Planned Parenthood and Hillary Clinton: The Fewer Men, The Better

Planned Parenthood tweeted a comment about the Democratic debate Thursday night that sums up what they think about men:

3 women commentators, 2 women moderators, 1 woman candidate. #BestDebateEver #DemDebate

— Planned Parenthood Action (@PPact) February 12, 2016

The group, fronted by Cecile Richards, echoed a feminist shout-out from its 2016 candidate, Hillary Clinton, who spotlighted the fact that her rival Bernie Sanders was the only male involved in the debate.

Clinton’s and Planned Parenthood’s disdain for men could be costly for them on the campaign trail – especially since Clinton is coming out of the New Hampshire primary a big loser, even among women where Sanders beat her by 11 points.

MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski criticized Clinton this week for her “inconsistent and non-existent” campaign message and using her gender to say, “Look at the bird, I’m a woman” rather than confront the issues about her emails and Wall Street speeches directly.

A thorough analysis of the Clinton-Planned Parenthood brand of “no men needed” feminism was recently provided at Salon by feminist icon Camille Paglia. She asserted Clinton has damaged herself by embracing a “blame-men-first” brand of feminism that “defines women as perpetual victims” who need protection and salvation from government.

It's true that when something is considered feminine, it is devalued — and anything masculine is privileged. https://t.co/bjDoJH3W7P

— Planned Parenthood Action (@PPact) February 11, 2016

Paglia says Clinton adopted a “second-wave” brand of feminism – propagated by Gloria Steinem, who stated, “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.” She contrasts Steinem’s message with that of her predecessor, National Organization for Women co-founder Betty Friedan, whom Paglia explains tried to draw men as well as mainstream wives and mothers into the women’s movement.

“Hillary has unfortunately adopted the Steinem brand of blame-men-first feminism, which defines women as perpetual victims requiring government protections,” she writes. “Hillary’s sometimes impatient or patronizing tone about men, which can perhaps be traced to key aspects of her personal history, may prove costly to her current campaign.”

Paglia continued in an interview at Spiked Review on Planned Parenthood idol Steinem that while, initially, she helped to normalize the image of feminism “with her media-savvy aviator shades and blonde-streaked locks,” she took an authoritarian turn:

But, by the mid-1970s, Steinem was ruling the roost like the Stalinist politburo. Dissenting voices like mine in feminism were banned from her magazine, Ms., which became the glossy Pravda of the movement – anti-male, anti-sex, anti-pop. My wing of pro-sex feminism was driven underground and wouldn’t surface again nationally until the early 1990s. Steinem has always been a networking careerist, packaging herself as a saintly, self-sacrificing humanitarian while privately schmoozing with the rich and famous and the media elite.

With Clinton and Planned Parenthood making their main feminist pitch to women on abortion, they are off the beaten path – or “extremists” – compared to most American women, which is likely why Clinton is trying to counterbalance her campaign rhetoric by downplaying her sex, by talking about her early work at the Children’s Defense Fund and by other talk about her granddaughter.

“I have said many times I’m not asking people to support me because I’m a woman, I’m asking people to support me because I’m the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and commander-in-chief,” Clinton claimed in the debate.

As Paglia notes:

The childless Gloria Steinem, who was unmarried until she was 66, has never been sympathetic to the problems faced by women who want both children and a job. Stay-at-home moms have been arrogantly disdained by orthodox feminism. This is a primary reason for the lack of respect that a majority of mainstream citizens has for feminism, which is addicted to juvenile male-bashing and has elevated abortion to sacramental status.

“While I firmly support unrestricted reproductive rights (on the grounds that nature gives every individual total control over his or her body), I think that the near-hysterical obsession with abortion has damaged feminism by making it seem morally obtuse,” she added.