The real oppression that campus feminists aren't talking about | FACTUAL FEMINIST

Atena Farghadani is a 28 year old Iranian artist. She was just sentenced to 12 years in prison for the crime of posting a feminist cartoon on Facebook. Farghadani is a genuine victim of a repressive patriarchal society—yet you will hear little or nothing about her from the American women’s movement. Why not? AEI scholar Christina Hoff Sommers may have the answer.

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Partial Transcript:
Atena Farghadani was arrested in August 2014. Twelve members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard came to her house, blindfolded her and took her to prison. What exactly was her crime? She posted a satirical cartoon on Facebook to protest actions of the Iranian parliament. The parliament had proposed to restrict access to birth control. She has been charged with ‘spreading propaganda and “‘insulting members of parliament through paintings.’ Once in prison, she continued to paint and draw. She flattened paper cups and made drawings. This was against prison rules. She was then denied paper cups. When she took some cups from the bathroom into her cell, she was beaten and sexually assaulted. Now she is facing the possibility of years in prison. Atena Farghadani is one of millions of women and men whose basic rights have been ruthlessly violated. I have been to international women’s conferences and met women’s rights activist from countries like Iran, Yemen, Egypt, and Cambodia. They are struggling for freedoms that most women in the west take for granted. They are organizing against barbaric practices such as child marriage, forced veiling, honor killings and acid burnings. Many of them are asking for moral, intellectual and material support from American women’s groups. But American feminists are relatively silent about these injustices—especially feminists on campus. During the 1980s, there were massive demonstrations on American campuses against racial apartheid in South Africa. There is no remotely comparable movement on today’s campuses against the gender apartheid prevalent in large parts of the world. I think I know why. Too many young feminists are too preoccupied with their own supposed victimhood to make common cause with women like Atena Farghadani. If you look at texts used in gender studies classes, visit feminist blogs or websites—you find alarm and outrage over the allegedly oppressed status of American women. The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World, is typical of what one finds in gender studies 101. It ranks the United States along with Uganda and Somalia in terms of women being “kept in their place.” Why? Because apparently in both countries “patriarchal assumptions" operate in "potent combination with fundamentalist religious interpretations." As the editor explains, in parts of Uganda a man can claim an unmarried woman as his wife by raping her. As for the United States, she notes that our state legislators have passed hundreds of anti-abortion measures. But wait a minute-- the Ugandan practice is barbaric. The controversy over abortion in the United States is a sign of a messy democracy working out its disagreements. This past year I visited Yale, UCLA, University of California at San Luis Obispo, as well as Oberlin and Georgetown. I found activist feminist students passionately absorbed in the cause of liberating themselves from the grasp of the oppressive and violent patriarchal rape culture. Their trigger warnings and safe spaces and micro-aggression watches are all about saving themselves from the ravages of the male hegemony. It’s not that they don’t feel bad for women in places like—they feel that they share a similar fate. Except they don’t. They are free women. They are the beneficiaries of two major waves of feminism. Their rights are fully protected by law. Samantha Powers is the able U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and she is a prominent champion of human rights. Well, she recently addressed the graduating class of Barnard College. Instead of urging the graduates to support women struggling against oppression in places like Afghanistan, she congratulated them for waging a similar struggle on the American college campus.

#aei

[oodfella]

Imprisoned for posting cartoons, acid attacks, banned from driving, and beheadings for adultery are not matters for feminists to fight against, not when they themselves face the daily, daunting reality of seeing men sit with their legs slightly apart on public transport, or even worse, wearing shirts they don't like.

[AEI]

Atena Farghadani is a 28 year old Iranian artist. She was just sentenced to 12 years in prison for the crime of posting a feminist cartoon on Facebook. Farghadani is a genuine victim of a repressive patriarchal society—yet you will hear little or nothing about her from the American women’s movement. Why not? #FactualFeminist  

[ChaseFace]

It's a shame that college campuses went from being a place of higher learning that forced you to think outside your comfort zone and work with people you otherwise wouldn't

to a giant playpen of overgrown children who want blankets and cookies when someone brings up a statistic that makes them nervous

[revelationsr]

Why are you the only one I have heard who calls themselves a feminist that sounds like they actually are trying to solve problems? Most seem preoccupied with finding them. Inventing them if they fail to find any. Anyway. I love hearing what you have to say. If more feminists where like you I doubt I would still be anti-feminist.

[Manfurias]

It's very nice to see that there are still real Feminists left, thank you for this video. it should be shown in schools

[MyCents]

"Too many feminists are too preoccupied with their own supposed victimhood..."

Truth, right there.

[ciCCapROSTi]

Dear Christina! No, the middle east is not a feminist issue. Women suffer, yeah, and men suffer even more. There are no countries in the world where this is not the case. You can't correct the situation by solely improve the women's station. Artificial imbalances only make things go shit.

[Dumass]

you can't fight for equality in a safe space.

