Lauren Southern is one of the alt-right's most troubling creations, a troll who tells white people that there is a conspiracy to replace them with immigrants that undermines the foundations of civilization, and who has a penchant for doing obnoxious and stupid things like handing out flyers. One said, “Allah is gay,'' and the other said, “Hitler flattered Muslims more than Justin Trudeau.'' She's something of an expert on anti-Muslim bigotry.She's a conservative, even though she claims she's not a racist. times A man living in London seemed to be skeptical of this, saying after the interview, “Southern flatly denies being racist or even far-right, predicting a race war and quoting Enoch Powell.'' “I'm done with the conversation,” he said.Ann atlantic ocean Profile (for the love of God, please stop profiling these people) is an opportunistic story in which she interviews desperate refugees and cherry-picks their stories in order to stir up public hostility against them. I followed the way she described it in a principled manner, but she herself said, “[raked] As a result of our efforts, we received a significant amount of cash.
Therefore, I think it is difficult to garner much sympathy for any problem in Southern's life. Perhaps if she stopped actively using that life of hers to hurt others, it would be easier for me to look out for her after she herself was hurt. But while by no means present her as a sympathetic figure, the comments she has made recently are in support of the very “woke social justice ideology” she has dedicated her life to eradicating. I think it helps strengthen the case.
talk to unhardened, Southern talked about how accepting traditional conservative views on marriage made his life miserable. She Southern aimed for a “1950s consumer electronics commercial'' vision of the so-called “trad wife,'' a woman who was essentially a housewife. In this concept, women should exhaust themselves doing unpaid labor around the house, such as cleaning, cooking, and caring for children. Her husband's job is to “provide” and command.according to unhardened, Ms. Southern, who once shot a video called “Why Am I Not a Feminist,'' said she wanted to get married and embrace the “nurturing, feminine, domestic role promoted by right-wing traditionalists.'' I decided to. The article explains:
There were signs of danger from early on. “If I disagreed with him on any point, he would disappear for days. The night he called me worthless and pathetic and then drove away in this car. ” But she couldn't understand them because of the simplistic anti-feminist ideology she had absorbed and promoted. mistaken. ” So she didn't notice the red flags, even though they became even more extreme. “He was going to lock me out of the house. On a rainy night, I had to knock on my neighbor's door.” I remember not being there, because he got angry and drove away without unlocking the house. From a public figure on a stage with people clapping, to someone's door with no room to enter. It was very strange to be the girl who knocked and was left with the baby.” […] “I believed I had a certain role in my relationship,” she told me. “And it was supposed to be more submissive, supporting her husband's dreams.” Then, thousands of miles away from friends and family, she was “most likely to be a modern-day Western slave.” He reports that he has become a “close presence.” She had no income of her own, so she had to do everything. “The lawn, the house, cooking, taking care of the baby, college homework. And I didn't know anyone. I didn't have any support. I didn't have help changing diapers, and I had to spend the night with the baby. I still had to get up to make breakfast before work. I was shaking and nervous because I was afraid of being yelled at. I blamed her for spending all my time on. “I was told every day that I was worthless and pathetic. A dead weight. All you have to do is sit and take care of the baby and do the housework.” COVID-19 When the virus shut down all real-world public life, her situation became “hell on earth.” According to her, it was “the only time in my life when I was idealistic about dying.” […] That's what she thought, she told me. “If you wear high heels and put on lipstick when her husband comes home, if you cook the best meals, if you always obey and say yes,” whatever you want. Things will be great. ” And what if it’s not great? A listicle version of traditionalism would just say she should try harder.
So, in essence, Southern had swallowed the ideology that women should be treated as the property of their husbands and that women's interests were subordinated to those of male breadwinners. Her husband then treated her as his property, and his interests were subordinated to her own. I found that this felt like being enslaved, since slavery means people treating others as property. I think Southern's surprise will surprise most people. She enrolled in her patriarchy and experienced patriarchy. And she found out that being a woman under patriarchy is very miserable. Because people want to be in control of their own lives, and being a servant is no fun. It turns out that Betty Friedan sensed something about the despair within her housewife. Maybe feminism had some good points after all!
Conservatives have responded to Southern's sad story by saying that the problem here isn't “traditional views on marriage,” but simply that Southern had a rotten husband and a disgusting husband who treated her like dirt. I've seen it said to be true. The “traditional view of marriage” also imposes duties on husbands, who are expected to take care of their wives rather than abuse them. These critics would argue that there are no broader lessons to be drawn here about conservative ideology per se, but in their view conservative ideology is still considered healthy.
However, it is clear that many of the problems Southern faced were precisely due to her trying to conform to conservative ideology.She thought she had to suffer in a bad marriage because she believed this was hers work As a woman.Conservatives may argue that abusive marriages are not what they have in mind, but if someone teeth In abusive marriages, encouraging them to be submissive means encouraging them to rationalize the terrible things that are happening to them. Furthermore, the ideology Said That she should be okay if her husband doesn't want her to work. This is exactly her role in their ideal system. She was certainly supposed to put her husband's dreams above her own, since in the patriarchy marriage is not an equal partnership, but something that is led by her husband. Southern's dire situation resulted primarily from the expected power imbalance built into “traditional marriage.” Her husband takes her idea seriously that his interests are more important than hers and that he doesn't need to listen to her opinion as much as he listens to her own. I was there. Yes, he was an asshole, but he was also an asshole with a theory explaining why he shouldn't treat his wife as an equal.
I don't want to laugh at Southern, even though she might have escaped that ordeal if she had spent even a little time reading and listening to feminists instead of mocking them with disdain. do not have. I'm not even sure how seriously to take her latest revelations, as she's still pushing her bigoted points and she's known as a provocateur. But her escape from a disastrous “traditional” marriage is a huge vindication of activists who have been fighting for women's equality for centuries, and perhaps even more so than others like her. This is proof that people should think twice before treating feminism as a pox against society.
More importantly, perhaps Southern should use this experience to become more humble about other aspects of his ideology as well. She espoused an ideology that sounded good (women should enjoy enslavement), but then she experienced the consequences of that ideology firsthand and learned that enslavement is not the only thing that gets policed. It turns out that. Perhaps this will make her more moderate on gender justice issues. But what about the issue where she ultimately doesn't understand what it was like to be a victim? Perhaps if she could spend a few years as a desperate refugee from a Muslim country, she would be less inclined to spread her harmful stereotypes about the Muslim world. But so far, her revelations appear to be selfish in nature. She learned that her ideology was unhealthy. shebut not how bad it is for people who are very different from her.
The conservative worldview is fundamentally cruel. It further worsens the lives of immigrants, LGBTQ people, the poor, and women by stripping them of the basic human rights necessary for a good life. We've seen how this happens at home through Lauren Southern's horrible marriage. Patriarchy means that one side has a rough attitude towards the other's desires, needs, and interests, and women end up convincing themselves that their unhappiness is because of their ways. . Ideal situation. Not only do people on the right understand that the concept of a “traditional wife” has been rejected for good reason, but also many of their other ideas, at least when it comes to playing the role of a person without power. I hope you understand that it's just as scary.