Hypocrisy Is A Feminist Virtue

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Hypocrisy is a feminist virtue.

Consider one of the most popular television show, “Ally McBeal”. Ally first appears to be a feminist’s model of the 1960s; she’s an attractive Harvard-educated attorney trying high-profile cases at a leading Boston firm. Yet what makes her character and the tales of her work so popular is that this package contains a (amusingly, of course) neurotic woman who longs for a serious relationship, leading to marriage, leading to children. Ally has turned to the TV audience to confide, in hushed tones: “I want to change the world; I just want to get married first.” Embracing motherhood as well as other feminine virtues can be regarded as hypocritical to the feminist ideology; for a feminist, to replace the role of an independent career woman with the dual orthodox role of virtuous wife and mother is similar to a Catholic priest discarding all his knowledge and faith in God and preaching the teachings of Hinduism. It is repudiation to the complete equality – defined as attaining the same degree of social, political, and economic power that men have, even going so far as to demand equality of experience as well as opportunity – that feminists have pushed so hard for. However, current forms of feminism have taken the wrong course; instead, it should towards social harmony rather than gender equality and endear femininity.

We believe, for the most part, that the feminist movement is a deserved success. The United States passed several laws during the 1960s and 1970s, aimed at providing equal rights for women. Complete social, political, and economic equality for men and women is an unquestioned ideal. In this modern era, very few of us were raised by stay-at-home moms (about 70% of all mothers today are in the labour force), and virtually all women see careers as the overarching concern of their futures. As far as sex is concerned, many people perceive women as being no different than men, ex...