Women Didn't Want What Feminism Promised — Transcript

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1. 0:00Hi folks, before we begin, we of course
2. 0:01have a live event on the 11th of April.
3. 0:04It's going to be great. I'll leave a
4. 0:05link in the description. So, I saw this
5. 0:08video
6. 0:09from apparently 50 years ago by the BBC.
7. 0:12So, this would be
8. 0:14in the 1970s.
9. 0:19Uh and it's people talking about women's
10. 0:23liberation and like you know the the
11. 0:24feminist movement, but it was often just
12. 0:26called women's lib back then.
13. 0:28Um and it's interesting how people
14. 0:31like the same
15. 0:33political sort of zeitgeist is present.
16. 0:36And you can see when for example, this
17. 0:38particular woman saying, "No, I'm I'm
18. 0:40not in favor of it actually."
19. 0:41You can see that the liberal elite are
20. 0:44completely in consensus on this. And
21. 0:46actually, she's like, "Well, you know, I
22. 0:49don't think that." So, we'll watch this
23. 0:51and just have a watch through it and
24. 0:53talk about it as we go cuz it's
25. 0:54genuinely fascinating to me. I don't
26. 0:57think it's right for a for a woman to
27. 0:58work and for a man to stay home. You
28. 1:00don't think it's right?
29. 1:01>> in women's lib.
30. 1:03Why not?
31. 1:05Look at the way she said that, "I don't
32. 1:06believe in women's lib." As if she's
33. 1:07expecting to get chewed out for saying
34. 1:10that, but that that was actually a
35. 1:12normal opinion. When you you you can
36. 1:15look at the opinion polls from the time
37. 1:16and see that that's a completely normal
38. 1:18opinion that most women didn't.
39. 1:21>> [laughter]
40. 1:22>> She now has to sort of act in well, I
41. 1:25know you're going to be upset by this,
42. 1:26but I I don't think that actually women
43. 1:29should be working and the man should be
44. 1:30staying at home. Call me crazy.
45. 1:33I don't believe in women's lib because
46. 1:35for the sheer
47. 1:37Well, from sheer biology, a a woman has
48. 1:40babies and a woman has to look after her
49. 1:42house. I mean, it's more or less
50. 1:43impossible for a man to do that.
51. 1:46And totally reasonable. It was a totally
52. 1:48reasonable position, yeah. Someone has
53. 1:50to look after the kids. Someone should
54. 1:52work.
55. 1:53And
56. 1:54because I'm having the kids, maybe I
57. 1:57should be the one who looks after them
58. 1:59at home. I mean, this chap again, very
59. 2:01reasonable people
60. 2:03just giving very reasonable opinions.
61. 2:05>> I just think that a woman's place really
62. 2:07is in the home
63. 2:08and a man should go out and earn his
64. 2:10keep, look after his wife really.
65. 2:14Look.
66. 2:16Just
67. 2:18>> [laughter]
68. 2:18>> I love about this is the
69. 2:20intrinsic sort of goodness of the the
70. 2:23society in that it assumes that this
71. 2:27isn't for you, right? It's like, "No,
72. 2:29you got to look after your wife." And
73. 2:31later on, there's a woman who's like,
74. 2:32"Well, I've got to look after the
75. 2:33children." And so, it's all this big
76. 2:35circle of people looking out for one
77. 2:38another. And so, they're thinking of the
78. 2:40relationships that they have with each
79. 2:41other. It's like, "Well, I have to work
80. 2:43to make sure my wife is kept. And my
81. 2:45wife needs to be kept to make sure the
82. 2:47children are kept. And that way, we can
83. 2:49all be happy, healthy, and prosperous."
84. 2:51And we're doing it for each other,
85. 2:53right? We're not doing it for ourselves.
86. 2:55We're doing it for someone else.
87. 2:57And that's really interesting because
88. 2:59that's the complete antithesis of the
89. 3:02women's lib movement. It was all me me
90. 3:06me. In fact, I was looking through some
91. 3:08of the propaganda posters. Let me grab
92. 3:10one. Look at this fascinating propaganda
93. 3:12poster. Political help votes for women.
94. 3:16And the woman's Mrs. John Bull is
95. 3:18saying, "Now you greedy boys, I shall
96. 3:20not give you any more until I have
97. 3:21helped myself."
