How to survive the wacky gender politics on campus | FACTUAL FEMINIST — Transcript

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1. 0:00If you’re headed for college for the first time this fall, you need to be aware of some
2. 0:04strange new developments. Don’t be alarmed by what I am about to say. Most of you are
3. 0:08going to be very happy at college and will thrive there. But you need to know what to expect.
4. 0:12Coming up next on the Factual Feminist: how to negotiate your way through the wacky sexual politics on campus.
5. 0:24Colleges throughout the United States are carried away with eccentric gender politics.
6. 0:29In general, the higher the tuition, the greater the eccentricity. At
7. 0:33schools with a more working class population, the students often have more pressing concerns
8. 0:38than finding new ways to be offended. As an incoming freshman, many of you will be subject
9. 0:43to special training sessions and introduced to a new vocabulary with unusual terms like “trigger warnings,”
10. 0:49“othering,” “microaggression,” “male privilege,” and “safe spaces.”
11. 0:56Outside Speakers—especially comedians— will be called out and boycotted for breaches
12. 1:00of sensitivity. Colleges are changing their mission: Truth seeking is being replaced by
13. 1:06the more sensitive goal of making everyone—especially female students-- feel safe and validated.
14. 1:13Ideas that get in the way of this mission may not tolerated. Well, here are three survival
15. 1:18tips—custom-tailored to your political views—plus a fourth, bonus tip for everybody.
16. 1:23Number one: If you are libertarian or conservative, no one is that concerned with your feelings.
17. 1:29That’s actually a good thing. You’re going to face a challenging intellectual environment.
18. 1:34According to a recent UCLA study, there are nearly 5 times more liberal professors than
19. 1:39conservative professors on college campuses. Your views are going to be tested every day, but most
20. 1:44of your teachers will treat you respectfully. Your ideas are going to face critical scrutiny and
21. 1:49you may end up revising or abandoning some of them. Again, that’s a good thing. That’s
22. 1:54what education is supposed to be about—and it’s something many liberal students are missing.
23. 1:59What is not good is that a noisy minority of students—and a few professors—will
24. 2:04see you as the embodiment of evil. If you express your opinions vigorously, some classmates
25. 2:08may complain to school authorities that your presence makes them feel “unsafe.” But
26. 2:13here is the bright side. Even at schools overrun by the new orthodoxy, you will find great
27. 2:18friends and allies, male and female, and professors too, whether they agree with you or not.
28. 2:24Now, if you are liberal and idealistic, and also a woman, you face a different sort of risk.
29. 2:31When you get to campus you will find a large and excited group of gender activists—students
30. 2:36and some professors—eager to recruit you to their cause. They will present you with
31. 2:40shocking statistics of sexual violence on campus, and theories about an oppressive patriarchy.
32. 2:47They will tell you how mistreated and traumatized you are. It will seem new and exciting to you.
33. 2:52Maybe a way to make friends and fight injustice at the same time—and you may be tempted to
34. 2:57sign up. Just be aware that most of the victim statistics you will hear are wildly exaggerated
35. 3:04and the theories about women’s oppression are twisted and surreal. As for trigger warnings
36. 3:10and safe spaces—these are infantile. They are the opposite of empowerment. It’s the
37. 3:15fashion on many campuses to treat women as delicate flowers—fragile little birds. But most of you are tough
38. 3:22and resilient. The gender activists I am describing will probably say, “Don’t listen to her.”
39. 3:27“Don’t take her word for anything.” Well, that’s true you shouldn’t take my
40. 3:30word on these matters. You shouldn’t take anybody’s word. Think for yourself. And remember that your
41. 3:36feminist foremothers fought and won a battle for your right to be educated on a par with men.
42. 3:41They knew you were tough, and they wanted you to have the opportunity to put that strength
43. 3:46to use. Don’t waste it by falling captive to a pointless ideology or indulging in victimhood.
44. 3:52Take serious classes in philosophy, science, and history. Avoid courses that luxuriate
45. 3:57in female oppression. Third bit of advice: If you are a liberal and idealistic man, you may face an
46. 4:04even greater risk. You probably think of yourself as an open-minded, well-intended progressive.
47. 4:08But many on campus will not see you that way. Today many college women practice gender profiling.
48. 4:13It’s the fashion among activists to judge men by the worst members of their sex and
49. 4:18women by the best. Many of your attempts to exonerate yourself or your friends will be
50. 4:23dismissed as “mansplaining.” To save yourself from excommunication, you’ll be asked engage
51. 4:27in a fair amount of self-flagellation and male-bashing. But don’t do it. Have some
52. 4:33dignity. Don’t be the guy who sends tweets like this.
53. 4:39Today’s campus manias are not going to last. Sooner or later, the age-old virtues of higher education will reassert
54. 4:45themselves—free speech, intellectual diversity, open inquiry, vigorous competition of ideas, mutual respect.
55. 4:52If you learn to be a critical, independent thinker yourself, you can play a part in this intellectual renaissance.
56. 4:58Well, let me know what you think about today’s politically charged, safe-spaced campus.
57. 5:02And if you’ve been to college recently or have kids in college, do you agree with my characterization?
58. 5:07I welcome your comments. If you appreciate this series please subscribe,
59. 5:11follow me on Twitter and Facebook—and thank you for watching the Factual Feminist.