15/01/03
Feminists are nasty things.
Esther Vilar wrote her book, The
Manipulated Man, in 1972. In 1998 she wrote that, "violent
threats have not ceased to this date." In other words, for over
25 years has Esther Vilar been subjected to the nastiness and
vindictiveness of feminist women simply because she spoke up on behalf
of men.
And this has been the experience of
many WOMEN who have tried to expose feminists and feminism for what they
really are.
And this is why politicians and the
media are so terrified of offending feminists and women's groups.
These are mostly made up of a
particularly revolting and hostile bunch of women who are quite prepared
to use the most odious of tactics in order to keep alive and further
their hatred of all things male.
I have been hounded and bullied by feminist women
and their coat-trailing 'new men.'
Here is what Erin Pizzey - the
very founder of the Refuge Centres for Battered Women - has to
say. All
through my career, as a journalist, a writer and a social reformer, I
have been hounded and bullied by feminist women and their coat-trailing
'new men.'
Here is
Professor Murray Strauss describing the type of chicanery in which
feminist academics themselves engage in order to support their agenda.
They include suppressing evidence, hiding data, citing only studies
consistent with their agenda, falsifying their conclusions, obstructing
publication of articles, blocking funding, demonising other academics and,
they "Harass, Threaten and Penalise Researchers who Produce Evidence that
Contradicts Feminist Beliefs".
And this is what recently happened to
Professor Christina Hoff Sommers ...
From: Christina Sommers
I enclose a statement I wrote about
the event.
Statement by Christina Hoff Sommers
regarding participation in a Health and Human Services program "Boy
Talk : A Dialogue About the Health and Well Being of Boys in
America"
On November 1, 2001 I served as an
invited panelist at a program sponsored by the Center for Substance
Abuse Prevention (CSAP) at Heath and Human Services (HHS). The program
was entitled "Boy Talk: A Dialogue About the Heath and Well Being
of Boys in America." Before I describe the ugly treatment to which
I was subjected, I shall describe my background.
I am a resident scholar at the
American Enterprise Institute. I have written a well-received book on
boys (The War Against Boys Simon & Schuster, 2000). The book was
excerpted for a cover story in The Atlantic Monthly and was selected as
a "notable book of the year" by The New York Times. So, now I
am frequently invited to speak about boys at conferences around the
country. In the past year, I have delivered a keynote address at
International Coalition of Boys Schools, read a paper at a scholarly
conference on boys at Morehouse College, and addressed audiences at
dozens of schools and colleges. Without exception, audiences and panels
have hitherto been courteous and civil. The HHS panel on November 1st
was very much the exception. Here is what happened.
The focus on evidence and outcomes seemed to
exasperate some members of the HHS staff.
My panel "What is Being Done
for Boys?" convened at 1:30. The first speaker was Joe Ereneta, a
young man from San Francisco who works for Lyric, a group that offers
help to gay and lesbian youths, bisexual and transgendered youth. He was
followed by Marvin Eisner from the Urban Institute who gave a talk that
was well-structured and contained information critical to any successful
program for boys. Eisner emphasized the importance of evidence-based
programs and the necessity of rigorous follow-up evaluation. The focus
on evidence and outcomes seemed to exasperate some members of the HHS
staff. In the middle of his talk, he was interrupted by an HHS official,
Ms. Luisa Pollard, who criticized him for being off the point. Her
objection was lengthy and somewhat incoherent. Mr. Eisner was flustered
and never able to finish.
She called out from her chair that I had not been
invited there to talk about "Girl Power!"
Now it was my turn. I cited
research showing that boys were at greater risk than girls for academic
failure and for drug and alcohol disabilities. But I cautioned HHS to be
careful in its remedies. There is no good evidence that gender-specific
drug and alcohol programs are better than gender-neutral programs. HHS
has invested millions of dollars in a highly dubious program called
"Girl Power!" The new program for boys ( "Boy Talk")
looks very much like Girl Power!. It was my intention to suggest that
the HHS officials first do some careful studies of Girl Power! before
replicating it for boys. But before I could explain these concerns, I
was cut off by Ms. Linda Bass, another HHS official. (She is Acting
Branch Chief in the Public Education Branch of the Center for Substance
Abuse and Prevention. ) She called out from her chair that I had not
been invited there to talk about "Girl Power!" She instructed
me to move on and to leave that subject alone. I politely explained to
her and the audience that if HHS was launching a program for boys
modeled on "Girl Power!" it was essential that the Girl Power!
be evaluated for effectiveness. A furious Ms. Bass insisted again that I
drop the subject. I was ordered not to talk about Girl Power! I was
startled by her behavior and her efforts to muzzle me. It soon proved
impossible to finish the comments I had been invited to present.
