Jane Fonda is writing her memoirs. The world holds its breath. Has she learned some discretion since her foray to Hanoi during that war? Will she reveal a hidden intelligence? Now in her 60's, can she impart old woman wisdom? Will she simply be coherent? If her speech to the National Women’s Leadership
Summit is any indication, the answer to all the above is
no.(Available at thewhitehouseproject.org/whp_news/Jane_Fonda_speech_03.htm
But as a stereotype her, what one might call thinking, is useful for insights into the human phenomenon of projection. Typical from her speech is: “The Male Belief System, that compartmentalized, hierarchical, ejaculatory, androcentric power structure that is Patriarchy, is fatal to the hearts of men, to empathy and relationship.” I have no idea what ejaculatory or androcentric are but they seem to be male so must be bad. While the logic is not clear, the emotion is. Ms. Fonda may have discovered that women live by relationships and men by facts and logic, though mistakes these for Beliefs. While it is wonderful if she values being a woman, what does she think of men? Her verbal ejaculations go well beyond the usual female desire to turn men into women (which corresponds to the male desire for women to think like men), to a conviction that women are inherently superior beings, with men, poor dears, incapable of anything human as long as they cling to being male. She gives no reasons for this conclusion, only monotonously extols it. This is commonly called prejudice. Ms Fonda is full of ill feelings and cannot abide anyone different from her. It is this, her own ugliness, she projects onto men, which handily justifies its expression from her. This is not new. Neither Jane nor feminism nor women hold a monopoly on projecting one’s own evil onto others. Few are not sometimes guilty to some degree. (That driver didn’t signal! He’s not proper, like me.) Righteousness has long been a common obsession in our culture, but when it becomes a cult it is a social pathology. Yesterday’s Temperance Movement and KKK – both driven by righteous superiority – are today’s zero-tolerance of drugs or crime, smoking, alleged dead-beat dads, and masculinity. It is our own evil we project onto others, to justify our brutality. It provides someone to be superior to and beat up. A male Black doctor who grew up in Atlanta in the 1960s recently said that he does not believe the amount of prejudice in society has reduced. It simply finds new targets with changing fashion. “Male hierarchy” is another projection. For decades I was never sure what feminists were referring to. I thought it may simply be that men orient themselves by structure (as with maps), while women are inclined to orient by relationships (as with landmarks). To inject morality into this validates holding the reverse value. But having now read “Queen Bees and Wannabes” and “Odd Girl Out,” I finally understand. The female hierarchy is far more extensive and compelling to women than anything in the male world, so this is projection, too. It is projection of both the significance, depth, and meaning of the female hierarchy for women, and its confining nature. Projected onto others, you don’t have to face yourself. It’s like blaming men for the contortions to which women subject themselves for beauty when the pressure for that comes from women. And consider those sneery allusions to male competition. It’s nothing to that of women, feminist demeaning of everything male a fine example. No wonder the majority of women are embarrassed by feminism. “Quiet, sister. Don’t let everyone know we can be as uniquely ugly as uniquely appealing.” After all, there’s more power in being appealing. So the next time you’re treated to one of these feminist diatribes, don’t just sit there in pain. Look for the projections – of evil, hierarchy, and matriarchic control – and feel grateful if you’re not as effected by them as are they. It’s not men they hate, but themselves. ©2007, KC Wilson To nourish children and raise them against odds is in any time, any place, more valuable than to fix bolts in cars or design nuclear weapons. - Marilyn French
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She continues to be a dreadfully ordinary example of a
not-too-bright, adolescent feminist.
