Sunday battery increases 40%
- 31:31this was a statistic I I I discussed in
- 31:34in whoo feminism and it was taken so
- 31:36seriously in the 90s that during the
- 31:38Super Bowl classic they actually ran an
- 31:40ad I think it was 94 or 95 urging men
- 31:43remain calm during the game uh now it
- 31:47turned out in this case it had no truth
- 31:51it was like a case of telephone tag
- 31:52somebody had said something it got
- 31:54repeated it never got corrected one of
- 31:56the things I've discovered about
- 31:57feminist myth they can't be corrected as
- 31:59a as a sociologist said they're harder
- 32:01to kill than a vampire you can't I I
- 32:04corrected a whole bunch of them to this
- 32:05feminist scholar legal scholar and she
- 32:08didn't believe me they went right back
- 32:09into her book it's called domestic VI
- 32:12violence law you can read our Exchange
- 32:14in The Chronicle of Higher Education
- 32:16because people were pretty shocked that
- 32:18what she did but I
- 32:20digress the fact is these are now as a
- 32:23as a a feminist violence against women
- 32:26exploitation bad batter rape these are
- 32:29serious crimes women are plagued now men
- 32:33are plagued by even more violence not
- 32:36sexual violence but other kinds of
- 32:37violence I just want accuracy and
- 32:40because I don't think you can have Smart
- 32:42policies unless you have good research
- 32:45it's hard to get good research I agree
- 32:47there all sorts of ways it can go wrong
- 32:49the feminist research I review over and
- 32:52over again the ones you keep reading
- 32:54about it is so it is laughable how
- 32:57poorly conr constructed the researches
- 32:59if you've had you know any intro
- 33:01introduction to social science you will
- 33:03see that they they play every game in
- 33:06the book but then if you criticize it
- 33:08you're thought to be insensitive to the
- 33:10problem no it's because I care about the
- 33:12problem that I think women will be
- 33:13helped by truth and I as I said I think
- 33:16truth is on the side of compassion
- 33:18falsehood is no friend so these are
- 33:21genuine problems um now another bad
- 33:24thing that's happened is there is now I
- 33:26see this rape culture Crusade on the
- 33:28campus a lot of it is a panic like the
- 33:30like the the daycare Panic or or a kind
- 33:33of sexual McCarthyism it frightens me
- 33:36that there are so many women that have
- 33:37that willfully uh are against uh giving
- 33:41a young man due process and and the list
- 33:43of young men subject to Kangaroo Court
- 33:45Justice is is growing uh young women at
- 33:48Boston
- 33:49University put a petition they wanted
- 33:51the school to cancel Robin Thick because
- 33:53he's Sayang Blurred Lines and has this a
- 33:56rape Anthem they said
- 33:58uh which says I know you want it and
- 34:00somebody get slate counted about a
- 34:02thousand songs that have those words but
- 34:04maybe there's something more going on in
- 34:05that song I've listened to it I don't
- 34:07get it but I'm missing something anyway
- 34:09students at Harvard Law School Harvard
- 34:11Law School requested trigger warnings in
- 34:14their classes when sexual assault was
- 34:16discussed and this poor this Harvard
- 34:18Professor This brilliant woman she wrote
- 34:20about it in the New Yorker she said oh
- 34:22one student had asked a professor please
- 34:24don't use the word violate as in violate
- 34:27the law she was triggered by that um so
- 34:31and here's what she says uh this this
- 34:33professor from Harvard uh if the topic
- 34:36of sexual assault were to leave the law
- 34:38school classroom it would be a
- 34:39tremendous loss above all to VI victims
- 34:42of sexual
- 34:43assault I believe that today campus
- 34:47feminism these are the extremes but you
- 34:49all know they are there I think they are
- 34:51are turning the feminism is uh our
- 34:56campuses are becoming hostile
- 34:57environments for due process for free
- 34:59expression social movements fueled by
- 35:02paranoia and fantasy tend to be toxic so
- 35:06as I said it's time to reform feminism
- 35:09in conclusion I think anybody who truly
- 35:11cares about the status of women around
- 35:13the world should be working to create a
- 35:16women's movement that that resonates
- 35:18with real men and women we need a
- 35:20feminism that respects truth and civil
- 35:22liberties a reality-based Liber you know
- 35:25Liberty centered scrupulously honest
- 35:28feminism could greatly help both women
- 35:31everywhere in the United States
- 35:32throughout the world it could help men
- 35:35women children everyone Freedom feminism
- 35:38is my humble contribution to that effort
- 35:41so thank you friends and buddies for
- 35:43listening to me the ular is now
- 35:47[Applause]
- 35:56over we will be taking questions um I'm
- 35:59not sure are there any other mics set up
- 36:01or is it just the one okay so let's see
- 36:05does anyone have a
- 36:08question should I stand up so I was
- 36:11having a conversation with a few of my
- 36:14friends a few nights ago and uh I was a
- 36:16bit confused as to why uh the Title Nine
- 36:20process was there why uh people who were
- 36:23raped wouldn't just go to the police and
- 36:27uh try to get the person uh convicted
- 36:29and you know they told me well you you'd
- 36:32have to undergo a rape kit and that
- 36:34could re-traumatize or traumatize uh the
- 36:38woman who had already been a victim uh
- 36:41and I'm curious what your views are on
- 36:44that if there are ways of uh making the
- 36:47process better while not removing due
- 36:51process and how to be sensitive to those
- 36:54things while still not uh
- 36:58compromising uh our sense of
- 37:01honesty a great question and that is the
- 37:04question that should have been asked a
- 37:05long time ago and then in that just now
- 37:07I think it was 28 wonderful Harvard Law
- 37:09professors wrote a petition that many
- 37:12many feminists among them and they're
- 37:14saying let's do that but the law is not
- 37:18let us stop all forms of sexual
- 37:20harassment that even that anybody could
- 37:22even imagine any kind of definition of
- 37:24harassment let's take all efforts to
- 37:26stop it no the law has to be let's do
- 37:29all we can to stop as much as we can
- 37:32consistent with due process for the
- 37:34accused you can't get away from
- 37:37from trying to avoid false accusations
- 37:40which we we just happen to have a legal
- 37:42system developed out of the European
- 37:43Enlightenment which presumes innocence
- 37:47and so how do you do that now you
- 37:49mentioned the rape kits that that there
- 37:51one thing that's frustrating to me
- 37:53people now think that women at Yale
- 37:56sophomore re College Kenyan College
- 37:59they're the most at risk they're if you
- 38:01look at the statistics that are thrown
- 38:02around they're more at risk than women
- 38:04in the war torn
- 38:06Congo and uh I heard politicians uh
- 38:10Senators uh mcal and gilbran say women
- 38:14are most at risk on the college campus
- 38:16than anywhere else in the country no
- 38:17they're not it's just false and there's
- 38:20a great study and and the author Carrie
- 38:23Ren Cali renison uh looked at the data
- 38:28and if you track for education and you
