A Morning Wasted at the Women's Conference

Former Arizona Governor and current Homeland Security Chief Janet "Big Sis" Napolitano stands next to Arizona State Representative Kyrsten Sinema. Although we don't know the exact venue of this photo, we suspect it was taken some time during last year's prom.

This morning I found myself at a session of the local college-sponsored Women's History Month conference. I wasn't there by choice, since I don't believe that any college or university curriculum with the word "studies" in it affords students with anything like a real education. Sure, "studies" departments are fine if we want our children to grow up to be ideological dolts, but if we prefer a real education, it's best to stay clear of "studies." (And please, stay away from present-day English and sociology departments as well.)

We stood in line to get into the conference room. Apparently the sponsors thought it would be a good idea to register all of the students forced to show up to such a presentation by well-meaning teachers who made such attendance part of their class. This would, ostensibly, provide a base of "interested" students for future recruitment. I watched as many students left the line, apparently deciding that listening to 1) a politician, 2) an attorney, 3) a feminist, and/or 4) an avowed political liberal was not worth the grade. Filling a conference session with captive students is, by the way, a poor means of showing support for a poor topic and a poor speaker. Such class requirements is ideological inculcation at its worst.

I felt depressed entering the conference room for reasons other than a complete disinterest in the speaker or topic. At the entrance were tables full of feminist propaganda, including lapel buttons (or as I discovered from some of the female students - bosom buttons) that declared such things as "It's OK to use the 'F' Word" followed by the word "feminism" in smaller letters. Marketing based on cheap and vulgar terms has the appeal of the tawdry, yet only succeeds in debasement. Students succeed at their own debasement and don't need the help of their teachers or community leaders to send them on their way.

Kyrsten Sinema, an attorney and Arizona state legislator spoke during the conference session. Of course I expected a political speech, highly charged with feminist ideals and inconsistencies. I was not disappointed. Some examples:

Ms. Sinema started her presentation, thanking all of the women in the audience for being women - drawing a round of applause. If we stop to think about it, why should we thank anyone for what many consider an accident of birth? I surmise Ms. Sinema meant to thank the women in the room for their courageous fight against the evil masculine oppressor, not for the sheer fact of their gender. I had to wonder that a room filled with college women wasn't the epitome of feminist success. (Considering the state of higher education these days, maybe these women really have gotten a raw deal.)

Ms. Sinema also followed with the inevitable joke, poking fun at men. Jokes are a standard means of debasing an outcast group. In this case, the joke promoted a stereotype of men. I find the credibility of identity politics stretched when stereotyping is such anathema to the successful promotion of identity politics. Yet, the duplicity of identity politics allows for stereotyping when it is convenient or serves a purpose, such as in this case to debase men.

Ms. Sinema's presentation centered on her attempt to convince the women in the audience to support a feminist agenda in government. In her political indoctrination, she cited the example of Arizona House Bill HB2148 which would require adoption agencies in Arizona to give married couples preference in adopting children. Of course this legislation irks the leftists, since, according to their ideology, marriage has absolutely nothing to do with successfully raising children. According to the likes of Sinema, fathers are superfluous (she indeed made a big deal out of supporting single mother adoption). I suspect, although she never said (but as her past voting record has shown), that she also wishes to promote gay adoption in Arizona.

As Sinema stated, we need to think of the children. Yet, unlike her marriage-less and father-less ideology suggests, thinking of the children means giving them the best chance for social and moral success - a success that married mothers and fathers can best provide. Children deserve a mother and a father. Other strategies for children should be the exception, not the rule.