Sex and the City

As the web of lies surrounding the Beacon School’s moment of silence for terrorists continues to confound — the principal now has a gag order on all staff — parents who send their kids to progressive schools have been complaining more openly about the various oddities that adhere to the word “progressive.” It seems that Beacon may have opened a Pandora’s box of grievances.

Many of the complaints fall under the realm of “gender.” Students at some progressive schools are being taught that “infants are randomly assigned a gender at birth”; masculinity is seen as so evil that one principal replaced all balls with jump ropes; dressing and posing in anything but gender-neutered conformity is seriously frowned upon.

Meanwhile, at my son’s elementary school uptown, the kids have been happily freed from the endless winter. And with no political agenda constraining their liberation, I’ve noticed an interesting development in his third grade: The girls were back to chasing boys, and the boys were loving every minute of it.

For nearly three years, the two groups have been separate but equal, appalled by the mere thought of being near the other group at the park. But this spring, the chasing, “kidnapping,” “handcuffing” and water-blitzing of boys returned with gusto.

But sexuality — both male and female — is an integral part of feminism.

I love watching the girls who chase boys at this age. They tend to be confident, sassy, brave beyond reason — they know what they want, and nothing is going to get in their way. My strong-willed son is a bit of a challenge for them, but they typically succeed in their endeavors. After one particularly impressive feat of kidnapping, I asked if they would come over whenever I’m having a problem with him. (Much to his faux distress, they said, “Sure!”)

I’ve also noticed the beginnings of a new behavior: flirtation. One girl in particular throws her head back and laughs whenever the boys say something in the realm of 9-year-old humor. She lounges back and coyly looks at my son, only to tease him mercilessly. This newfound tool, it seems, only adds to her confidence.

And it’s not lost on the boys. I don’t want to say they melt, but I think the flirtatious girls could get the boys to do pretty much anything, except maybe relinquish all video games.
Flirtation, of course, is the way females have tried to civilize males for centuries. Lacking a feminist foundation, feminine wiles only went so far, but they did get some things done, like marriage proposals.

The original feminists had no problem with flirtation or women’s sexuality in general. In fact, they were far more focused on removing Victorian constraints on female sexuality. Not only was a woman’s sexuality an essential part of her, it was thought to be profoundly empowering. Which is in part why Victorians wanted to constrain it.

In the past few decades, self-proclaimed feminists — doused in nonsensical “gender theory” — have become the new Victorians. They’ve told women that femininity means weakness. That female sexuality is exactly the same as male sexuality, and since male sexuality is inherently bad, female sexuality must also be bad and thus constrained.

They’ve been so focused, in other words, on not “objectifying” women that they ended up erasing women.

But sexuality — both male and female — is an integral part of feminism. Not superficial sexuality, like wearing minimal clothing at inappropriate times, but a sexuality that comes from your soul. A sexuality that defies both age and beauty.

The lies being taught to young women today are just as dangerous as the lies taught to young women in the 18th and 19th centuries to prevent them from knowing they even had a sexuality.

Moreover, if the #MeToo movement is going to lead to any positive change on the female side, it will be that women will fully recognize that their sexuality is powerful and thus learn when and how to use it.

As I watch these young, confident girls chase my son around the playground, I hope that by the time they reach high school and college, the Stalinistic trend of teaching them that their sexuality is bad, that “real feminists” are gender-free, will be as quaint as Victorian era dogma.

Because, these are the girls who will indeed rule the world, and they’ll use all of their God given charms to do so. Just like Wonder Woman.