- 38:30track for college attendance women are
- 38:32much more at risk in in dangerous poor
- 38:35neighborhoods than they are at at
- 38:37prestigious colleges they're they're
- 38:39greater risk so let's just tell the
- 38:40truth and then talk about how we we have
- 38:42scarce resources how do we allocate them
- 38:45and I think rape kits are the first to
- 38:46thing I also think it's true a lot of
- 38:49women are it used to be worse but one of
- 38:51the great things that feminism did in
- 38:53the 70s as they raised Consciousness
- 38:55about rape is that and it's the job is
- 38:58not finished the work of feminism is not
- 39:00finished because you do need people who
- 39:03are trained to talk to a woman who has
- 39:05been traumatized it's a special it is a
- 39:08special kind of of hideous violation and
- 39:10they need people who are trained and
- 39:13know the protocols and don't ask
- 39:16these uh very offensive questions in the
- 39:18past when would be implied that it was
- 39:20her fault or was what were you wearing
- 39:22or what what is your sexual history and
- 39:25so we needed the women's movement it
- 39:27we're not finished but that all that we
- 39:28should be working for but we we're not I
- 39:31mean we are a little bit but we're so
- 39:33carried away now all of Washington is
- 39:36Will mcal and and Gill brand and even
- 39:39the president the White House
- 39:40commissions endless amount of things to
- 39:42address an epidemic which the best data
- 39:46we have suggest doesn't exist there's a
- 39:48problem there's not an epidemic an
- 39:50epidemic and the problem is far more
- 39:52serious outside the campus than on
- 39:54campus that's all
- 39:58lot
- 40:04questionsa guys that's prejudicial to
- 40:07women they don't like to for form no no
- 40:10okay my
- 40:12apologies lines are patriarchal
- 40:19but I I had n for Advantage
- 40:23because okay so my question uh is
- 40:26working with your premises um so if we
- 40:30take the premise to be true that men and
- 40:32women take slightly different paths
- 40:33towards happiness um and if we also
- 40:35observe the second phenomenon that uh
- 40:37these two paths that are traditionally
- 40:39chosen like like your example of
- 40:41engineering and the sciences and
- 40:43petroleum um if based on the way the
- 40:46market Works uh those professions are
- 40:49higher paying um than like professions
- 40:52in philosophy and the humanities and so
- 40:53forth uh does that in a sense make a
- 40:57certain kind of economic equality
- 41:00impossible or like what are the
- 41:02implications of those two phenomenon on
- 41:05um you know equality of positions of
- 41:07wealth and power there are implications
- 41:10because it it but you have to factor
- 41:13more in if you're looking at someone's
- 41:15overall well-being their how much they
- 41:17earn is certainly part of it it's a very
- 41:19important part of it but if you ask men
- 41:21and women what do you care most about a
- 41:23job you find big differences men care
- 41:26more about they will they put High
- 41:30earnings uh almost at the top and women
- 41:33they want to be fulfilled there's much
- 41:35more about I want to help people that's
- 41:37big with women you may not like it but
- 41:39that's what we write um another thing is
- 41:42you have we have massive data about
- 41:44vocational interests and you will ask
- 41:47men and women would you rather spend
- 41:50your time you know the next two weeks uh
- 41:53putting a machine together and taking it
- 41:54apart or helping people work through
- 41:57problems that I don't know if I want to
- 41:59do either but never mind those are your
- 42:02choices um now there are men who will
- 42:05want to help with the problems and there
- 42:07are women who can't wait to get to that
- 42:09machine I am not denying that and I
- 42:11don't I know someone's going to come up
- 42:12and say well I'm a metallurgist and I'm
- 42:14a female I know you're there I've met
- 42:17you and they're these women are
- 42:19fantastic but they are they know they're
- 42:20different they always know they are
- 42:22different and uh just like my son knew
- 42:24he was different both of them were
- 42:26English major all his fraternity
- 42:28Brothers at Vanderbilt and the other at
- 42:30Penn they were studying economics and
- 42:32Engineering they were English majors and
- 42:36uh it was I I I Begg them to change
- 42:38because it I
- 42:40thought I still don't understand it but
- 42:44anyway the fact is they my son in his
- 42:47Victorian literature class oh his
- 42:49girlfriend was a computer science major
- 42:51at vanderbelt he was an English major
- 42:53her classes were all guys and her and
- 42:55his classes were him and a lot of girls
- 42:57he didn't mind it neither did she but
- 42:59that was what it was so they know they
- 43:00different but but if you ask people what
- 43:02are your interests you will find far
- 43:04more women will say they want to work
- 43:05with people or living things so biology
- 43:08is Big with women uh but you will find I
- 43:10don't know electrical engineering not so
- 43:13much and um now I think I've always
- 43:16thought well let's feminize them a
- 43:18little bit a long time ago I was at a
- 43:19conference and people were worried about
- 43:21girls not playing with computers as much
- 43:23as boys that's been solved but I said
- 43:25well why don't we have Tinker Bell
- 43:27computers or you know make them and
- 43:28people are hissing like H we're not
- 43:30going to do that but I thought it would
- 43:31have been nice you know I would have
- 43:33liked one but um you know to that you
- 43:36can there might be a way I think there I
- 43:38would be in favor of that is try to find
- 43:40a way to make
- 43:42engineering if you actually they're
- 43:44doing that they're doing it at Schools
- 43:45they're showing girls like you can help
- 43:47people uh suppose there's an earthquake
- 43:49how can you build a house that won't
- 43:51fall down and you know then you connect
- 43:53it to real world and it's easier to
- 43:55engage a girl if you can make that real
- 43:57world connection so I would try I I want
- 44:00to keep trying but what I don't want uh
- 44:03is the government especially to come in
- 44:05like you know and and say oh no gender
- 44:08parity and we're going to use all these
- 44:11problems and it's discrimination and a
- 44:12hostile environment no it isn't men and
- 44:15women are somewhat different and you're
- 44:17not going to get statistical parody
- 44:19probably ever but you can get a better
- 44:22and you can get I also think people that
- 44:24are in fields they're not really they
- 44:25they might not have been in often very
- 44:27the most creative so I like the
- 44:29crossover but but we should do it in a
- 44:31spirit of um just sort of
- 44:33open-mindedness and good-heartedness not
- 44:36this angry oh it's the patriarchy forget
- 44:38it it's not the patriarchy it's us next
- 44:43question on the
- 44:45topic on the topic of uh the topic of
- 44:49kind of Freedom feminism's cultural
- 44:53element it seemed like what you were
- 44:54saying is that most of the disparities
- 44:56we see in various job jobs are due to
- 44:58innate preferences that maybe are
