The implicit attitude of this kind of writing is: ‘Can you believe these bozos are still acting like this?’ The tacit assumption is that we all take for granted a certain set of shared beliefs, and we should mock those few retrograde Neanderthals who do not agree with us. The tone is less urgent and more queenly. It contains the idea that feminism is cool, and that it will mock you like a cool and impressive girl at the lunch table if you are in violation of its principles. The idea is to make fun of your enemies, not preach at them. (This is not, I should add, a wholly new thing. There are historical iterations of this type of feminism in the work of Rebecca West, Mary McCarthy, and Germaine Greer, among others.)

Katie Roiphe in her October 1 article, “The Mockery Feminists”. Luckily, this article can be used to unpack why #sorryfeminists took off so fiercely (I also recommend Ann Friedman’s fantastic new piece on the NY Magazine site). Roiphe’s persistent knowing tone in her work, along with a little thing called controversial rhetoric, has made her a contentious figure in the still necessary and churning feminist movement. In light of all the fantastic conversations that have arisen in the past few days, and looking forward to the conversation that happens tonight with Roiphe, where this will be sure to come up, we’re offering a discount code of $10 off each General Admission ticket. Simply enter, “SORRYFEMINISTS” at check-out, and continue the conversation.

Get tickets here…

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