Grappling with Sexual Equality

Thank you Mona Charen.

By now you know the story of the young male wrestler who forfeited his Iowa State Championship match to his young female opponent.  When this story broke a couple of weeks ago, I was very interested in the reactions of female talking heads and pundits.  From the Left, one could hear the predictable screams of  "I am woman, hear me roar!" coupled with outright contempt for the stand the young man took.  (He was extremely gracious, by the way.)  From the Right, however, the responses were mixed, and therefore more interesting.

Many of these women have benefited tremendously from what we used to call women's liberation and they know it.  Therefore, on occasions like this they feel the need to offer at least two cheers for feminism, and so they do.  Others, many others it seemed to me, were clearly uncomfortable with the story.  They knew in their souls that there was something right about the young man's stand and something very wrong with forcing him to make it.

National Review columnist Mona Charen cuts to the heart of the matter with this question:  "Are we really sure we want to obliterate the last traces of chivalry in young men — to stamp out every trace of protectiveness from the male psyche?"

The more radical equality between the sexes is pursued, the more women lose.  Smart women like Mona Charen know this.