[VideoMenu]

I really appreciate your delivery: It's rational and void of spit and bile. It's what is needed to resolve issues and to understand one another. Feminism has taken a lot of damage not just by the so called "3rd wave" youngsters, but also the over-the-top blind feminist haters who refuse to see the differences here. You're a rare voice these days. Keep up the good work!

[poinsettiawings]

Mrs. Sommers, you give me faith in feminism again.

[secondchance]

Thank you for such an informative article that will no doubt be completely ignored by those who should be informed but will choose to remain ignorant. Subscribed.

[rebellucy]

I must say, I don't want to detract from your message because it is very good, but I especially like your reference to abortion as "A messy democracy working out its disagreements."
Its an opinion I hold as well and it doesn't seem many people will agree to that.

[tima]

American Enterprise Institute
I completly agree with you and i'm glad Feminists here in Germany aren't as bad yet. We also have 3rd wave feminists that focus on non-issues like most seem to in the US. But most women i know who call themself "Feminist" share the same opinions as you and are usually powerful and independet women who don't need no special treatment.
The problem is that these 3rd wave feminists are too narcissistic to focus on real problems for women in the world. They can't stand the idea that they actually have a pretty good life with lots of opportunities. So they prefer focusing on non-issues.
I still refuse to call them Feminists, but they basically hijacked the term. They're as far away from Feminism as they can be.

[armyguy]

I owe my mother a big thank you, she was a feminist since the 70's. She taught me how bad a man could have being in a relationship with a woman. My mother's ranting about how bad men are about the Patriarchy. Her constants hate speeches, her verbal emotional and PHYSICAL abuse. Her hatred for men especially my father and me, was clear The groups of women at our house, the books they read was clear she hated men more then she loved me. Now at 65 years old, she is alone, my three sisters and I have little to do with her, and she is still fighting the cause, she paid a big price for being part of a hate group. It brought us kids closer to our father. According to the latest stats 29% of men want to get married, 86% women. Out of the 29% how many losers are in that 29%, so it is less than 29%. There is a reason. Don't pay that price my mother paid. Forever MGTOW. P.S. I am one of those men who will never married.

[TheSharpeful]

I would possibly be prepared to support a "feminism" if it focused on the issues of women in oppressive 3rd world countries. 

But would it be wise? Would that really serve equality?

We are aware of the issues that women face in such locations, but what do we know, or care about the issues of the men in those countries? Why can't we CARE for both?
For every woman that is stoned to death for infidelity under sharia law there are dozens of men that are stoned, burned, beheaded and dragged to death for similar barbaric "rules" and archaic laws. Why can't we feel sorry for those too and say "we need a movement to speak for them as well!".

No, come to think of it, I would not support feminism even if they only focused on the issues of women in 3rd world countries as urgent as they maybe... Why? Because I know they would ignore the issues of men in those same countries and maybe even rejoice at the men being stoned to death thinking "one less oppressor". #killallmen

What we need are people who are not bigots, who have the ability to care for and fight for the issues of both men and women, boys and girls... equally.

[ChieMiyagawa]

If only there were more prominent feminists like you who cared more about women in places where they aren't protected and less about their first world problems.

[sorsocksfake]

Why not? Well to just make a guess...

1) Helping women in the Middle East would make rather clear how free American women are in comparison. This contradicts ideological feminism's tenets.
2) Helping women in the Middle East would rather show how much power American women have to be able to do that. Which again contradicts ideological feminism,
3) If we start helping Afghanistan, the millions of male corpses might be harder to ignore than the plights of American men, contradicting ideological feminism's paradigm about men.

4) Of course all that aside: what such countries need are human rights. Not women's rights. For one, everyone there needs such protection. Second, the best way to get equality, is to treat everyone the same to start with, to treat both men and women as humans. "Women's Rights" and "Men's Rights" should only EVER have a small side role in focusing on the problems of one group that gets overlooked.

There's no such thing as women's rights or men's rights, when speaking of "god-given" rights anyway. There are only Rights.  They are only rights if they apply to everyone, otherwise they never were rights to start with, just discriminatory privileges.

Sorry to say, but even you... if you think there should be special protections for women - but not men - in the Middle East, then you're supporting the gender apartheid all the same.

[lindadarlene]

Very well done!  Hopefully your vlog will open the eyes of some who have the passion for women's rights to see those who are truly violated, and will help them to get a better balance in their  cry for justice and fairness.

[terradraca]

I still kind of take issue with you saying "women are oppressed in Iran" because that carries the implication that men are not.

Being treated as valued property sucks but personally, I'd take that over "Okay, get into our army and get your head blown off so our leaders can get rich" any day of the week thank you very much.

[dudemantype]

You know that saying 'breath of fresh air'? I've used it plenty, but never actually felt it. You are an actual breath of fresh air. Listening to you I finally feel I can breathe with confidence as a man that cares for his fellow sisters without being labelled as the patriarchy. That iranian girl's struggles is the fight we must fight with her. Thank you