98. 3:22What what what you talking about? Like
99. 3:25votes for women
100. 3:27isn't like
101. 3:30something women are being deprived of.
102. 3:32This is something actually that most
103. 3:34women weren't really for. And there was
104. 3:36a whole movement against women's
105. 3:39suffrage by the way. There was the
106. 3:41anti-suffrage movement that was founded
107. 3:44by um
108. 3:45uh what's her name?
109. 3:47Mary Augusta Ward,
110. 3:49uh otherwise known as Mrs. Humphrey
111. 3:50Ward. Uh she founded the Women's
112. 3:53National Anti-Suffrage League. This this
113. 3:55had like 50,000 members
114. 3:57and was a a political force in her day.
115. 4:01And so,
116. 4:04it's just really interesting how like
117. 4:05the people who who are thinking about
118. 4:07society itself and what's actually good
119. 4:09for society like, "Yeah, no, I don't
120. 4:11want this because obviously, I don't
121. 4:15want to separate." And look at the
122. 4:17framing. It's the woman essentially
123. 4:19denying the children
124. 4:22and denying therefore the family and
125. 4:24denying therefore her part in the great
126. 4:26chain of being and in society itself.
127. 4:30And the people against it are like,
128. 4:31"Well, I'm thinking of the people around
129. 4:33me. I'm not really thinking of myself."
130. 4:36What would happen if it came to a clash
131. 4:38between your careers, her interests and
132. 4:40yours career-wise?
133. 4:41>> I would retire gracefully.
134. 4:43Ah, would you? Would you? You upstanding
135. 4:45liberal man, are you?
136. 4:48Would you be willing to look after the
137. 4:50home and the children while she went out
138. 4:52and earned the income?
139. 4:53>> Uh not that gracefully, I don't know.
140. 4:55>> [laughter]
141. 4:57>> I mean,
142. 5:00That's what
143. 5:02I love about this is the genteel
144. 5:03response,
145. 5:04uh but isn't that very interesting?
146. 5:06Well, I'm going I'm going to pay lip
147. 5:07service to all of this
148. 5:10until actually it's something I have to
149. 5:12do and then I I'm obviously I'm not
150. 5:14going to do that.
151. 5:15Because nobody saw this as essentially
152. 5:18like overthrowing
153. 5:20uh civilization. People people obviously
154. 5:22didn't think it was going to be about
155. 5:23overthrowing civilization. In fact, we
156. 5:25have um all of these wonderful polls
157. 5:28from the time, right? So, yeah, the
158. 5:29polls from the time are really really
159. 5:31because when you ask like, "Well, should
160. 5:33women have equal rights?" As in
161. 5:35"Should they be oppressed or something?"
162. 5:37It was like, "No." "Should they get the
163. 5:38same pay for the same work?" And both
164. 5:40men and women are like, "Well, yeah."
165. 5:42Uh should should they be Are you against
166. 5:44workplace sexual harassment? Yes. Uh and
167. 5:47all these sort of things. So, it's like
168. 5:49fairly reasonable things. People are
169. 5:51like, "Yeah, yeah, I'm for that."
170. 5:53But when it's like, "Okay, well, do you
171. 5:55do you support like an active
172. 5:58um
173. 5:59organized campaign against the status
174. 6:02quo and men themselves?" Well,
175. 6:05most people aren't in favor of that
176. 6:07including women. So,
177. 6:09when it comes to trends the women's
178. 6:10movement here, right? As in
179. 6:12"What what do you think women deserve to
180. 6:15get?" And it most people think, "Well,
181. 6:17individual training versus women
182. 6:18organizing. The best way to handle
183. 6:20problems of discrimination is for each
184. 6:22woman to make sure she gets the best
185. 6:23possible training for what she wants to
186. 6:25do or only if women organize and work
187. 6:27together can anything really be done
188. 6:28about discrimination. So, which one of
189. 6:30those do you do you stand on?" Well, 76%
190. 6:33of women said individual effort and 20%
191. 6:36said organized. So, that is the
192. 6:39malcontented 20% feminist block that
193. 6:42wants to overthrow the patriarchy and
194. 6:45society generally. And even in 1989, 60%
195. 6:49of women nearly were like, "Yeah, well,
196. 6:50individual effort." And of course, 3/4
197. 6:53of men, in fact, more women back in 1972
198. 6:55than men uh viewed this as uh an
199. 6:59individual effort. So, you can see like
200. 7:01people like, "Yeah, okay, I want women
201. 7:03to be treated fairly, obviously,
202. 7:06but I actually don't really want women
203. 7:08to just like organize and destroy
204. 7:10society." Weirdly enough, I don't think
205. 7:13that actually men need to be overthrown
206. 7:15as the breadwinners and things like
207. 7:16that. But if an individual woman
208. 7:19happens to be good at something, wants
209. 7:21to get a job doing something, and
210. 7:23make a career out of it, well, then fair
211. 7:25enough, you know, like good luck to her.