- 44:59somewhat cultured but are mostly the the
- 45:02innate differences between men and women
- 45:04in a job that a lot of people would say
- 45:07is about helping people but may or may
- 45:09not be more about power and money that
- 45:11is to say lawmakers um the kind of
- 45:14six-fold increase we've seen between the
- 45:161980s and now in terms of female
- 45:18lawmakers do you think that mean
- 45:19obviously it's still in flux we haven't
- 45:21gotten to a point where I guess people
- 45:23have kind of have self- selected for
- 45:26joining their various careers what role
- 45:28does freedom feminism see for not merely
- 45:31letting women decide okay I guess I
- 45:33guess I don't want to run for office or
- 45:34men kind of tending to choose that and
- 45:36how much of that is attributable to
- 45:38things like no one really talks about
- 45:40men's fitness that much Chris Chris
- 45:43Chris Christie a notable exception to
- 45:44that or fashion like Obama's Tweed suit
- 45:47or something that that those are all
- 45:48notable for exceptions where women's
- 45:50clothing dress appearance family status
- 45:54is always an issue in a way that is
- 45:56rarely an issue for me it's an issue for
- 45:57women it's interesting to us look at
- 45:59women's magazines men's magazines aren't
- 46:01about fashion women's are I mean women's
- 46:04magazine women that is what women are
- 46:06interested and I I find this not you but
- 46:09I find conventional feminism to be
- 46:12sexist and and to trivialize women's
- 46:16interests and yes men like pornography
- 46:19and we're upset about that some women
- 46:21like it but a lot of men like it but
- 46:22women like uh bodice rippers these
- 46:24romance novels it's different it's equal
- 46:27maybe the pornography is worse but never
- 46:28mind that um I'm I'm just saying that so
- 46:32I don't I don't what what's the problem
- 46:33I'm not ident the question is women in
- 46:37public eye who are running for office
- 46:38are treated in elements come into
- 46:41campaigns come into the public eye in
- 46:43their treatment as public officials in a
- 46:45way that those elements of their public
- 46:46life would never be a question for men
- 46:47the question of women what about the
- 46:49children what about X Y and Z whereas
- 46:52men are never assume is never assumed
- 46:53that a man needs to answer those
- 46:55questions well you know what I think I
- 46:57think that if you it's hellish to run
- 46:59for office because suddenly everything
- 47:00about you is up for grabs men have been
- 47:02putting up with it and they for years
- 47:03they get different questions and as you
- 47:05said no I don't think anyone well
- 47:07someone would but most people would not
- 47:10start publicly joking about a woman's
- 47:13weight and making it you know a constant
- 47:16uh line and you know the night comic uh
- 47:20programs but with Chris Christie it is
- 47:22so I think there's I think there's I
- 47:25guess my point is
- 47:27twofold I don't completely disagree with
- 47:29you because I'm still enough of a
- 47:31feminist to I I know there there are
- 47:35barriers and I know that there are
- 47:37attitudes there's sexism out there and
- 47:39especially women I mean but we we were
- 47:43so carried away with this more extreme
- 47:46kind of of feminism that is almost
- 47:48grievance collecting and exaggerating
- 47:50wrongs where there are no wrongs where
- 47:52there is nuance and it's hard to study
- 47:55Nuance I think in the nuance once
- 47:57there's some sexism but I think if
- 47:59you're a woman there have been very good
- 48:01studies um at from Georgetown University
- 48:04about men and women in politics when
- 48:06women run they they will win as often as
- 48:09men but the electorate is not sexist it
- 48:12really depends on what your positions
- 48:14are if you run the big problem that they
- 48:17found was that women don't run women
- 48:21will say oh God I'm not going to do that
- 48:23and go and live in you know motels in 16
- 48:26cities and
- 48:28you
- 48:28know so we've got to find a way to now I
- 48:31think the solution is I think more women
- 48:33are running because we were living
- 48:35longer and now people can have like two
- 48:38careers or even if you stayed home you
- 48:40know the kids are gone if you had your
- 48:41kids early they're gone by the time
- 48:43you're 45 or 50 and political careers
- 48:45are something you you know people seem
- 48:47to be able to go on and on you can do
- 48:49that you know you can start in your 50s
- 48:51or 60s not a lot of careers I think it
- 48:53might be self-correcting we'll see so
- 48:57without disagreeing with you entirely
- 48:59I'm just a little more nuanced yes I
- 49:00think women face special hassles men
- 49:03face different ones and people have
- 49:05always said horrible things about one
- 49:07another who was it I think it was uh it
- 49:11was uh Alexander Hamilton was called a
- 49:15the bastard son of a Scottish what was
- 49:18it
- 49:19a what was I don't know some kind of a
- 49:22Scottish uh bum or something it was true
- 49:26actually but
- 49:27um he shouldn't have said it um a
- 49:31Scottish Bootlegger the bastard son of a
- 49:33Scottish boot um so it was it was harsh
- 49:37back then for
- 49:38men but women weren't running at all
- 49:42then
- 49:44so um hello does
- 49:48this oh oh am I just I'm just holding
- 49:52okay I'm just holding this okay um so I
- 49:55think along the Lin of sort of the past
- 49:57two questions I am interested in uh how
- 50:00we address the fact that value is
- 50:02ascribed to outcome so let's just say
- 50:04men and women have different preferences
- 50:05and they're able to display them but
- 50:07they're being manifested within a system
- 50:09within structures that have already sort
- 50:12of some degree defined the value of that
- 50:14outcome so I'm thinking about uh for
- 50:16instance difference between the pay of a
- 50:18CEO versus the pay of a kindergarten
- 50:20teacher right so I'm trying to
- 50:22understand the intersection of feminism
- 50:23and income inequality or the way that
- 50:25we've ascribed value to these pref ref
- 50:26is already and honestly I think that
- 50:29we're out of whack the entire system
- 50:31that what the value we've ascribed to
- 50:34certain outcomes doesn't make any sense
- 50:36to me right so even if so so I want to
- 50:39address how I want to figure out how to
- 50:41address that connection so for instance
- 50:43a concrete example I entered the
- 50:44business school recently I used to be an
- 50:46art major now I'm in a business and I
- 50:48didn't now there's this thing called
- 50:49behavioral Finance which to me almost
- 50:51seems like a redundancy Finance is
- 50:54behavioral but there's this so I think I
- 50:56think all even entering into these def
- 50:59different preferences the way in which
- 51:02these different preferences have been
- 51:03defined are via maybe I don't I hesitate
- 51:06to say a masculine lens but even the
- 51:08division between economics art English
- 51:11these various definitions these
- 51:13categories have been predefined in a
- 51:15specific way so so I'm I'm talking about
- 51:18the structure of our preferences H are
- 51:21so it's not just these preferences just
