Racist Kate and Why she Hates Smart Women

Kate O'Beirne hates smart women. It's an unavoidable fact. She hates smart women who have careers and earn an income to help support their families. She hates smart women who feel they walk on even ground with men. She hates smart women who recognize that we have traditionally been and continue to be paid less than men for the same work. She especially hates smart women who are determined to do something about it.

I don't recommend her new book, but If you're curious just read enough interviews of O'Beirne and articles by her and you'll know that the book can't possibly be worth your money or your time. This is the woman who blames the poor reading habits and abilities of young men on feminists. You see with O'Beirne and her ilk the problem is always someone else's fault. It couldn't possibly be that young men have been encouraged by their parents for oh so many years to spend more time on the ball field than in the library. It must be the feminists fault.

It isn't always what is included in a book that is important. What is excluded can also tell an important story. If you look at the cover of O'Beirne's book something immediately stands out. Kate O'Beirne thinks that all feminists are white. This leads me to only one conclusion. O'Beirne is a racist. She is such a racist that she has excluded from the cover of her book every single woman of color who has advanced the cause of women. Not one was deemed important enough to include.

Here is just a brief list of the amazing women who were not credited for the hardships they endured to advance the cause of women: Phillis Wheatley, Fanny Jackson Coppin, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Edmonia Lewis, Susie King Taylor, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Bessie Coleman, Jovita Idar de Juarez, Mary Church Terrell, Madame C.J. Walker, Zora Neale Hurston, Mary McLeod Bethune, Augusta Savage, Ella Baker, Gwendolyn Brooks, Shirley Chisholm, Septima Clark, Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, Althea Gibson, Fannie Lou Hamer, Lorraine Hansberry, Barbara Jordan, Rosa Parks, Marian Anderson, Leontyne Price, Wilma Rudolph, Maya Angelou, Mae C. Jemison, Toni Morrison, Faith Ringgold, Alice Walker and Oprah Winfrey. This is just a sampling.

There are so many wonderful women who sacrificed so much for the rest of us. We can get an education, earn an income, wear pants, vote and even publish a book all because other women paved the way. O'Beirne seems to forget that she owes her education, her right to vote and her ability to be published to the brave, strong, pioneering women who made her road so much easier. She also seems to forget that these pioneering women weren't all white.

The book is not an important work. It's obvious from the cover that it was written simply to incite, not to inform. It doesn't contain serious research and O'Beirne in typical fashion will tell what people think without giving any specific references for documentation. The cover does its best to portray feminists as ugly. This was the immediate cause for some furor. She and her artist have included ugly caricatures of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Hillary Clinton, Jane Fonda and Sarah Jessica Parker. If O'Beirne thinks she's taking a lot of heat for this cover, imagine the furor if the cover had included Maya Angelou or Oprah Winfrey. O'Beirne simply doesn't have the mammaries to take that kind of heat, but it would have been fun to watch.

Update: I completely failed to explain why Kate O'Beirne hates smart women as promised in my title. I guess I thought it was obvious. Kate hates smart women because she is jealous. She has the intelligence of a tape worm.

Update II: While I have calmed down a bit from my initial anger caused when I read Kate O'Beirne's claim that the educational failure of boys (and just about everything else) is the fault of feminists, I continue to believe that this book is not a substantive work. Mrs. O'Beirne may not be a racist as I first felt, but as evidenced by the cover of her book she doesn't believe that African American Women made important contributions to the feminist cause. Mrs. O'Beirne has put herself out in the public as a spokesperson for the anti-feminist cause. She is educated as a lawyer and is a career person. This is something that would not have been an option for her without the work of feminist activists.

I think that Mrs. O'Beirne acts irresponsibly when she writes her opinion as if it were fact. In making claims against feminists and their fight for equal treatment under the law she minimizes their accomplishments and puts a huge roadblock in the future of all little girls. I have two of them at home and I don't want them stuck fighting the same battles I've had to just because they lack a penis.

I'm still not certain about Mrs. O'Beirne's intelligence. Maybe she is a bit smarter than a tapeworm. I don't really know. I don't find much that is intelligent in her writings. That's just my opinion. I stand by my assertion that this book was written to incite and not to inform. The choice of cover art would have been completely different if this were intended to be a serious work. I am simply appalled that a woman who owes so much to the women who went before her would slap them down after they paved the way.

I'll do another update after I have completely finished reading this vile excuse of a book. After giving a knee-jerk reaction to the cover I decided it wasn't fair to write this without reading the book. I purchased it used. I'll be happy to lend it out if I haven't heaved all over it. Then it will simply have to be burned.