Rejecting radical feminism

If you don’t read anything else today, please read this article, which was written by Rebecca Walker, the estranged daughter of radical feminist Alice Walker.

I say “estranged” because the elder Walker has had nothing to do with Rebecca since her announcement that she was was pregnant back in late 2004. In the article, Rebecca talks about what it was like to be raised in the household of a feminist who viewed children – including her own daughter – as a “calamity.” Excerpts:

You see, my mum taught me that children enslave women. I grew up believing that children are millstones around your neck, and the idea that motherhood can make you blissfully happy is a complete fairytale.

In fact, having a child has been the most rewarding experience of my life. Far from ‘enslaving’ me, three-and-a-half-year-old Tenzin has opened my world. My only regret is that I discovered the joys of motherhood so late – I have been trying for a second child for two years, but so far with no luck.

I was raised to believe that women need men like a fish needs a bicycle. But I strongly feel children need two parents and the thought of raising Tenzin without my [male] partner, Glen, 52, would be terrifying.

As the child of divorced parents, I know only too well the painful consequences of being brought up in those circumstances. Feminism has much to answer for denigrating men and encouraging women to seek independence whatever the cost to their families.

My mother’s feminist principles coloured every aspect of my life. As a little girl, I wasn’t even allowed to play with dolls or stuffed toys in case they brought out a maternal instinct. It was drummed into me that being a mother, raising children and running a home were a form of slavery. Having a career, travelling the world and being independent were what really mattered according to her.

I love my mother very much, but I haven’t seen her or spoken to her since I became pregnant. She has never seen my son – her only grandchild. My crime? Daring to question her ideology.

I should note that Rebecca is not really an “anti-feminist,” if you take into account that she is a liberal, an unapologetic bisexual, the impression she gives that she finds same sex parenting as acceptable, and the fact that some of her work has been recognized and praised by NOW. But considering the toxic environment she was raised in, I tip my hat to Ms. Walker for rejecting the types of anti-male/anti-family messages her mother and so many other radical feminists like her continue to parrot, and for daring to confront some of those messages right in the lion’s den. Ms. Walker rejects the radical feminist belief that men are the root of all evil, clearly adores family life, and doesn’t view being a mother as “enslavement.”

Good for her.