What an accurate description! However, Feministing is one of the more prominent ones in lefty gal world, so people actually get their information and draw their opinions there. (Does that make you cringe, too?)

It makes my day when kick-ass conservative women bloggers, like Lori Ziganto, take on Jessica Valenti, founder of Feministing. Given that Lori actually makes logical arguments and the extent of Jessica’s are typically, “but that’s so f—ing stupid to ME, so THEY are wrong.” (Don’t believe me? Read her books). Apparently Lori ruffled a few feathers, which resulted in Cassy Fiano responding at Hot Air.

What was all the fuss over? A simple ad in NYC subways that states, “abortion changes you.”

For the past few months, I’ve read numerous reports about pro-abortion women angered at the concept that abortion could change you. As John Hawkins described, it’s rather mild. Yet to feminists, this ad was incredibly offensive. No one should dare question their opinion on abortion. As liberal women, they have the final word.

Cassy touches on a subject that I’ve tried to understand:

It’s like they practically salivate over the thought of another woman getting an abortion. I don’t know why, but it’s sickening how much feminists try to actively convince women to have abortions.

I’ve seen that same enthusiasm and find it cold and calculating. Mentally, I’ve started referring to these type of women as the baby killer cheerleaders. You have women reveling in their abortion stories, bowling for abortion, blogging for abortion and tweeting an abortion. It doesn’t quite resonate with the “safe, legal, rare” drumbeat that liberals tried to use in the 90s. I guess the new motto is “YEA! ABORTION!”

As part of the larger liberal movement, feminists completely eliminate the concept of personal responsibility. A group of women doesn’t want to accept responsibilities for their actions and are convinced that women can and should have the same sexual abandon as a frat boy. They don’t want to deal with the consequences, and abortion makes it convenient for them. Don’t want a baby? Poof! Abortion makes the little unwanted mass of tissues disappear.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way, and a majority of Americans agree. Every woman who stands up and says, “this attitude and behavior is not acceptable” only highlights the shallow callousness of pro-abortion women. In order to succeed, they must silence all opposition and bully other women into agreeing with them. That’s the only pro-woman way, right?

Kudos to Cassy and Lori. I wish more women on the right would take on Jessica Valenti and others like her.

Now, I could care less about her wedding and all the hullabaloo of a “feminist wedding.” I’ve gone on the record to state that I have zero respect for Valenti. I’ve read one of her books (I refuse to spend anymore more money purchasing the rest), and found the writing and rationale behind her positions absolutely sloppy. Just because she’s not afraid to drop the f-bomb doesn’t make her fresh and witty and give her a “unique perspective.” Backing up your claims with statistics, examples and other sources goes a long way towards winning an argument than “those f-ing Christians feel this way, so you should believe the opposite.” It’s juvenile scholarship at best.*

I honestly hope she had a happy day that was special for her and her husband. However, I was a bit surprised at this statement:

We wanted to make the wedding representative of the institution we’d like marriage to be, and I think we did a good job. Does any of this change the fact that marriage is a historically sexist institution or make it okay that millions of people are denied the right to be married? Of course not. But it made the celebration one that made sense to us, one that re-imagined what marriage as an institution should be about – love, equal partnership and community. (And seriously, to the some of the more conservative relatives at our wedding, hearing these sort of things at a wedding absolutely made an impact.) [italics mine]

That’s nothing short of rude. It’s one thing to hold a ceremony that is important to you. It’s another to hold a ceremony that pushes a political agenda so that the less “enlightened” members of your family can be exposed to the “truth.”

I hate to break it to Ms. Valenti, but she sounds dangerously close to the Bible-thumping-Bob-Jones-University-types that I knew in high school. If you go far enough to one side, you start resembling the views of your so-called enemies. The politics my be different, but the attitude and expressions are nearly identical.

To push an agenda towards your extended family who have taken off from work, spent time and money to travel and most likely purchased at least one gift is the height of arrogance. What Valenti and other liberals (and many conservatives and Evangelicals for that matter) refuse to understand is the right to hold an opposing view.

The greatest part of democracy is the ability to hold a dissenting view and be vocal about it. That is a liberty that far too few people hold in this world, and it’s one that is taken for granted and trampled by both sides of the political spectrum.

I see this every day as I help conservative college students fight for freedom of speech and diversity of thought. I write about the absolute exclusion that liberal women have towards the center-right majority of women in this country. The right to dissent without fear of ramification through lawsuits, hate speech codes or threats of “intolerance” is a very real battle in this country.

Simply because you have very strong views and are surrounded by a fawning press and people who agree with you (ahem, Ms. Valenti), doesn’t make you superior. I disagree with nearly everything that you believe. While I respect your right to hold these views, I rarely see that respect come from your side. When was the last time that you gave a conservative woman an interview? When was the last time that you tried to find common ground with a Republican? What about an honest and real debate with someone from the other side? How is feminism helping women when you automatically dismiss at least 50% of your audience?

Where is our country going when we can’t even openly debate important issues? This problem ranges from small situations, such as the Valenti wedding to the White House shoving government health care down our throats. Average Americans, the ones that the left claims to speak up for, are not allowing debate. You either agree or disagree. There are a range of options out there from de-regulation and allowing competition and flexible health care plans to the public option. However, we only hear one side. When one side shuts down all debate, it furthers one side’s political agenda but it destroys democracy.

*I’m currently reading Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism and the Future and find the writing far more articulate and the views of the authors better explained. While the book is a bit outdated (published in 2000 with a considerable zeal for ‘zines), it presents a grown-up perspective of feminism that Full Frontal Feminism lacks. I still disagree with nearly everything, but I don’t find myself putting the book down and laughing at its idiocy.