- 51:23exist but they have been pre-structured
- 51:25and honestly I think with a specific
- 51:27framework in mind so I want to collapse
- 51:29the framework yeah but just keep in mind
- 51:32something about the framework if you
- 51:33look at men and women in the workpl it's
- 51:36true women have a a big Misfortune which
- 51:39is that the nurturing and caring jobs
- 51:41are not paid that well now one reason is
- 51:43that a lot of people are good at them
- 51:45there are a lot of women who are very
- 51:46good at nurturing and caring and they
- 51:48don't from all over the world they can
- 51:50do it and you don't need that much
- 51:53training to do it compared to some other
- 51:56jobs men however do almost all of the
- 52:01um of the dangerous jobs the truly if
- 52:04you look at the death rates of people
- 52:07that live work on oil rigs or or loggers
- 52:10or people out on fishing boats or you
- 52:13know I have never seen a woman you know
- 52:15on a high-rise building if I look out
- 52:17and the windows are being cleaned it's
- 52:18always a man there's like an invisible
- 52:20Army of men there's a construction site
- 52:23near my house and I think they're behind
- 52:25schedule so somebody paned
- 52:27day and night these men are working all
- 52:28night it's freezing and then it was
- 52:30really hot they there're just Army of
- 52:32men working and you find very few women
- 52:36who do that so so it's true structural
- 52:38now I don't think it's just structural I
- 52:40think that uh that men uh will be you
- 52:44know we look at our if we look at our um
- 52:46vocational schools and what the kids
- 52:48want to do you know I I visited a I
- 52:50wrote a book called the war against boys
- 52:51and I'm very worried about young men in
- 52:53school they're not flourishing as well
- 52:55as girls and that's a in which women are
- 52:57doing better and I want both to to do
- 52:59well and I went to the school called
- 53:01Aviation High School and it's in in um
- 53:05Queens New York I thought I was lost it
- 53:07was a gritty neighborhood there were
- 53:09factories and this can't be a school it
- 53:11looked like a an abandoned Factory then
- 53:14I saw Aviation High School and I went
- 53:17inside and I still thought I was because
- 53:18it was the quietest school it had 2,000
- 53:20kids I couldn't hear you could hear a
- 53:21pin drop I had never been in a high
- 53:24school that was that quiet well it has
- 53:262,000 kids they were all in their
- 53:28classes these are kids that come mostly
- 53:30from uh homes that are you know the
- 53:34parents a lot of uh Hispanic and
- 53:37African-American Asian parents who are
- 53:40poor they go to that school and they
- 53:43because they like airplanes and it's 80%
- 53:46boys but they love it and they love it
- 53:49so much that they don't Goof Off the
- 53:52reason they're quiet is if they don't
- 53:53and they have to take Serious academic
- 53:55classes vocational schools aren't the
- 53:57way they used to be now you can be
- 53:58College Bound and my point is these kids
- 54:01were enthralled because and if they
- 54:02didn't do their math they didn't like it
- 54:05that much they didn't like their history
- 54:06CL they hated their English class many
- 54:08of them but if they didn't get passing
- 54:09grades they couldn't Tinker with the
- 54:12cesna 411 or whatever it was out in the
- 54:14playground that FedEx had donated to
- 54:16them and they get to do but it was these
- 54:18boys were enthralled it was so now there
- 54:22are girls there and they're fantastic
- 54:24they're sort of running the school but
- 54:26they're only about 20% they know they're
- 54:28different and they are interested in the
- 54:29airplanes and I would like to see see
- 54:31more but I don't know how you could
- 54:34change and I I I think one problem with
- 54:36a lot of social science in in the
- 54:39academy or academic uh feminism is they
- 54:42look at the economy and they just think
- 54:45they want a world that will never exist
- 54:46there will never be a world where there
- 54:48isn't some kind of supply and demand and
- 54:50where somebody who's a trained
- 54:53electrical engineer is going to earn a
- 54:54lot more than
- 54:57you know Vivian gussen paly My Heroine a
- 54:59kindergarten teacher but there are
- 55:02different payoffs pay is one thing
- 55:05fulfillment is another so I think we
- 55:08always have to ask the two questions is
- 55:10your dog will pay and look at that
- 55:12factor because you know what I think I
- 55:13think there are a lot of men who might
- 55:15have wanted to be in a rock band or they
- 55:19might have wanted to pursue their career
- 55:21as a a painter in Paris or and they went
- 55:24to engineering school like those women
- 55:26have to do in Russia the men are still
- 55:28still kind of have to do it so I think
- 55:30it's complex that's all I'm saying when
- 55:33I bring up all these variables I want a
- 55:35feminism that looks at the whole picture
- 55:37is fair to both sexes but most of all as
- 55:40faithful as possible to the
- 55:42truth yes so I agree with you in general
- 55:45I do think there are some differences
- 55:47between men women and I don't think that
- 55:49the fact that those differences exist
- 55:50means the world's going to end or women
- 55:52will all be oppressed but there's been
- 55:54some interesting research on the way
- 55:56that women and men are treated
- 55:57differently growing up that I think is
- 55:58Meaningful so for instance there's a
- 56:00psych study where they had uh
- 56:02microphones attached to mothers and they
- 56:04listen to everything they told their
- 56:06children and what they found was that
- 56:08when talking to boys the mothers pretty
- 56:11much only used anger and frustration
- 56:13words when talking about emotions they
- 56:15only use those terms and with women they
- 56:18use this wide variety of you know
- 56:20disappointed somewhat afans whatever and
- 56:22you could argue yes that they're
- 56:24catering to what naturally women
- 56:26whatever but I think what what I see
- 56:28from studies like that is that yes there
- 56:31is a starting difference but perhaps we
- 56:33are blowing that up in certain areas so
- 56:36yes perhaps women in general enjoy more
- 56:39looking at gossip magazines but if
- 56:41that's the only thing they're offered
- 56:43then we're going to make a problem that
- 56:44maybe is 6040 into a problem that's 9010
- 56:47right well I don't disagree with you as
- 56:49I keep saying I I've had children and
- 56:52and I have a i people used to say oh you
- 56:54have sons that's why you're not
- 56:56sympathetic I've got better than they
- 56:58say you don't have a daughter I've got
- 56:59better than a daughter I've got a
- 57:00granddaughter I've got Eliza my darling
- 57:04and um I watch her in brilliant perfect
- 57:08in every way uh and her father gave her
- 57:11no he doesn't like me to tell this story
- 57:13um someone gave her a train a train to
- 57:16get her no he doesn't mind the story
- 57:17it's someone else he gave her a train
- 57:20and he came back downstairs Eliza she
- 57:23said Daddy sh I'm putting it to bed and
- 57:25she you
- 57:27know was uh nurturing the train
- 57:31and I I I look at her and you know I
- 57:34think what do I want for this this I