I was then informed that my question and
answer period was canceled
Ms. Bass and her associate Mr.
Kevin Teal (a member of the CSAP "Communication team" at HHS )
immediately called for a break. They rushed out of the room and caucused
intensely for 15 minutes. I was then informed that my question and
answer period was canceled. We would proceed to a "facilitated
discussion" led by Mr. Teal. I asked Mr. Teal if we could take a
vote to see if the audience would allow me to have a question and answer
period. He did not think that was a good idea. "You can
leave," said the less polite Ms. Bass.
But, I decided not to leave.This
was, after all, a government-sponsored conference. I was an invited
participant, author of a book on boys. All the audience members were
there to share their expertise and views with HHS officials to help them
with the "Boy Talk" campaign.
"You can prove anything with statistics," said one
participant.
Mr. Teal soon lost control of the
"facilitated discussion." It disintegrated into an all-out
attack on social science. Several audience members attacked me and
Marvin Eisen for paying so much attention to data. "You can prove
anything with statistics," said one participant. Many in the room
roared with approval for this insight.
Professor Jay Wade of the Department of Psychology
at Fordham University delighted many in the audience when he said Shut
the F*** up bitch."
I am a philosophy professor and I
rarely walk away from an argument. I was troubled by the rampant
ant-intellectualism in the room and I said so. I made some attempts to
defend scientific methodology. If you want to help at-risk children, you
need to be sure that the methods you are using are effective. This
invited more opprobrium, more denunciations. Professor Jay Wade of the
Department of Psychology at Fordham University delighted many in the
audience when he said Shut the F*** up bitch." Miss Bass and Mr.
Teal, who were officially in charge of the proceedings, did and said
nothing to protect a speaker they had invited from this kind of abusive
attack.
One member of the audience, Greg
Orfalea , a public affairs specialist at HHS, had finally had had
enough. He stood up and told the enraged professor from New York that it
was inappropriate to speak to anyone in that manner. He also chastised
his colleagues at CSAP for treating a guest so rudely.
I decided it was time to leave.
Civil discussion was impossible. But, before I left, I stopped at the
desk in the back of the room where a woman was taping the event. I
requested that she send me a copy of the tape. Ms. Bass rushed over and
told me that I could not have a copy and that CSAP had not decided how
they were going to use it. (I now have a copy and a written transcript)
Something is seriously wrong at in the CSAP
division at Heath and Human Services.
Something is seriously wrong at in
the CSAP division at Heath and Human Services. I hope that someone in a
position of responsibility will demand to a copy of the tape, listen to
it and do something to restore some badly needed professionalism and
common courtesy. No government official should be allowed to behave the
way these HHS officials behaved to me.
Christina
(Also see Silencing
Sommers Stanley Kurtz - 5 min)
Dragoons of foaming 'feminists' - usually empty-headed young women at
college - are encouraged by the academic staff to descend on to sites
like Amazon in their hundreds to mark down books that they attack their
views. ...
Angry Wimmin O'Beirne has hit a nerve, and now these same angry women are trying to sink the
book. Their tactic is an apparent smear campaign on Amazon.com. Charlotte
Hays
+ Colleges offering
credit to post feminist views on Wikipedia
Academic researchers who have tried to tell the truth about various
feminist boondoggles are hounded and intimidated, ...
Academic researchers who have tried to tell the truth about various
feminist boondoggles are hounded and intimidated, ...
Attacking The Researchers When
we reported the results of the Second National Family Violence Survey
the personal attacks continued and the professional critiques simply
ignored methodological revisions to the measurement instrument. This
round of personal attacks was much more insidious-in particular, it
was alleged that Murray had abused his wife. This is a rather typical
critique in the field of family violence-men whose research results
are contrary to political correctness are labeled "perps."
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