Who-Stole-Feminism.-How-Women-Have-Betrayed-Women

258 WHO STOLE FEMINISM?When feminists talk of a new society and of how people must be changed,they invariably have in mind men who exploit and abuse women. But itis not difficult to see that they regard most women as men's dupes.Consider how Naomi Wolf (in the Beauty Myth) regards the eightmillion American women members of Weight Watchers—as cultists inneed of deprogramming. Most gender feminists may not be ready toadvocate coercion of women of low feminist consciousness, but they arevery much in favor of a massive and concerted effort to give the desires,aspirations, and values of American women a thorough makeover. As thefeminist philosopher Alison Jaggar puts it, "If individual desires and interestsare socially constituted . . . , the ultimate authority of individualjudgment comes into question. Perhaps people may be mistaken abouttruth, morality or even their own interests; perhaps they may be systematicallyself-deceived." 8Note that Jaggar explicitly impugns the traditionalliberal principle that the many individual judgments and preferences arethe ultimate authority. I find that a chilling doctrine: when the people aresystematically self-deceived, the ultimate authority is presumed to bevested in a vanguard that unmasks their self-deception. As Ms. Jaggarsays, "Certain historical circumstances allow specific groups of women totianscend at least partially the perceptions and theoretical constructs ofmale dominance." 9It is these women of high feminist consciousness who"inspire and guide women in a struggle for social change."Respect for people's preferences is generally thought to be fundamentalfor democracy. But ideologues find ways of denying this principle. Thegender feminist who claims to represent the true interests of women isconvinced that she profoundly understands their situation and so is in anexceptional position to know their true interests. In practice, this meansshe is prepared to dismiss popular preferences in an illiberal way. Tojustify this, feminist philosopher Marilyn Friedman argues that popularpreferences are often "inauthentic" and that even liberals are aware ofthis:Liberal feminists can easily join with other feminists in recognizingthat political democracy by itself is insufficient to ensure that preferencesare formed without coercion, constraint, undue restrictionof options, and so forth. Social, cultural, and economic conditionsare as important as political conditions, if not more so, in ensuringthat preferences are, in some important sense, authentic. 10Friedman is quite wrong in her assumptions: anyone, liberal or conservative,who believes in democracy will sense danger in them. Who will