- 57:36want everything for her I want
- 57:37everything any parent wants I I have a
- 57:40grandparent but uh I I if she excels in
- 57:44physics or that would be great I I but I
- 57:47I'll tell you one other thing about
- 57:48girls that's very interesting and maybe
- 57:51at the school particularly interesting
- 57:53there's a a group of people at they're
- 57:55now at Vanderbilt used to be at John's
- 57:56Hopkins and they study prodigies math
- 58:00and mostly you know math and and and
- 58:02language prodigies these are kids that
- 58:04get like perfect scores on the SAT in
- 58:07seventh grade the SAT doesn't even ma
- 58:09doesn't can't even measure what they
- 58:11know they're they're these are you know
- 58:13the top 1% genius kids big difference
- 58:16between the girls and boys the the boys
- 58:20if a boy is a math prodigy it's almost
- 58:22certain to go into a math career or a
- 58:25science career the girls you never know
- 58:27you could have a girl who's a math
- 58:29genius because they they the boys have a
- 58:32they call it an asymmetrical cognitive
- 58:34profile a boy can be a math genius but
- 58:36his skills his verbal skills may not be
- 58:38very good the girl who is a math prodigy
- 58:41is also often a verbal Prodigy this
- 58:44opens up a whole world to her and so we
- 58:47lose those girls you could say lose we
- 58:49lose them they could become short story
- 58:51writers they could become kindergarten
- 58:52teacher they could do anything and so
- 58:55they have a more a richer field just
- 58:58more complicated Pursuits so I just want
- 59:01to look at that without all always from
- 59:04the point of view of oh the women are
- 59:06the have notot I think if you look at
- 59:08men and women right now in the United
- 59:09States it's a complicated mix of burdens
- 59:12and benefits I want to look at both and
- 59:14I want to make it better if we can let's
- 59:17maybe find a way that women can earn
- 59:18more for doing the things they like but
- 59:22men too and I want to find a way a
- 59:25little more protective of men who are
- 59:27killing themselves lots of men who are
- 59:29killing themselves in these jobs and um
- 59:32that you can't really do after you're 40
- 59:33you're just ruin a lot of them we're
- 59:35looking now huge numbers of men are out
- 59:38out of the economy we have I think of
- 59:40one of more than almost any not any
- 59:42country but our countries in the OED we
- 59:45have more men out of the labor force and
- 59:49um and and a lot of it is uh disability
- 59:52and so forth so it's a complicated
- 59:54picture I do do not think that Hardline
- 59:57feminism is the right perspective there
- 59:59may be there was a time where it was so
- 1:00:01rigged against women it was so
- 1:00:03arbitrary had to be fixed so we
- 1:00:06developed a feminist network we
- 1:00:08developed institutions we needed them
- 1:00:11but you know what's
- 1:00:13happened there's this huge sort of
- 1:00:15structural asymmetry now you have all of
- 1:00:17these women's organizations and almost
- 1:00:18nothing for men and men do have problems
- 1:00:21I tell you boys in school is the first I
- 1:00:24will speak about and women's groups
- 1:00:26never give up but it turns out activist
- 1:00:29organizations never say oh our job's
- 1:00:31done let's move out no if anything they
- 1:00:34become more desperate and this is what
- 1:00:36I've seen a lot of the false statistics
- 1:00:38are disseminated by women's groups who
- 1:00:41want in their own interests depend on I
- 1:00:44mean I I don't say they're doing it for
- 1:00:45mercenary Reasons I'm just it's sort of
- 1:00:47a combination of self-interest and
- 1:00:50ideology and narrative they they want to
- 1:00:53believe and we've got so much of that
- 1:00:55right now that's our problem
- 1:00:58so I don't know if I answered your
- 1:01:00question maybe I f up
- 1:01:04AER um what do you think are the most
- 1:01:08important feminist issues in the United
- 1:01:11States today and do you have any policy
- 1:01:14suggestions for how to fix them I see
- 1:01:17two big problem well the first thing I
- 1:01:18want to say is the to me if I were
- 1:01:21Zarina of the women's movement and I'm
- 1:01:23not Freedom feminism it's me and I don't
- 1:01:26know some random Twitter Twitter
- 1:01:28followers who like it maybe some of you
- 1:01:30I don't have a following I'm not the
- 1:01:31Zarina but if I were in charge I I first
- 1:01:35of all would say that our focus should
- 1:01:36be outside the United States and I say
- 1:01:39this because we've had two waves waves
- 1:01:41of feminism we pretty much have it you
- 1:01:43can pretty much it's not perfect and
- 1:01:45I'll talk about that in a minute you can
- 1:01:46pretty much do what you want and yeah
- 1:01:48there's still some jerks out there and
- 1:01:50draglites and little pockets of sexism
- 1:01:53but
- 1:01:54overall you you have a fair shot in this
- 1:01:56country compared to almost any place in
- 1:01:58the world and uh so but there are
- 1:02:01societies and I've been to several
- 1:02:03International women's conferences where
- 1:02:05they have not had a first wave a second
- 1:02:08they have not had so much as a trickle
- 1:02:10of feminism and who do I meet at these
- 1:02:13conferences I meet the Elizabeth Katie
- 1:02:15Stanton the Susan B Anthony I meet them
- 1:02:19from from you know it could be from
- 1:02:20Angola it could be from Cambodia these
- 1:02:23are the most inspiring women and they
- 1:02:25these fantastic women from Iran who are
- 1:02:28putting up with a kind of 1984 for women
- 1:02:31it's a it's despotic what the women have
- 1:02:33to put up with and they come to these
- 1:02:36conferences and they they they want to
- 1:02:38make they want to make common they want
- 1:02:40to do what we did here and they want
- 1:02:43inspiration so to me that would be the
- 1:02:44first thing I think that we we should
- 1:02:47appreciate what we have figure out how
- 1:02:49we got it and help other women who want
- 1:02:51it so but here I think the unfinished
- 1:02:54work of feminism
- 1:02:56uh one is to me there's a lot of sexism
- 1:03:01in the popular culture now there's a lot
- 1:03:04of misry and trash talk about men but I
- 1:03:09I think that women are uh and one of the
- 1:03:13questioners brought it up even in
- 1:03:14political campaigns there are just
- 1:03:15special ways you know in which women are
- 1:03:18um viewed by in a sexist way that people
- 1:03:21kind of take for granted and I I still
- 1:03:23think it's worth questioning and
- 1:03:26understanding it better the other thing
- 1:03:28more important is what uh economists
- 1:03:31call the feminization of poverty if you
- 1:03:33look at who's really poor in this
- 1:03:35Society it's mostly women and children
- 1:03:39now one of the things I would like in a
- 1:03:42my feminist movement would be more
- 1:03:43inclusive to get the best ideas from
- 1:03:45conservatives
- 1:03:47Libertarians um you know people that
- 1:03:49have been left out religious women and I
- 1:03:51have no time to go into this but there's
- 1:03:53a another person who inspired me as this
- 1:03:56historian at brandise University and she
- 1:03:58wrote
- 1:03:59this uh history of the women's movement
