From:    Ted Powell
Subject: Open Season on Feminists

The following is from a column by Patricia Graham, the editorial page
editor, on the oped page of today's The Province:

It didn't take too long after the Montreal massacres for it to start again.
Not too long at all: Just over a year.

And now it's open season on feminists again, just like it was before Marc
Lepine decided to target them. Of course, right after he did, everyone
went "Whoops" and "Maybe we went too far," and "Isn't it outrageous."

No. The time for outrage is now. Now, when ignorant people are on the
attack and add fuel to the fanatical fires of the crazed Marc Lepines of
the world.

In only the last few days, I've read that it's feminists who abort,
feminists who claim abortion doesn't leave you feeling a thing, feminists
who are evil doctrinairesses, feminists who are the McCarthyites of the
'90s and feminists who were upset by a former Ontario cabinet minister
posing fully clothed as a SunShine boy.

Nonsense, all of it. Let's go over each of these allegations and get them
right.

It is _women_, not feminists, who abort. Immigrant women, native women,
WASP women, feminist women, gay women, raped women, children. You'd think
this would be self-evident, but aparently it's not. Abortion is constantly
portrayed as a feminist pastime.

Feminists do not insist abortion leaves you feeling nothing. Some women
will tell you they've aborted and never been bothered by it. Others will
tell you they have grieved ever since. Feminists, merely individuals, can
fall into either camp.

The key word is respect. True feminists respect women. Workers at the
Everywoman's Health Centre in Vancouver, allegedly a hotbed of feminism,
counsel pregnant women as to their options. Some women have chosen _not_
to abort because of the counselling and support they've received at the
Everywoman's Health Centre.

It was not feminists who were upset by Peter Kormos posing as a SunShine
boy. It was his boss, a man, the premier of Ontario. Some feminists
appreciate a little beefcake; others figure that, like it or not, it's a
nice counterweight to the heavy doses of cheesecake. Others think sexism
works both ways.

Feminists are not evil doctrinairesses, the McCarthyites of the '90s.
Feminists are as divided as the general population is over the pornography
versus censorship debate. They are as divided as the general population is
in their reaction to the news that male law students should be free on
their own time to celebrate together by hiring a prostitute to perform
oral sex on them.

They are as worried and thoughtful as the general population is over the
issue of the demands of political correctness. They are as divided as the
general population is over whether Sam Kinison is worth bothering about.

Feminists -- surprise! -- are human beings. They encompass all the
opinions, foibles and talents of the general population. They are as
varied, as endearing and as annoying as everyone else.

Where they differ from everyone else, perhaps, is in their vulnerability to
attack. The attacks on them are constant, ignorant and hateful. And oh, so
convenient.