Recently, conservatives have been attacking feminists for not being inclusive in their movement. No, they’re not advocating for the promotion of trans women or women color. Instead, they’re calling out feminists for not recognizing the landmark accomplishments of conservative women. In fact, some feminists agree that the movement is wrong by not celebrating the pivotal achievements of people who don’t subscribe to the Fourth Wave.  But we shouldn’t. In her recent article titled “The Myth of Conservative Feminism” from The New York Times, Valenti addresses the idea that we shouldn’t rally for women indiscriminately if those same women aren’t upholding feminist ideals. It doesn’t matter if they’re the first woman to hold a position, the first to set a record, the first to be acknowledged; regardless of the accomplishment, feminists don’t have a responsibility to be supportive all women. I wholly agree.

Feminism is not supporting misogynistic women. Valenti elaborates on this by first giving an example of when a conservative woman, Suzanne Scott, became Fox News’ first female chief executive. It was truly groundbreaking, considering Fox News’ record (two words: Bill O’Reilly). However, she didn’t receive the kind of encouragement from feminists that one would expect. I mean, after all, she’s still a woman reaching a landmark. But that doesn’t matter if you look into her character and values. Ms. Scott reportedly enforced a “miniskirt rule,” which required women to wear miniskirts in the office, and also retaliated against a sexual harassment victim. This is not feminism. Supporting someone is, by extension, supporting their beliefs and ideals; you can’t dissociate a person’s achievements and their convictions.

This is the crux of Valenti’s argument. Conservatives and some feminists expect people to believe that there is a way to separate a person’s political belief and their being. Yes, there are some aspects of a person’s political belief that shouldn’t impact your view of that person because those opinions aren’t prejudicial. However, certain political actions and beliefs, which are in direct opposition to the main creed of feminism, create a person. Gina Haspel, first woman to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, promotes “taking children away from undocumented immigrant mothers.” Ivanka Trump, fashion mogul, stands by her father and his notoriously sexist comments. Carly Fiorina, potential Republican nominee in the 2016 presidential election, attacked Hillary Clinton’s marriage and values instead of her policies and political actions. You cannot separate those political actions and beliefs because those are their very being. In supporting these women, we advocate for their opinions and beliefs that in no way promotes equality of the sexes, certainly not in the way that feminists do.

Valenti adds to her argument by attacking the flaws of the conservative party’s rhetoric. She argues that the Republican party has adopted feminist language, despite simultaneously reducing women’s rights. Republicans claim that feminists should support conservative women and their achievements because “feminism is supporting all women.” For example, Tomi Lahren has said that women not supporting Ivanka Trump’s business as a way to send a message to her father and his administration are not feminists. However, conservatives also want to govern women’s bodies by promoting anti-reproductive rights laws and stigmas against sexual assault survivors (e.g. Brett Kavanaugh’s hearing and the multiple women who accused him). Conservatives are trying their best to portray themselves as woman-friendly because they need to restore their image with female voters, especially after damaging blows from the leading figures of their party (e.g. Trump’s locker room talk about “grabbing a woman by her p****”). To save their image, they’re “appropriating feminist rhetoric” by preaching intersectionality of different political parties and affiliations despite not following those very ideas themselves.

Many argue that rejecting conservative women from feminism is inherently anti-feminist, considering that this wave of feminism focuses on intersectionality, empowering women and girls regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, sexuality, and gender expression. However, celebrating every woman merely because they’re a woman will undermine the movement, and thus its influence in the world. If anything, we’re now faced with the Popper’s paradox. The paradox states that a tolerant society cannot accept intolerance so that the tolerance of the society can be preserved. Today’s feminists are clear on their message: inclusivity. Similarly, in order to preserve feminism and its current message of tolerance, we have to shut out those who are intolerant. If we promote those who oppose today’s feminism, we will undermine the very movement we fervently promote. In fact, in the polarized world that we live in now, the only way that people will stand for the movement is if the Fourth Wave is clearly defined; the flip-flopping era of before is over.

This being said, I do recognize the risk of alienating the conservative party in the fourth wave of feminism. To inhibit sexism in its various forms, we need the greatest number of people possible to inflict the most amount of damage to the patriarchy. But in allowing everyone to subscribe to feminism, we’re allowing all of their sexist beliefs to pollute the main philosophy and principles of feminism. It is elitist and discriminatory, but it protects feminism as a movement and thus female rights.

Works Cited

Ali, Lorraine. "Los Angeles Times - We Are Currently Unavailable In Your Region". LA Times, 2018. Accessed 6 Dec 2018.

Grady, Constance. "The Waves Of Feminism, And Why People Keep Fighting Over Them, Explained". Vox, 2018. Accessed 6 Dec 2018.

Jordan, Miriam. "How And Why ‘Zero Tolerance’ Is Splitting Up Immigrant Families". Nytimes, 2018. Accessed 6 Dec 2018.

Lahren, Tomi (@TomiLahren). “If you're not buying Ivanka's brand because you're "sending a message to her father," are you really a feminist? Telling of your movement.” 12 Feb 2017. Tweet.

Lieber, Chavie. "Fox News Says Its First Female CEO Never Enforced An Alleged "Miniskirt Dress Code"". Racked, 2018. Accessed 6 Dec 2018.

Marcus, Ruth. "Carly Fiorina’s Outrageously Sexist Attack On Hillary Clinton Is The Worst Yet". Washington Post, 2018. Accessed 6 Dec 2018.

"Transcript: Donald Trump’s Taped Comments About Women". The New York Times, 2018. Accessed 6 Dec 2018.

Valenti, J. (2018). “Opinion | The Myth of Conservative Feminism”. The New York Times, 2018. Accessed 27 Nov. 2018.

Wolfson, Sam. "Meet Suzanne Scott: The New Fox News CEO Who Enforced The 'Miniskirt Rule'". The Guardian, 2018. Accessed 6 Dec 2018.