“If the feminists are right about anything, I hope it’s that this world is run by men, because there’s no way men would allow the future to fall into the hands of feminists…”
As I put on my last layer of mascara while listening to the news coverage of the ‘Day Without a Woman’ protests, I turned my attention to the hijab-clad feminists on screen. I began to wonder if I had anything in common with the females marching for justice that the news anchors referred to as “women.”
Unlike the “ladies” who skipped work that Wednesday, I took part in what they would probably call ‘the hustle’—spending time fixing my hair and preparing my appearance for the day, knowing that respecting these assets creates a type of vulnerable strength unique to a woman that attracts respect in return. With this strength, I believed myself so powerful that the world simply could not go one day without my presence, much less without my clean, cascading curls framing a glowing face.
I am not offended that our American culture has married my feminine aesthetic to the ability I offer the workforce as a woman. I take pride in my appearance, for it has won me the esteem of my contemporaries more often than not, as well as a chance to prove myself—for which I am thankful—that I may not have received had I left my hair unbrushed and my cheeks unblushed.
Yet the women on my TV hide their hair beneath hijabs, fighting the same oppression they dress themselves in each morning and marching for the female power they’ve allowed pro-Islamic ideology to smother.
Perhaps we can begin to understand why many of these feminists believe themselves to be oppressed while willingly forming a disturbing alliance with the most oppressive religion known to womankind if we take a closer look at their role in radical Islamic networks.
Female-centric events like those that took place on International Women’s Day present pro-Islamic feminists as weaponless warriors running in circles about the male enemy. We witness women targeting the patriarchy with man-hating rhetoric as though this cultural structure somehow poses threats of physical violence, while they remain predominately mum about Islamic extremist tactics.
Are men the only enemy to blame for both domestic discomfort and foreign terror? Just as feminists here at home have created this cultural Marxist-stigma of sexist patriarchal struggle, those abroad also have more to do with radical Islam than simply fulfilling their duty as Muslim brides.
A study conducted by Neil Johnson, a physicist from the University of Miami, found that at least 40% of self-proclaimed followers of ISIS were women. These “Jihad Janes” aid in the advancement of ISIS by distributing recruitment material, harboring information, and protecting the identities of fighters.
Rather than being recruited, these women are lured into jihad-related roles with the promise of creating a new world order that counteracts what they view as global injustice and oppressive male domination. It is possible that jihadi women believe their terrorist group will rise up as a new state that challenges the ways of both Middle Eastern and western culture.
This battle cry isn’t that far from the shouts of the women marching last Wednesday—a call for a new American order. “The future is female,” they type in angsty hashtags as they think themselves to be rising against our cultural norms.
If the future is indeed female, the women of radical Islam will be the ones to blame. Their desire for a new world order has found its way into the man-hating marches and Muslim-friendly social media posts of the feminist left, for there’s nothing a woman scorned cannot resist more than revenge on the man who scorned her. Whether that man is her physically abusive husband in Saudi Arabia or the American co-worker who whistled as she walked by in heels, the feminist of 2017 is set on seeing the male-dominant world order defeated.
I only wish they knew they’re aiding in that defeat by helping ISIS get there faster. Radical Islam doesn’t only work through violent acts of terror; it gains momentum by building tolerance in the minds of those who were taught to fear it. As millions of American women try to convince us that there’s nothing to worry about when it comes to Islam, the more likely they will be to opening their culture to their sisters abroad who want nothing more than for radical Islamic terror to succeed.
If the feminists are right about anything, I hope it’s that this world is run by men, because there’s no way men would allow the future to fall into the hands of feminists. So I’ll keep curling my hair and lashes and stay on their good side.
Courtney Caggiano is an OpsLens Contributor.
