Alyssa Ahlgren: Being a Woman in Modern America

Women in the Middle East are legally beaten under Sharia Law. Women in many African cultures are treated as second class citizens and property. Women in many Asian nations don’t have the freedom to choose who they marry. Systemic gender discrimination exists. Legal oppression against women exists. But it doesn’t exist here. 

Woman

Girl next door turned woke political activist Taylor Swift recently came out with a music video for her new song “The Man,” an overtly feminist anthem that highlights everything but the truth about masculinity and manhood. The song centers around the premise of how much more successful the artist would be in her career and in life if she were a man – a sentiment echoed by modern feminism. There’s only one minor problem. This outlook is inextricably and inarguably false. 

Here’s an easy way of looking at my assertion. What if Taylor Swift was indeed a man? Where would she be in her career? I can tell you. She would be living out of her car playing gigs at dive bars barely scraping by with the audience of approximately twelve people wondering why this random dude won’t stop singing about the teardrops on his guitar. Taylor Swift is a Grammy-winning multi-millionaire and one of the most well-known artists around the world thanks to, in large part, by the fact that she is a good-looking and very talented female.

Like Swift, modern feminists have made a name for themselves by crying victim, relishing in the idea of systematic and cultural oppression, and yearning for the day where they may not eradicate toxic masculinity but embody it. The feminist movement had noble and moral beginnings, starting as a movement rooted in equal opportunity and focusing on the fact women are different from men and that is something to be celebrated. Fast forward to modern day America and the feminist movement is working to undo the accomplishments of the early feminist trailblazers. 

No longer is equal opportunity and celebrating the unique characteristics of females acceptable. No, we must incorrectly acknowledge that there are no societal, biological, emotional, or sexual differences between men and women. Modern feminists fought for the sexual revolution in order to eliminate the stigma of women sleeping around in order to “own” their sexuality. Modern feminists have fought for the complete destruction of gender roles, the shaming of traditional motherhood, abolishing the reality of pregnancy through unregulated abortion, and to erase the complimentary dynamic between male and female relationships.  Essentially, the feminist movement wants it both ways: to condemn men as toxically masculine and to be men. 

This contradictory nature of the modern woman has expanded beyond the realm of sexual promiscuity and into our justice and economic systems. Due process rights have morphed into special due process privileges for women and a lack of due process for men. The ‘Me Too’ era dilapidated what should have been a much-needed fight on sexual assault and harassment by overshadowing its intended purpose with the nonsensical notion of “believe all women.” Here we have a movement that was destroyed by feminism yet again taking it too far. 

Another area of interest that progressive feminists have honed in on is fiscal “equality” by arguing that women are still fighting against pay discrimination, citing the gender wage gap as the evidentiary basis. It astonishes me that this debunked gender wage gap is still touted as sound rationale to this day. The feminist movement is so desperate for oppression points that they dishonestly take the average income of a man and the average income of a woman and call that a comprehensive methodology and an accurate statistical representation of discrimination. You don’t need to be a statistician to know that is not how statistics work. 

I know the gender wage gap has been rebuked ad nauseam but when I look on the cesspool of misinformation that is social media, I realize that we can always use a refresher. When we perform a statistical comparison, we must always consider the nuances required to result in an accurate conclusion. Therefore, simply finding the average of two groups is a very narrow-minded, simplistic, and simply inaccurate method in analyzing datasets. This is why when we dig into the gender pay gap, we must take into account all of the nuances in order to get the big picture. These variables include factors such as hours worked, occupation, position held, and education level. When these factors are taken into account, the gender pay gap shrinks down to a level within the margin of error, making the gender wage gap effectively zero. 

Studies done by the American Association of University Women as well as the U.S. Department of Labor have found that the number one factor resulting in a disparity between the median income of males and the median income of females comes down to personal choice. Women statistically choose career fields that pay less on average. Women also statistically work less hours and are more inclined to take time off work than men.  

In fact, not only do women not get paid less, in some instances we get paid more for equal work. In 2019, Google performed an internal assessment of their employees to attempt to prove that gender discrimination is prevalent in pay. This drastically backfired as Google’s findings showed that men were actually underpaid compared to women at the company.

Women in the Middle East are legally beaten under Sharia Law. Women in many African cultures are treated as second class citizens and property. Women in many Asian nations don’t have the freedom to choose who they marry. Systemic gender discrimination exists. Legal oppression against women exists. But it doesn’t exist here. 

One of the biggest and richest recording artists on the planet now dedicates her songs to propagating the myth of female victimhood while living in the freest, safest and most tolerant nation in the world. Modern feminism fights for special treatment in a land of equal opportunity and in many ways they’ve succeeded in receiving such treatment. Women in modern America were born with a voice thanks to the real feminists before us that fought true discrimination. Taylor Swift, your career thanks God that you weren’t born a man. 

Alyssa Ahlgren

Alyssa has her Bachelor’s in Business Administration and currently works as an analyst in corporate finance. She grew up in northern Wisconsin and is a former collegiate hockey player. Alyssa is pursuing her passion for current events and politics through writing and being an advocate for the conservative movement.