Lies the Feminists Told You

The feminist revolution did more than make equality for women a reality; it helped create and spread misinformation on subjects affecting women’s decision-making.

The new book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Women, Sex and Feminism, aims to correct many of these lies and provide women with the facts they need to know to make decisions that will ensure their happiness, according to author Carrie L. Lukas.

Lukas is the Vice President of Policy at the Independent Women’s Forum in Washington, D.C. as well as a senior fellow at the Goldwater Institute and a contributing writer to National Review Online.

But in her new book, Lukas says, “I’m thirty-two years old, married and just had my first child. I know the difficulties that women face during their twenties and thirties as they make decisions that will affect the rest of their lives. I feel lucky my life has turned out as it has, but I sure wish I’d received better information when I was younger about the trade-offs women inevitably must make during their lives.”

It is with this attitude that Lukas turns her eye on gender differences, romance, dating, sex, violence against women, marriage, divorce, fertility, abortion, daycare and careers.

Lukas counters many myths perpetuated by modern feminists, and exposes lies taught in elementary, middle and high schools as well as women’s studies classes in colleges across the country.

Sex education begins as early as elementary school in this country, but what is being taught might surprise you. The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) is a national taxpayer-funded organization that helps create sex education. According to Lukas, SIECUS helps train educators, create materials to be distributed to teens, outreach to community groups, and “develops guidelines for what should be taught in sex education from kindergarten to twelfth grade.”

SIECUS guidelines deem teaching definitions of genitalia, vaginal intercourse and masturbation appropriate for five-to-eight-year-olds; discussions of bisexuality and abortion are reserved for nine-to-twelve-year-olds; and twelve-to-fifteen-year-olds learn about contraceptive methods, and that condoms can prevent STDs/HIV, Lukas writes.

Lukas points out that in high schools and colleges, condoms are frequently advocated as a fool-proof way to prevent pregnancy and STDs. The truth is, though, that STDs are not all prevented by condom usage and while teen pregnancy has fallen, STD infections are steadily trending up.

“Each year approximately ten million individuals in the fifteen-to-twenty-four age group contract an STD, which means that of those who are sexually active, an estimated one in three will contract an STD before age twenty-four,” Lukas writes. Women are also much more likely to contract an STD, says Lukas.

Lukas also tackled myths in the texts of women’s studies classes that have sprung up around colleges in recent decades. She read the few textbooks used in many of these courses and found out they are strong proponents of sexual exploration, animosity toward men, proponents of lesbianism, and ignore facts about the impact of age on women’s fertility.

“The impulse to confine sex within marriage or a committed relationship comes from that evil, amorphous institution dubbed ‘patriarchy’. It’s patriarchy that created a system under which women had to serve as sexual gatekeepers and linked virginity with virtue. Embracing this creed of sexual modesty is likened to embracing oppression,” Lukas writes.

In a sidebar, quotes about sexual modesty being a form of patriarchal oppression are taken from three textbooks: Issues in Feminism: An Introduction to Women’s Studies, Thinking About Women: Sociological Perspectives on Sex and Gender, and Sexual Salvation: Affirming Women’s Sexual Rights and Pleasures.

These books clearly leave out information about how women may be biologically wired to link sex and love emotionally, leading to more negative consequences for casual sex in women than in men as Steven Rhoads pointed out in his book Taking Sex Differences Seriously, which is discussed in Lukas’ book.

Such textbooks also consistently portray women as oppressed and spread the idea that all women are in danger of being a victim of violence at the hands of men. Lukas rips this quote from the textbook Issues in Feminism: An Introduction to Women’s Studies: “Feminists generally agree: Women are the victims of male violence. Such violence is an integral part of the gender system; it is largely sanctioned by social institutions—the courts, the media, the economic system, religions, and others; it has a goal—the control of women by men through fear.”

This animosity toward men includes suggestions that women explore alternatives such as lesbianism. In these books, heterosexuality is portrayed negatively, but lesbianism is shown very positively, says Lukas.
Misinformation about the number of rapes, including the infamous 1-in-4 statistic is taught in these classes, and facts like decreasing rates of violent crime against women are rarely covered, Lukas points out.

Another textbook, Women in American Society: An Introduction to Women’s Studies, neglects to discuss some women’s inability to get pregnant or carry out a pregnancy in the chapter on “Reproduction, Parenthood, and Childcare,” says Lukas. She also mentions the book Sex and Gender that explains the symptoms of menopause and says, “A woman at this stage is losing her ability to bear children—an ability that our culture tends to emphasize as crucial to the feminine role.” What the books do not mention is that women’s peak fertility is in a woman’s early 20s, and then steadily declines according to the American Society of for Reproductive Medicine says Lukas. This failure to discuss the very real factors of fertility and causes of infertility is unfair to the women taking these courses who should be getting the facts.

Overall, Lukas’ book makes it abundantly clear that women’s studies courses are failing the very women they are supposed to be helping, by not providing them with the information they need to make decisions to ensure their happiness at age 30, 50 and beyond.

The book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Women, Sex, and Feminism can be purchased by clicking here. Accuracy in Academia will be hosting Carrie L. Lukas to talk about her book on June 6th from 6:30-7:30 at Armand’s Pizzeria at 226 Massachusetts Avenue NE, Washington D.C. Please email Sarah. Schaerr@aim.org to RSVP. Space is limited.

Julia A. Seymour is a staff writer for Accuracy in Academia.