“Not a Feminist,” says the reaper of the fruits of feminism

Hi gals… The world is burning, and we’re all exhausted from Keeping Up With The Card-holders, aka people in power. Today’s read is more of a raging rant than gossip. But don’t worry, the snark is still as heated as our legacy is.

With more and more women taking up important roles in the corporate, political and social spheres, their achievements cannot be credited to them alone without acknowledging the decades, if not centuries, of women who came before them. Men may be climbing a ladder, but women, after all, are climbing a human pyramid- wherever we have reached, whatever we have built, is off the backs of the people who came before us.

Educated female celebrities from upper-class backgrounds proudly claiming that we don’t need feminism, privileged female politicians calling the patriarchy a hoax, influencers all over social media glorifying their “day-in-the-life of a twenty-one-year-old married woman”- these women choose to remain blind to the fact that, without feminism these actresses wouldn’t even be allowed to work, let alone in the film industry. Without feminism, these politicians would have to kiss their seats goodbye. Without feminism, these influencers wouldn’t even have a social media account to post on. When we operate within the patriarchy with such ignorance of our privilege and the sacrifices other women made to secure our future, we become the kerosene used to set other women and our feminist progress to ashes.

Justice Nagarathna

So many women in power have taken up conservative and often even misogynistic stances instead of bettering the system for the women who come after them. One of the most recent such examples is the Supreme Court’s judgment given by Justice Nagarathna, where she stated,

“Maybe we are old-fashioned, but before marriage, a boy and a girl are strangers. Whatever may be the thick and thin of their relationship. We fail to understand how they can be indulging in a physical relationship before marriage. You must be very careful; nobody should believe anybody before marriage.”

Yeah, like after an arranged marriage, the couple is no longer strangers. By overestimating the role of marriage in sex, when the topic of marital rape is so hot right now… is an icky choice. This was said in the context of a case where a woman accused a man of having premarital relations with her, with the promise of marriage. Instead of showing support and sympathy towards the victim in a society where women often face shame as well as blame in such situations, Justice Nagarathna has chosen to find fault with her.

Sanae Takaichi

In Japan, too, the latest elections have been won by Sanae Takaichi, their first female prime minister, who—I swear, the irony is lost on her—is a conservative. She opposes same-sex marriage, has criticised Japan’s pacifist constitution and has shown support for Japan’s single surname system that makes it harder for women to keep their maiden names, hence choosing to further deepen the entrenchment of the patriarchy in Japan’s political, social and institutional levels instead of fighting it. Breaking: Women in male-dominated fields forget they will never be men, and the vultures they’re unleashing will eat them or the women in their lineage one day.

Pam Bondi

With his anti-abortion laws and various sexual assault and harassment charges, even more so now with the release of the Epstein files, we would have hoped that most women in Trump’s administration would turn their backs on him. However, many women with conservative stances have chosen to stand by him even now. When asked how many of Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirators she had indicted or was investigating, Pamela Bondi, the United States Attorney General, responded,

“The Dow is over 50,000 right now. The S&P is at almost 7,000, and the Nasdaq is smashing records. Americans' 401Ks and retirements are booming. That's what we should be talking about.”

Not only did she overlook and blatantly disrespect the victims, many of whom were present there at the time, but she also later refused to apologise even in the face of public and media backlash. So deeply inexcusable were her actions that even prominent conservative figures like Kyle Rittenhouse, Erick Erickson and Mike Wilnau have called for her resignation.

Nicki Minaj

This seems like an appropriate juncture to shoutout to Nicki Minaj, a black female rap icon, who absolutely sold out trying to side with her rapist husband and pedophilic brother. Now seen hand-in-hand with the likes of fascist leader Trump and MAGA influencers like Erika Kirk, while ignoring the suffering of POC and immigrants under Trump’s authoritarian regime— she represents what happens when coloured women choose power over solidarity.

From politicians who blame the victims of sexual assault cases, to teachers who shame twelve-year-old girls for putting on lip balms, women with authority often choose to act as pink mouthpieces for the patriarchy rather than bringing about change in the institutions that either already have or at least could hurt them as well. Our feminist foremothers did not die fighting for whatever selfish and power-hungry antics these women are pulling. You’re merely a pawn to the men who need a woman to take the bullet for them—a human shield—but sure, at least you’re a woman who smashed the glass ceiling… in our faces. Kudos.

It cannot be too much to expect the girlies to stick together, right? It’s one thing to make mistakes, but this is a betrayal of the community and the cause. And even gossip gal knows the girl code, so where’s their solidarity??

oooo (because we all need hugs right now),

💋Gossip Gal💋