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

260 WHO STOLE FEMINISM?minimally to women. Because they did not vote, their preferences werenot in play, and the question of how authentic their preferences were wasof importance inasmuch as it affected their ability to agitate for the rightsthat were being withheld from them.But women are no longer disenfranchised, and their preferences arebeing taken into account. Nor are they now taught that they are subordinateor that a subordinate role for them is fitting and proper. Have anywomen in history been better informed, more aware of their rights andoptions? Since women today can no longer be regarded as the victims ofan undemocratic indoctrination, we must regard their preferences as "authentic."Any other attitude toward American women is unacceptablypatronizing and profoundly illiberal.Gender feminists are especially disapproving of the lives of traditionallyreligious women such as evangelical Christian women, Catholic women,or Orthodox Jewish women, whom they see as being conditioned forhighly restricted roles. Surely, they say, it is evident that such women aresubjugated, and the choices they make inauthentic. As Gloria Steinemexplains it, the appeal of religious fundamentalism for women is that "thepromise is safety in return for obedience, respectability in return for selfrespectand freedom—a sad bargain." 13That is a harsh judgment to make about millions of American women.Ms. Steinem is of course free to disagree with conventionally religiouswomen on any number of issues, but she is not morally free to castaspersions on their autonomy and self-respect. The New Feminism issupposed to be about sisterhood. Why are its most prominent practitionersso condescending?Steinem herself knows a thing or two about how to recruit adherentsto a cause by promises of "safety" and "self-respect." The feminist orthodoxyshe portrays promises safety in a sisterhood that will offer unhappyor insecure women a venue where they can build self-esteem and attainan authenticity enjoyed by no other group of women. 14The traditionally religious women of today, be they Protestant Christians,Orthodox Jews, or observant Catholics—emphatically do not thinkof themselves as subjugated, lacking in self-respect, or unfree. Indeed,they very properly resent being described that way. For they are perfectlyaware that they have all the rights that men have. If they choose to leadthe lives they do, that is their affair.Of course there are feminists who disapprove of the way these womenlive, and some may even think of them as pitiable. These feminists are