Progressive Feminists, Republican Women Are Not Your Enemy

Dear progressive feminists,

You claim that I must be voting Republican because I am ignorant and blind to the harm that Republican leaders and their policies cause women; that I have been brainwashed into voting against myself and my sisters and that only by falling in line behind you and your anti-men agenda can I be redeemed. Or perhaps, you say, it is not that I have been fooled into voting Republican but rather something much worse – that I willingly and knowingly vote against other women out of some sort of loyalty to the patriarchy.

Stop pitying me for my obedience to the GOP.  My choices are my own and believe it or not, I make them carefully and by my own autonomy. Isn’t that the purpose of feminism? For women to be able to decide for themselves what is most beneficial and then being able to act on that decision.

Stop painting me as the bad guy. Just because my actions don’t fit into what your idea of strong feminism is, doesn’t mean they’re harmful or done out of spite. Just because I support our president doesn’t make me less of a woman. I am just supporting policies that I feel will be more beneficial not only to myself but also to other women and to America as a whole. I don’t vote Republican because of ill will towards other women, I vote Republican because I am a fiscal conservative.

By coddling women and telling them that they are a victim of an oppressive society, you are not fostering strength and independence. You are creating a generation of dependent women who are too indoctrinated to think for themselves and who blame their problems on the mythical patriarchy instead of taking stock of their own shortcomings. When someone is told repeatedly that they are a victim and that their efforts to improve their standing are futile because of some oppressive societal structure, they are being set up for failure. Your unrelenting insistence that women are weak and need your saving undermines the very principles that feminism was founded on – that women are strong and capable saving themselves.

I am a strong woman because no one ever told me I wasn’t. My parents never told me that I couldn’t do anything a man could do. I was always shown that I have to same opportunities as men. Never once was I taught that I was disadvantaged because of my gender. I wasn’t set up for failure.

RELATED: I’m Not Less of a Feminist Because I’m A Republican

I am not weak. Stop convincing me that I need you to save me. I am capable of deciding for myself what is in my best interest. No amount of feigned empathy or condescending appeals will change my political views.

Rather than encourage individual thought, you pit women against everyone who doesn’t conform to your progressive agenda. This doesn’t help women, it just creates societal divides. If you really want to help, you need to realize that women are not victims. Republican women are not the enemy.