- 1:04:02and she said the women in the United
- 1:04:04States made the greatest progress when
- 1:04:06conservative women worked with liberal
- 1:04:08women she called it two paths to Freedom
- 1:04:11um I'm blanking out on her name Janet
- 1:04:14it'll come to me in a second two paths
- 1:04:16to Freedom when more conservative women
- 1:04:18got together with radical women and they
- 1:04:19work together and I could see that if we
- 1:04:22had a more inclusive right now feminism
- 1:04:24is pretty much in the H you know it's
- 1:04:26pretty much women identified from the
- 1:04:28far left even on campus the Women's
- 1:04:30Center is supposed to be a safe place
- 1:04:32for women it's not really a safe place
- 1:04:34for a traditionally uh religious woman
- 1:04:38you know a conservative woman it's a
- 1:04:40safe space for people who think exactly
- 1:04:42the way I do and I'm radical and if
- 1:04:44you're not you're not welcome not in all
- 1:04:45of them I'm sure it's not true at Yale
- 1:04:47but no at other schools so I'd want it
- 1:04:51to be more inclusive and then start
- 1:04:53solving problems look at the
- 1:04:54feminization of poverty now Li a typical
- 1:04:57liberal we need to give more support to
- 1:05:00women uh single mothers a conservative
- 1:05:02would say yes I want to give them
- 1:05:03support but we've probably got to look
- 1:05:06at stabilizing families because it just
- 1:05:08turns out I'm sorry to say it appears to
- 1:05:12be the case in in this case liberal and
- 1:05:15uh conservative sociologists are sort of
- 1:05:17coming to the same
- 1:05:19conclusion it's very hard to succeed and
- 1:05:23to make it into the middle class A if
- 1:05:25you don't have have some education
- 1:05:27Beyond high school and B if you have a
- 1:05:29broken family and if you don't have the
- 1:05:30education and a broken family you're
- 1:05:33stuck so how do we mend the families and
- 1:05:36I I rare I don't I don't say I never
- 1:05:38hear it but I rarely hear that from
- 1:05:40feminists admitting the need and I don't
- 1:05:42say they can't be gay families they can
- 1:05:44be any kind of family they have to be
- 1:05:46you have to have at least two people
- 1:05:48taking looking after those kids bringing
- 1:05:49in income probably canceling out each
- 1:05:52other's Manas uh you need two people
- 1:05:56and we have we have a divorce society
- 1:05:59and we have kids who are brought up and
- 1:06:01it's takes a a distinct toll on boys
- 1:06:03I'll tell you that but it's another
- 1:06:06story girls in another way so I I think
- 1:06:09conservatives should could bring that in
- 1:06:10and and um Libertarians would be there
- 1:06:13to keep us careful from not creating a
- 1:06:16nanny state where none of us are free
- 1:06:18and ending up like a Galia or something
- 1:06:20in Sweden so you I I want that I want
- 1:06:23feminism to have that to be more diverse
- 1:06:26and more more women's voices and I think
- 1:06:28when conservative and leftwing women
- 1:06:30come together watch out and history
- 1:06:33actually I'm no time to go into this but
- 1:06:35we won the vote because Elizabeth Kat
- 1:06:37Stan and Susan B Anthony the women
- 1:06:39weren't demanding it and women were even
- 1:06:42organized against their own suffrage
- 1:06:44nobody ever saw anything women organized
- 1:06:46against their own vote how could that be
- 1:06:49H well it took a woman Francis Willard
- 1:06:51who was the president of the Christian
- 1:06:52Temperance Union and she went out and
- 1:06:55told women that it was their she she
- 1:06:57said that they were like domestic
- 1:06:58heroins and they had to just as they
- 1:07:00were prided over their house they had to
- 1:07:02Pride over the nation it was their moral
- 1:07:04responsibility and she rebranded the
- 1:07:07ballot as the family protection act
- 1:07:09because one of the reasons they wanted
- 1:07:11women devot is that um you know there
- 1:07:14were just there was so much that was
- 1:07:16dysfunctional in the society but
- 1:07:19anyway Elizabeth ktie Stanton and Susan
- 1:07:22B Anthony sort of did it from abstract
- 1:07:23principles of equality which was great
- 1:07:25we needed that and Francis Willard did
- 1:07:28it from a different a kind of maternal
- 1:07:30feminism that women are nurturers and
- 1:07:33the nation needs nurturers and she
- 1:07:35brought them together so I think that
- 1:07:37would be empowering so that's I guess
- 1:07:38that's a third principle I would change
- 1:07:40the women's movement and make let open
- 1:07:43that up to more women from and and
- 1:07:46certainly try to bring in more uh women
- 1:07:48of color because the women's movement
- 1:07:50the organized women's movement is
- 1:07:51largely sort of a white elite movement
- 1:07:55and they have not you know they say when
- 1:07:58they do polls they just don't they not a
- 1:08:00lot of women that turn up from poor
- 1:08:03women or uh women from different
- 1:08:05ethnicities so it's not inclusive I
- 1:08:07would try to make it inclusive then I
- 1:08:08would look at the misogyny I would look
- 1:08:10at
- 1:08:12the the poverty and uh come up you know
- 1:08:16I'm not saying we're going to solve it
- 1:08:17but I think we have a better
- 1:08:22chance I'm gonna give shorter answers I
- 1:08:24promise
- 1:08:36sure
- 1:08:37okay um so I kind of want to go back to
- 1:08:41a point you kind of glossed over um and
- 1:08:43really unpack the statement so one of
- 1:08:46the key tenants I think of how people
- 1:08:48think about gender today academically is
- 1:08:50that gender as opposed to sex is
- 1:08:51something that's learned and per uh
- 1:08:53learned and then performed um and you
- 1:08:55kind of gloss over that assertion that
- 1:08:58genders learn through Culture by saying
- 1:08:59very quickly we could say that they're
- 1:09:01not truly free in a society where they
- 1:09:03have little access to education and
- 1:09:04information about the world but we don't
- 1:09:06live in that Society American and
- 1:09:07European women are among the most
- 1:09:08self-educated people in human history um
- 1:09:12but that seems in congruous with the
- 1:09:13statement from earlier that um I think
- 1:09:17it was 40% of I think Chinese Engineers
- 1:09:18are women China has a top education
- 1:09:21program higher in the United States and
- 1:09:23it seems in congruous with the fact that
- 1:09:24children obvious VI ly are not educated
- 1:09:27they're in the process of receiving
- 1:09:28their education um but they're certainly
- 1:09:30not as educated as adult women and
- 1:09:32unable to kind of differentiate culture
- 1:09:34between what um they might learn in an
- 1:09:36academic setting um so I was wondering
- 1:09:38if you could talk more about your
- 1:09:41rational for this kind of bold assertion
- 1:09:43that American and European women are
- 1:09:45immune to cultural promotions of gender
- 1:09:48um and that how that doesn't affect
- 1:09:50their choices and how their choices are
- 1:09:51solely based or primarily based on
- 1:09:53innate gender differences okay can I
- 1:09:56answer that quickly oh I hope this is
- 1:09:57quick and then I'll I promise I'll get
- 1:09:59to you I American women are we're
- 1:10:01constantly exposed to these roles being
- 1:10:04contested and your generation has never
