HAGELIN: Fight campus feminist follies

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Culture Challenge Of The Week: Female Oppression

The ugly face of female oppression is all around us. But the source might surprise you. Females are favored on college campuses for scholarships and sports, so it's not educational opportunity that we lack. In fact, female co-eds now dominate universities in both numbers and in special programs available to them.

With plenty of government grants for businesses run by women, we've got advantages there, too. And innumerable labor laws protect women in the work force from discrimination.

It's obviously not the modern American male that is oppressing women. A growing majority of men are so careful not to offend that many of them don't even open doors or compliment women anymore. Many men are scared to treat women like ladies - let alone deny them opportunity - for fear that the bitter voice of feminism will rise up and call them bigots.

The culprit of today's female oppression and unhappiness? That same bitter feminism that causes many men to no longer treat women as different and more refined than their own burly gender. A segment of women and those who drink their Kool-Aid are oppressing other women - and their major target is our daughters.

Visit virtually any college campus and you will find "women's studies" classes that wave the flag of victimization and promote gender warfare. They are filled with hippie-generation professors who seek to convince female students that having children is beneath them, that men are the enemy, that their fulfillment lies in wallowing in self-pity. Students are pressured to attend male-bashing plays like "The Vagina Monologues." Oppressors of femininity also control much of the programming geared toward young women. Witness MTV and the prime-time lineup where women are taught that the only way to advance in the world is to dominate and manipulate men through "sexual power."

These sour attitudes and indoctrination are having an effect: A recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research reveals that despite the tremendous prosperity and "advances" of women's rights, "women in the United States have become less happy, both absolutely and relative to men" than we were in the 1970s.

How To Save Your Family From The Female Oppressors

Support ladies who dare to challenge the status quo. Take heart: feminine defenders are on the rise, and they need your help. This week marks the fifth anniversary of a new voice of reason sweeping America's college campuses: the Network of Enlightened Women (NeW).

Started by a University of Virginia co-ed student, Karin Agness, NeW seeks to "encourage women to embrace their femininity and traditional values in order to ultimately reclaim their happiness." Already in more than a dozen states, Miss Agness says, "NEW's success is largely due to the empty claims of feminism and the need for a positive woman's voice to rise up."

This past week I witnessed the beautiful joy and keen minds of NeW members firsthand. I spoke at King's College in the heart of New York City and was delighted to find smart, feminine, happy college women who celebrate the uniqueness and strength of their gender - and also admire and value men and chivalry. These young women reflect the same grace that I found in Miss Agness and NeW Executive Director Holly Carter, whom I met several years ago, who are just the type of role models of femininity and intellect that young women need.

Anyone concerned about the oppression of women should visit www.EnlightenedWomen.org.

c Rebecca Hagelin is a family advocate and the author of the best-seller "30 Ways in 30 Days to Save Your Family." For more family tips, visit HowToSaveYourFamily.com or e-mail Rebecca@howToSaveYourFamily.com