212. 7:28When women are asked like, "Do you feel
213. 7:30close to feminist?"
214. 7:32In 1984, only 19% said yes and 77% said
215. 7:36no. Obviously, most 90% [clears throat]
216. 7:38of men were like, "No." Uh because
217. 7:41you've you've clearly just had this sort
218. 7:42of like fifth of the female population
219. 7:45that's just been really unhappy with
220. 7:47men. Now, I'm not saying that these
221. 7:49women didn't have a reason, right? It's
222. 7:51entirely possible that they've been on
223. 7:53the receiving end of bad treatment or
224. 7:55something like that. So, sure, I'm you
225. 7:58know, or they're very ideological or
226. 7:59whatever it is.
227. 8:01But the point is, feminists just didn't
228. 8:03really represent what people actually
229. 8:05wanted. They just used equal rights for
230. 8:08women and votes for women
231. 8:09as a kind of wedge issue to cleave open
232. 8:13the thing. But what's really interesting
233. 8:15is how this just goes down over the
234. 8:17years.
235. 8:18By 1996, only 14% of women are like,
236. 8:21"Yeah, yeah, I'm
237. 8:22I feel close to the feminist movement or
238. 8:24whatever." It's like, "All right, that's
239. 8:26interesting." It's interesting. 86% of
240. 8:28women are just like, "No."
241. 8:30>> [laughter]
242. 8:31>> It's just really fascinating, isn't it?
243. 8:33Because it's clear that this was
244. 8:35something else. It wasn't really just
245. 8:38about women. Anyway, let's go back to
246. 8:40this.
247. 8:42No, I'm old-fashioned as you naturally
248. 8:44and I think a woman's place is in the
249. 8:45home looking after her children. I think
250. 8:47the Again, she has obligations to other
251. 8:51people. It's not just about herself.
252. 8:54It's not just about you. It's about the
253. 8:56obligations you have to other people.
254. 8:59The man should be doing the the actual
255. 9:00work. Uh I think the place for a woman
256. 9:02is in the home.
257. 9:04Um
258. 9:05of course, I'd like the wife to do some
259. 9:06part-time work, but um
260. 9:08it's very limited and everything has to
261. 9:10revolve around the children. Children
262. 9:12come first and
263. 9:13uh
264. 9:14and that's about it really.
265. 9:16The children come first. And so, her
266. 9:18concern is the children. His concern is
267. 9:20her. And you can see how this is a
268. 9:23series of loving relationships that make
269. 9:25people happy.
270. 9:27And you've got the sort of 20%
271. 9:28malcontent feminist
272. 9:30seething that someone else is like like
273. 9:33literally like the data for meme
274. 9:34seething at these happy families and
275. 9:36being like, "Well, we have to ruin
276. 9:37this."
277. 9:39I agree basically. I mean, I I wouldn't
278. 9:40like to leave him for anybody else to
279. 9:42bring up. I don't think that's right.
280. 9:44But and I enjoy doing my part-time work
281. 9:46and I think once he's at nursery school,
282. 9:47I'll go back out and do more part-time.
283. 9:49I'll always be at home whenever he's at
284. 9:51home.
285. 9:52Yeah, I just don't like the idea at all.
286. 9:55Do you think I like this woman a lot.
287. 9:58You see you can tell she's had to talk
288. 10:00about this
289. 10:01>> [laughter]
290. 10:02>> and she's very confident in herself.
291. 10:04that um it is wrong for women to go out
292. 10:07and earn the money and for men to stay
293. 10:09at home and look after the family?
