A Message For The Left: Stop Limiting My Political Affiliation To My Gender

I am a conservative woman. Yes, we exist. I know it can pretty hard to believe that young women like me can be anything but liberal. I don’t blame people for thinking that way. We have been overshadowed and drowned out by the Hollywood elite and the deafeningly loud voices on the left who claim to speak for all females. However, women like me are growing in number and we have something to say. Our gender will not and should not define our political affiliation.

Apparently to many, this is a foreign concept. Identity politics has become one of the primary aspects of voter identification, and gender is no exception. Women typically vote Democrat; it is a longstanding trend. When women decide to break the mold and make a personal decision to affiliate on the right side of the spectrum, what happens? We would assume that we would still be accepted because those on the left embrace tolerance, of course. Unfortunately, no. Instead, we are labeled as betrayers of our gender. Instead, it seems more rational to the left that we hate ourselves. Or, and this one is a personal favorite, we are submitting to the power of the patriarchy and not making our own decisions. Because instead of believing that we as women are smart enough to think clearly and form opinions independent of the general norm, we are simply incapable, riddled with low self-esteem, and stupid.

Quite frankly, it is an incredibly hypocritical stance that the left has taken on conservative women. Conservatives are far from perfect either, but the right tends to take a heavy beating, and the issues of the left are often glossed over. Right now, those on the left needs to be called on their hypocrisy. They claim to empower women. That is one of the utopian aspects of their narrative that they plaster anywhere and everywhere. However, it seems odd to me that classifying a female’s womanhood and security in herself by the way she votes is deemed “empowerment.” Further, tying a woman down to an ideology based on of her gender is the very opposite of empowering. It actually is pretty demeaning. It is a total insult to her intelligence and a dismissal of abiding by her principles and standing by what she believes in. Suddenly, she is not a real woman because she has chosen a different political viewpoint? This sounds less and less like empowerment to me the more I peel back the layers.

I feel wonderfully secure in my womanhood and my conservative affiliation. In fact, I have used my understanding of politics and, most importantly, my principles and convictions to dictate where I stand. No, I do not need to be told how to be empowered. I am quite capable of that without the left’s assistance. In fact, I am tired of female Democrats making a liberal statement about empowering females and then claiming that it is for all women. No. You do not get to speak for all of us. You do not get to speak for me. Your “women’s choice” and “strong and independent” acts have been shown for what they truly are: false. They only pertain to females on your side. If you want women’s choice, let girls choose what they believe in without the incessant degradation if they do not choose your side. Want strong and independent females? Let girls independently choose where they fall on the political spectrum. If you want female empowerment, then actually mean it.