Fay Weldon, an eighty-five-year-old author and one of the leading female voices in Britain's culture, recently was described by fellow feminist Caitlin Moran as "a tribal elder." However, she made headlines when she told the The Mail that feminism has been largely detrimental to the cause of women, since it benefits only a small fraction of them. One of its main problems is that it reduced the male wage, "so it no longer supported a family." She went on to explain that the de-emphasis of mail employment "meant some women had to get jobs, even if they would rather have been at home with their children. ‘Women had to work to support the family. So for two in three women, it really was a problem.'"

However, women should stop playing the victim card, she said. "Women have won. The balance of power has moved. Men do now envy women because women have it so easy." The British author is not alone in her feelings. American Enterprise Institute scholar Christina Hoff Sommers agrees, and believes that the legacy of academic feminism is that women are now treated like children:

"Women are not children. We are not fragile little birds who can't cope with jokes, works of art or controversial speakers," Hoff Sommers said. "Trigger warnings and safe spaces are an infantilizing setback for feminism — and for women."

Clay Routledge of Psychology Today affirms that women should reject the victim label as well. He said that academic programs like "women's studies" at colleges and universities teach students a form of what he describes as "benevolent sexism." He defined that phrase as "the idea that women need to be cherished and protected, that they are innocent, precious and perhaps childlike."

Perhaps the most heretical sound bite from Weldon's interview, however, is this:

“Not all women are good women. There are as many bad women as bad men.”

It looks like the cultural tide is turning against the movement that used to be about rights and is now all about pussy hats.  

h/t Instapundit

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