294. 10:11>> Yes, definitely. It's bad for his ego.
295. 10:13Isn't Isn't that a fascinating thing to
296. 10:16say?
297. 10:17It's bad for his ego as in I care about
298. 10:19my husband. I care about his well-being
299. 10:23and I don't actually want to be the
300. 10:25ultra selfish about this. Not only is it
301. 10:27bad for the kids, it's bad for my
302. 10:29husband. Why would I want to do that?
303. 10:31And again, I love I do the I love this
304. 10:34woman. She's just like, you know, I I've
305. 10:36thought this out. I know exactly why and
306. 10:38you're a bad person.
307. 10:40They shouldn't
308. 10:42they get too domineering. They get too
309. 10:44much money.
310. 10:46What do you mean they get too
311. 10:47domineering?
312. 10:48Well, if if they if they have more money
313. 10:50than you've got, then they tell you what
314. 10:53to do.
315. 10:54And do you always tell your wife what to
316. 10:56do?
317. 10:57No, that Look at that. Do you always
318. 10:58tell your wife what to do then as if
319. 11:01this is a the frame to validate all of
320. 11:04the feminist propaganda. Oh, yeah, men
321. 11:07evil and controlling.
322. 11:08Look at his response.
323. 11:09>> what to do? No, I don't. You We go
324. 11:11halfway.
325. 11:13But he knows he's being pushed here,
326. 11:15right? Oh, I hang on. I see what you're
327. 11:17trying to do.
328. 11:19But I earn more money than she does, so
329. 11:23Someone has to must earn the money
330. 11:25and you should be the main earners of
331. 11:26money.
332. 11:27Totally reasonable.
333. 11:29And [laughter] shared by almost all of
334. 11:31society at the time. And yet, here we
335. 11:34are [laughter]
336. 11:3550 years on. Now, should men be made
337. 11:38[music] to stay at home at night in
338. 11:39order to keep women safe? That's
339. 11:42>> [laughter]
340. 11:42>> How do we get here?
341. 11:44How do we get to this?
342. 11:47>> [laughter]
343. 11:48>> Uh we should have votes for women. Maybe
344. 11:50women should have equal rights to men.
345. 11:52Maybe men should be stay-at-home
346. 11:54husbands. Suddenly Couldn't we have a
347. 11:56nightly curfew for men?
348. 11:59That 20% not on, is it? The 80% on the
349. 12:03other side, they're the people who
350. 12:05should be really listened to here,
351. 12:06shouldn't they?
352. 12:07So, I mean that's Let's be honest. Like
353. 12:10this has just become demented. I mean,
354. 12:12look at this as well. This is just mad.
355. 12:14>> I've given our boys dolls.
356. 12:16Um This is Gavin Newsom's wife. Even if
357. 12:19they tear the head off,
358. 12:21I've given them dolls to learn that care
359. 12:24and caregiving is not just an activity
360. 12:26that's reserved for women, but that it's
361. 12:29also an activity that is um a
362. 12:32responsibility of men.
363. 12:34Mental, right? As if men don't love
364. 12:36their kids, but trying to literally
365. 12:38brainwash your sons into essentially
366. 12:41being women
367. 12:42which is cruel. It's just horrible
368. 12:44thing. It's
369. 12:46demented.
370. 12:48What I've done with both my daughters
371. 12:51and my sons is if I'm reading a book and
372. 12:53the protagonist is a male, I just change
373. 12:55the he to a she.
374. 12:59Part of that 20% is like, no, we have to
375. 13:01destroy the families. We have to destroy
376. 13:03society.
377. 13:04I mean, this is Gavin Newsom's wife. How
378. 13:07can he be happy that she's doing this to
379. 13:09his sons?
380. 13:10How can he be happy about that?
381. 13:12And it just normalizes for my sons in
382. 13:14particular. I just It's not even I don't
383. 13:16even just do it for my girls. I do it
384. 13:17for my sons cuz I want them to see that
385. 13:19women can be the center of a story.
386. 13:23But this isn't all about you. Right? It
387. 13:26was actually about helping each other.
388. 13:30You're meant to be I mean, maybe she's
389. 13:31got nannies and stuff, so this isn't a
390. 13:33problem for her. But just this is mad,
391. 13:35isn't it? What What a What a deeply
392. 13:38selfish movement this is. that women
393. 13:41matter.