- 1:10:08never has there been a generation was
- 1:10:09more debated and and questioned and
- 1:10:12different kinds of Role Models a whole
- 1:10:14array so to me if a young woman comes to
- 1:10:17me and says that she wants to major in
- 1:10:20early childhood education and I I say
- 1:10:23well have you thought about that and why
- 1:10:24are you why do you want we know uh I
- 1:10:27mean it's possible that she hasn't and I
- 1:10:28could raise her Consciousness and she'd
- 1:10:29go become a chemical engineer but I
- 1:10:33suspect I'm going to credit her with
- 1:10:37being part of this conversation being
- 1:10:39part of this world there's no possible
- 1:10:41world where we don't have influences you
- 1:10:44can't set the standard for Freedom so
- 1:10:46high that it means that we're all just
- 1:10:48enslaved by culture I mean maybe we are
- 1:10:50I'm I'm a philosopher it's perfectly
- 1:10:52possible a lot of things are possible
- 1:10:54metaphysically uh but not resolved so
- 1:10:57this whole question of Freedom it seems
- 1:10:59to me though as as a kind of soft
- 1:11:02determinist we could say that in a
- 1:11:04country where you have choices and where
- 1:11:05you're exposed I will say you have more
- 1:11:09you're more self-determining where you
- 1:11:10never heard of the possibility that a
- 1:11:12woman shouldn't stay home and have
- 1:11:13children it never no one ever did it in
- 1:11:15the history of your village that would
- 1:11:17be different and it was a it was a
- 1:11:19little bit like that in the United
- 1:11:21States it changed so that's why I'm a
- 1:11:24strong component of a lot of things that
- 1:11:26we got from first and second way
- 1:11:28feminism but as I said it just turns out
- 1:11:31at a certain point you have to look
- 1:11:33around and say so what did women do with
- 1:11:36freedom that well we did a lot of things
- 1:11:39but we didn't become men and it appears
- 1:11:41we don't want to some of us do majority
- 1:11:43don't so I take that seriously and does
- 1:11:48that answer you maybe it doesn't oh and
- 1:11:50I want to say one other thing I do think
- 1:11:51it is partly biological I think it's
- 1:11:53cultural but I think it's so so naive in
- 1:11:56in gender studies where they say it's a
- 1:11:58social construction I mean it seems to
- 1:12:00me that's biologically naive not to know
- 1:12:03about the role of of testosterone and
- 1:12:07and hormones and the P play patterns
- 1:12:10people say oh well children are socially
- 1:12:12constructed you know by the Toys R Us
- 1:12:13catalog this is blue and this is pink
- 1:12:15but they've looked at uh veret monkeys
- 1:12:19and and the little the female monkeys
- 1:12:21will gravitate towards the dolly or the
- 1:12:23plush toy and the males will go to a gas
- 1:12:25or something I mean how do you explain
- 1:12:27that did they didn't read the toys RS
- 1:12:29catalog there's
- 1:12:31something that does impel us there is
- 1:12:33now I don't say biology is Destiny but
- 1:12:35it's something and it's in us and and I
- 1:12:41think in a is it just a subversive idea
- 1:12:43but you know what I think I think in a
- 1:12:46free prosperous
- 1:12:48Society you can sort of go with it if
- 1:12:51you have you know not everybody is a
- 1:12:53girly girl but if you are there's a
- 1:12:55place for you and you can or gay or any
- 1:12:57you know anything on the Spectrum you
- 1:12:59can do it and it seems to me we've
- 1:13:01become a society now where we're very
- 1:13:03disapproving of those who are
- 1:13:04conventional and I just say let's
- 1:13:07embrace it but but I'm not disagreeing
- 1:13:09with you we should keep informing people
- 1:13:11and I will tell my granddaughter about
- 1:13:13Metallurgy but I don't think there's
- 1:13:16there there's a chance but I I think I
- 1:13:18see an English teacher there but go on
- 1:13:20to clarify real fast um when you say
- 1:13:22just like yes or no when you say a free
- 1:13:24prosperous Society you're indicating the
- 1:13:25United States right no I'm indicating
- 1:13:28Sweden Australia Canada France I mean
- 1:13:33even Japan and CH you po industrial
- 1:13:36societies with where people have you
- 1:13:38know high levels of Education life
- 1:13:40expectancy all the things we would agree
- 1:13:42are are Goods um you want to watch what
- 1:13:44do people do I watch what people do
- 1:13:48there's a there was a great article in I
- 1:13:51keep talking about slate I don't know
- 1:13:52why
- 1:13:53but um I like K it's great actually but
- 1:13:56anyway it was it was about
- 1:13:58Holland the country that feminism forgot
- 1:14:02and it sounds pretty good I read about
- 1:14:05Holland and I was I thought oh maybe I'm
- 1:14:07not gonna well I had been there and I
- 1:14:09liked it but I thought oh maybe there's
- 1:14:10something to miss here and it just turns
- 1:14:12out the women they all work almost all
- 1:14:14work
- 1:14:15part-time and even those without
- 1:14:17children they have a whole culture
- 1:14:19around kazel making the house cozy
- 1:14:22making everything kazel and they love it
- 1:14:24they go with their girlfriend they're
- 1:14:25teasing it's just happy little thriving
- 1:14:27place I'm sure there's some Dutch
- 1:14:28feminists who would disagree with me but
- 1:14:30when they take polls they get very high
- 1:14:32levels of happiness so I'm just and you
- 1:14:34see in Sweden they have all these
- 1:14:36services that American women especially
- 1:14:38feminists say oh we should have all
- 1:14:40these the government should do this and
- 1:14:41they do it in Sweden we're ahead of
- 1:14:44Sweden when it comes to women advancing
- 1:14:45in in managerial positions because we
- 1:14:48because we have to and we don't have but
- 1:14:52I I looked at Sweden and I thought gee I
- 1:14:53would like to have those things
- 1:14:55but I think it would exaggerate the sex
- 1:14:57difference rather than make us more the
- 1:14:59same because if you give women the
- 1:15:02opportunity to stay home with their kids
- 1:15:04a lot of women will take it and very few
- 1:15:06men will yes yeah um I'm kind of lazy I
- 1:15:11didn't want to stand up and wait the
- 1:15:13whole time sorry um so some some of what
- 1:15:17you say is great and and I like the tone
- 1:15:20you take it's it's refreshing um but do
- 1:15:24you not see even when you say even when
- 1:15:26you said maybe my granddaughter will be
- 1:15:28a metallurgist you kind of did a shrug
- 1:15:31and the P because I know her
- 1:15:33face sure yeah one question you're right
- 1:15:36you're right and then see that every
- 1:15:38time you mention computer science and
- 1:15:40I'm not blaming the audience we laughed
- 1:15:42as an audience um oh the the your son
- 1:15:44who did English and um we weren't
- 1:15:46judging your son we just kind of laughed
- 1:15:48because it's kind of funny when you ask
- 1:15:50because it's different we know it's
- 1:15:52different I know but when when you ask
- 1:15:55we can't really explain why it's funny
- 1:15:57but we're just so used to it so I think
- 1:15:59that in this presentation in which you
- 1:16:00used humor beautifully which I really
- 1:16:03enjoyed I think that the fact that we
- 1:16:05found this funny kind of shows that we
