Well, it doesn’t take long.

Go over to Hugo’s blog (hugoschwyzer.net; I’m not linking because his blog is behaving funky in a redesign, and the link may not hold) and you can read his latest post - dated yesterday - with the usual “there is no feminist position on this….”

How many times have we heard that crap?  Tripe, nonsense, balderdash, bullshit….

No matter what comes up, some snake-oil salesmanperson of a feminist pops up and starts shrilly shrieking “Feminism isn’t monolithic! We don’t all think alike! There is no feminist handbook! There is no feminist position!”

Really?  Do tell.

Now I can believe that not everything has a feminist position.  I am sure that there is no feminist position on whether the new shelves in the library of Bugtussle, Iowa are stained cherry or walnut (Unless one of the contractors bidding is owned by a disabled lesbian of color in which case you have to divide her bid by four); and God knows there might well not be a feminist position on this issue - they still come out for Hitlery Klintoon and heaven knows she has done the whole “Stand by Your Man” routine.

But every single time someone does a critique of feminism, and the same gang pops their head up and denies that feminists hold such views.  Present them with evidence that a feminists does hold that view, and they will say it is a view apart from feminism.  Point out that it is in a book on feminism and used in women’s studies classes, and they will say it’s not widely supported and just one view, show rave reviews, and they say not all feminists believe that….

I don’t have a dog.  My dog doesn’t bite.  It’s not my dog.

For a couple years now I have had a standing challenge.  Any feminist, any at all, to come in here, email me, what have you a two-part list.  Five things you have to believe to be a feminist.  And five things you CANNOT believe and be a feminist.  I have my MRA list - I get that email, that post, and it will take the time it takes for me to get to the system my list is on, and I will post the two together.  Hell, I have my Christian list, my Catholic list, my Conservative list and my Libertarian list.

So far - all I hear is the sound of crickets.

It’s about not being criticized.  It’s about not taking a stand. It’s about ducking, and dodging, and weaselling.

It’s because if anyone knew where you stood, they would scorn you.

It’s because if you take that stand, your inconsistancies will be exposed.

It’s a bunker philosophy of losers who are losing the war of ideas.

It would be one thing if there were just a few select issues on which the whole “no feminist position” were invoked.  Hell, I’d not only respect it, but expect it.  I mean, shit, folks - back in the day before the internet when feminists held a near monopoly on public discourse on gender in the limited media we had, you couldn’t switch brands of toilet paper in the public restrooms without there being a feminist position.  Why?

Beacuse they were insulated from criticism.

Now, though, when you have so many loose cannons floating around, it is deny, deny, deny, deny.  With all the things there is “no feminist position” on, it seems the only qualification to be a feminist is to claim it.

Oh, and the trite little soundbyte of a dictionary definition of feminism - what is it again? - the “Political, social, and economic equality of women.”

Hell.  Maybe Phyllis Schaefley, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and Vox Day ought to declare themselves to be feminists.  Heh.  Maybe I should.  Oh, wouldn’t that just get their panties in a wad?  And they couldn’t say I’m not - hey, no feminist credentials, right? - without saying WHY not. I am amused to the point of giggles at the thought.