BAD BEHAVIOR
Tomi Lahren Attacks Best-Selling Feminist Writer, Fails Miserably
Fox News Pundit: ‘Female Empowerment Isn’t Wearing a Vagina on Your Head & Begging for Free Things’
Conservative talking head Tomi Lahren has gotten into a nasty spat with a New York Times columnist who she accused of “lecturing” her on feminism.
The columnist, Jessica Valenti, has written six books on feminism and took on “The Myth of Conservative Feminism,” in a just-published piece.
The piece explains basic concepts of feminism and then pushes back on Conservative women who’ve lashed out at other women for not supporting them. Among the examples were Sarah Huckabee Sanders saying any woman who did not support new CIA chief Gina Haspel because she oversaw torture and then destroyed tapes of that torture and Tomi Lahren, who “said that any woman who doesn’t support Ivanka Trump’s business because of her father’s policies isn’t ‘really a feminist.’”
That line drew a fierce rebuke from Lahren, who said that “female empowerment isn’t wearing a vagina on your head & begging for free things.”
Always nice to be lectured by the New York Times on feminism. Guess what, female empowerment isn’t wearing a vagina on your head & begging for free things. Strong women on the right are here, and we aren’t going anywhere. Put that in your fake news rag. https://t.co/0pmZwtFzOU
— Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) May 20, 2018
The line about free things was immediately seized upon by Twitter users who mocked Lahren for railing against Obamacare while getting free health care through her mom until she’s 26 because of the law.
Always nice to be lectured by the New York Times on feminism. Guess what, female empowerment isn’t wearing a vagina on your head & begging for free things. Strong women on the right are here, and we aren’t going anywhere. Put that in your fake news rag. https://t.co/0pmZwtFzOU
— Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) May 20, 2018
In her piece, Valenti says real feminism is doing better than ever—but that it’s important to push back on cynical misuse such as Lahren is fond of.
“Now we have a different task: protecting the movement against conservative appropriation,” she writes. “We’ve come too far to allow the right to water down a well-defined movement for its own cynical gains. Because if feminism means applauding ‘anything a woman does’ — even hurting other women — then it means nothing.”
Enjoy this piece?
… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.
NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.
Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.