- 1:16:07already do have these biases against
- 1:16:10these things do you could be right it
- 1:16:11could be that we know our biases or it
- 1:16:13could be we know
- 1:16:14ourselves and that's what I don't know
- 1:16:17I'm open I'm open a point that you
- 1:16:19brought up that I was glad you discussed
- 1:16:21was how mainstream feminism is not
- 1:16:23accommodating to women of color um um
- 1:16:25and so the and you also talked about a
- 1:16:27diversity of voices so I have a question
- 1:16:29about which voices are heard in your
- 1:16:30form of feminism um and how Freedom
- 1:16:32feminism accommodates trans women or
- 1:16:35disabled women or women of color so who
- 1:16:37does your feminism seek to
- 1:16:40empower uh mine is very separate so I'd
- 1:16:43like for to answer
- 1:16:46that um sure well my question is um you
- 1:16:49talked about why families need uh two
- 1:16:52parents and um I come from a single
- 1:16:55parent household many of my friends did
- 1:16:56in high school I graduate in the top 10%
- 1:16:59of my high school and I just want you to
- 1:17:01and before you relate it to race my
- 1:17:03mother is white and before you related
- 1:17:04it to socioeconomic status we're middle
- 1:17:06class so I just wanted to um have you
- 1:17:08explain why she was inept at raising a
- 1:17:11child oh okay first of all I didn't say
- 1:17:15all children I think you just better
- 1:17:17look at the data before you want to go
- 1:17:19around suggesting your
- 1:17:22model my sister raised two kids by her
- 1:17:25three kids by herself oh how I could
- 1:17:27forget Vanessa like that she raised
- 1:17:28three kids by herself it was hard it was
- 1:17:32a challenge uh but many many mothers
- 1:17:35make fantastic accommodation and they
- 1:17:38they cope but overall as a policy there
- 1:17:43it is is not working yes it works for
- 1:17:45very gifted middle class people with
- 1:17:47lots of of of social support and it
- 1:17:50certainly works well for like Hollywood
- 1:17:52actresses or you know having their third
- 1:17:54child on their own own what it works but
- 1:17:57as a policy it keeps women and children
- 1:18:00poor and what you to what you said what
- 1:18:03you just said is is scary to me because
- 1:18:07that attitude it I see it so often and
- 1:18:10and I I hear liberal and conservative uh
- 1:18:14statisticians and sociologists worry
- 1:18:16that we're normalizing something that
- 1:18:18does not work for most most kids and and
- 1:18:22c and it takes a high toll on women and
- 1:18:25will keep
- 1:18:26poor it it's fine and I I I I admire the
- 1:18:32these mothers and in my own family I see
- 1:18:34it up close but we've got to mend our
- 1:18:38families it's not for in the long run do
- 1:18:40you know that our families are less
- 1:18:41stable than they are in Europe where
- 1:18:43they don't even get married they don't
- 1:18:45they mean marriage is just p in France
- 1:18:48and Sweden but they stay together and
- 1:18:51we're like we we're crazy about marriage
- 1:18:53and people get married and they
- 1:18:55split up all the time so we have to
- 1:18:57figure that out I don't have an answer
- 1:18:59but as a
- 1:19:01policy you show me data that I'm wrong
- 1:19:03and I'll reconsider but you got to look
- 1:19:05at my data too okay well I would love to
- 1:19:07have some links to your data um and
- 1:19:10thank you for
- 1:19:11answering oh yeah no of course I do want
- 1:19:14it to be inclusive and um when I look
- 1:19:18back at one of the I mentioned uh
- 1:19:21Francis Willard who organized women to
- 1:19:23get the vote
- 1:19:25and the women's movement with Elizabeth
- 1:19:28Katie Stanton and Susan banthony was
- 1:19:29kind of an elite movement in New England
- 1:19:31societies and their drawing rooms
- 1:19:34Elizabeth Willard had workingclass women
- 1:19:36she had chapters of of African-American
- 1:19:39women Hispanic
- 1:19:41women it was a a Grassroots movement
- 1:19:45that went to throughout the whole
- 1:19:46society and it changed the society now
- 1:19:49we needed those women in New England in
- 1:19:50their drawing rooms they they were
- 1:19:52playing a an important role but they
- 1:19:54were two streams but most women sort of
- 1:19:58resonated with with a with a style of
- 1:20:01feminism that was more sympathetic to to
- 1:20:05Domesticity they wanted to be wives and
- 1:20:07mothers and many of them wanted to be in
- 1:20:09their homes they didn't want to be
- 1:20:10working a lot of workingclass women were
- 1:20:12afraid of the vote um because they
- 1:20:16thought that it would they they wanted
- 1:20:18to be feminists speak disparagingly of
- 1:20:20of women in the 19th century Where
- 1:20:23Angels in the house this is supposed to
- 1:20:25be a bad thing it you know it wasn't the
- 1:20:28women didn't think it was a bad thing
- 1:20:29they wanted to be those angels they
- 1:20:30wanted to be in the house they didn't
- 1:20:32want to be in the fields they didn't
- 1:20:33want to be in the factories it was it
- 1:20:35was uh an achievement to be U taking
- 1:20:39care of your own home and Francis
- 1:20:42Willard understood that for what that
- 1:20:44meant to women across the political
- 1:20:46Spectrum across the economic spectrum so
- 1:20:48I think in inclusive
- 1:20:50feminism you're probably going to have
- 1:20:52to allow religious women if you allow
- 1:20:55religious women you're going to get a
- 1:20:56lot of women of color because you do
- 1:20:58find a lot of women who are you're going
- 1:21:00to get Catholic women you're you it'll
- 1:21:03become more diverse got to have a more
- 1:21:05diverse
- 1:21:10movement well I I think they're fine and
- 1:21:14and here's why
- 1:21:15I here's why I find it so interesting is
- 1:21:19I'm reading a lot of literature
- 1:21:21about transgender and I think it's going
- 1:21:24to turn out to be devastating to a lot
- 1:21:26of conventional feminist analysis that
- 1:21:29gender is a social
- 1:21:30construction because uh there are
- 1:21:34children who are born and I think that
- 1:21:37you're you're I think you're we're born
- 1:21:39with an identity uh of our gender and we
- 1:21:41want to be that gender but there's
- 1:21:43different wiring in some kids it's like
- 1:21:45some kids are born left-handed some kids
- 1:21:47are born transgendered and they don't
- 1:21:50fit the body but they have the soul of a
- 1:21:53little girl they have the ation they
- 1:21:55have and well I don't know what that is
- 1:21:57exactly but I know it's real because I
- 1:22:00had
- 1:22:01it so when I talk to them what they're
- 1:22:04describing is what I had I wouldn't have
- 1:22:06wanted you know and it's so real to me
- 1:22:09and it conforms to what I've been
- 1:22:11reading so I could be wrong about this I
- 1:22:14mean I'm not I know there's a there's a
- 1:22:16lot of radicalism in the transgender
- 1:22:18movement they might not welcome uh being
- 1:22:22allied with me however it seems like I
- 1:22:24have a lot of Twitter followers who are
- 1:22:26trans and they're very excited they're
- 1:22:28about it and happy so I'm not I'm not I
- 1:22:32am at peace with that and I think it's
- 1:22:34going to be helpful to for Freedom
- 1:22:36feminism
- 1:22:38[Applause]
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