394. 13:43that No one says women don't matter.
395. 13:46Men literally all of the reason they
396. 13:47were like, yeah, well, I should be doing
397. 13:49the work so she can take care of the
398. 13:51kids and so I can look after her.
399. 13:54Like the entire message was I can look
400. 13:56after her.
401. 13:57How much more mattering can you get?
402. 14:01Well, that's pretty deep in the heart of
403. 14:03we matter, isn't it? When literally the
404. 14:05men are like, okay, well, I'll have to
405. 14:06take care of my wife. Like so, I don't
406. 14:08know.
407. 14:08>> [laughter]
408. 14:09>> That's why That's why I do everything I
409. 14:10do. Like what else
410. 14:12I mean,
411. 14:13what else am I supposed to think? Women
412. 14:15are interesting.
413. 14:18At the end of the day, we're all kind of
414. 14:20like
415. 14:21in this place in
416. 14:23the history maybe where we're
417. 14:25recognizing what it is to ultimately
418. 14:27deconstruct all these gender roles and
419. 14:29ultimately be human and
420. 14:32Well, there we go.
421. 14:33I mean, apparently being human isn't
422. 14:35being a part of a family where everyone
423. 14:36looks after each other in this circle of
424. 14:38reciprocity.
425. 14:40Instead, it's about deconstructing
426. 14:42everything. And she literally just says
427. 14:44it. It's about destroying things. It's
428. 14:47about destroying the family. It's about
429. 14:48destroying men. And these people back in
430. 14:52the day
431. 14:53perceived this, especially this lady.
432. 14:55>> and commit
433. 14:56Yeah, no, it's bad for his ego. Yeah,
434. 14:58no, she doesn't want to deconstruct men.
435. 15:00She doesn't want to harm the people
436. 15:02around her. She's not like this person.
437. 15:06Uh that's exciting to me. So,
438. 15:11you know, I'll just continue to kind of
439. 15:13do my work and try and deconstruct all
440. 15:16of these like limiting narratives about
441. 15:17ultimately what it means to be human.
442. 15:21Mental, isn't it? It's absolutely
443. 15:23mental.
444. 15:24But these This has just been a pure
445. 15:26project of destruction the whole time.
446. 15:30And most people back in the day
447. 15:33perceived it that way
448. 15:35and weren't in favor of it.
449. 15:37But they lost because this is how things
450. 15:40always go. What the public actually
451. 15:42wants is not what they actually get,
452. 15:45obviously, over and over and over. And
453. 15:47we've seen this in just every field of
454. 15:50politics at this point. Like this isn't
455. 15:53I mean, the only thing has been Brexit.
456. 15:55We hadn't even got that properly. Like
457. 15:57we just don't ever get what we want in
458. 16:00the system and it's people like her at
459. 16:02the top of it who just like, yeah, no,
460. 16:04I'm going to do this
461. 16:06whatever ideological deconstructive
462. 16:09that's in my mind. I don't care
463. 16:11about actually governing in the way that
464. 16:12people want to be governed.
465. 16:14And
466. 16:15this is where we are now, where you
467. 16:17know, generations are all-time low. Men
468. 16:20can't get dates. Women are just
469. 16:23And like it's just terrible.
470. 16:27And basically I just I'm completely
471. 16:29against all of it at this point. Like
472. 16:31I'm totally for like ultra traditional
473. 16:34relationships and every ultra
474. 16:36traditional relationship I see is very,
475. 16:39very happy. Like the man and the woman
476. 16:41are very happy in this relationship and
477. 16:44[laughter] I just And I know a bunch of
478. 16:46people. I'm not I'm not just talking
479. 16:47about myself. Although me and my wife
480. 16:49are very happy with the way things are.
481. 16:52It's not just Like I said, I see this in
482. 16:54other people and I'm just like, right,
483. 16:57okay.
484. 16:58It Everyone just seems far, far happier
485. 17:01and far more relaxed with the world.
486. 17:04And then you've got, hey, why don't we
487. 17:06just destroy it all? It's like, no,
488. 17:08thanks. Anyway, come and join us at the
489. 17:10live event 11th of April. It's going to
490. 17:12be great fun and I'll see you there.