I love a good whistleblower. A fantastic new article at the Daily Signal implodes the lies women have been told for decades in the media — specifically, in women’s magazines. Sue Ellen Browder, a former longtime Cosmopolitan writer, admits she spent 20 years pulling the wool over women’s eyes by telling them marriage and babies hold women back and that sexual liberation is the true path to fulfillment.
When we think of left-wing propaganda, most of us think mainly of television and radio. But another arm of media bias is the publishing industry: Dozens of women’s magazines comprise a significant part of the liberal establishment. In 2005, another whistleblower, former Ladies’ Home Journal editor Myrna Blyth, exposed this in Spin Sisters: How the Women of the Media Sell Unhappiness and Liberalism to the Women of America. “Women’s magazines, a nearly $7 billion-a-year business, are based on telling women their lives are too tough for them to handle and they should feel very sorry for themselves. This distorted vision of your life is absolutely crazy.”
It isn’t just magazines, but books, too. Take, for example, the 2010 book, Secrets of Powerful Women, a compilation of essays from left-wing women, many of whom are politicians. The book claims to represent both political philosophies, but it does no such thing. Out of more than 20 women, only a handful are Republicans — and not just any Republicans, but feminist Republicans.
“A woman’s right to control her own body is absolutely central to our success as a civilization. The world’s most oppressive regimes target those who would liberate women from the shackles of ignorance or bondage. This includes reproductive ‘bondage’ — and parallels can be drawn in our own country,” wrote Susan Bevan, co-chair of Republican Majority for Choice.
Again, a Republican wrote that. See how propaganda works?
Browder told the Daily Signal she was initially drawn to the feminist movement as it was originally fighting for equal opportunity for women in education and the workforce. In contrast, the sexual revolution was calling for vast sexual freedoms. But the two movements became inextricable, Browder says, in part due to the propaganda she helped spread.
By planting salacious stories about women having extravagant affairs in places such as Cleveland and Des Moines, Browder says, “The magazine spread its mores throughout the country and throughout the culture by pretending they were much more widespread than they actually were.”
And therein lies the rub. “When you start betraying the truth,” added Browder, “It will come back to haunt you. It will get you in the end.”
And it has. Not only does her generation have much to answer for in indoctrinating young women — “What I would like to come out is for young women to know how my generation got it wrong, why we got it wrong, and how your generation can do better” — their daughters and granddaughters are now living with the fallout of having been told that marriage plus babies equal bondage and that meaningless sex is empowering.
Indeed, women’s happiness has plummeted since the 1970s, and modern dating is an absolute disaster. Men and women no longer know who’s supposed to do what anymore, and sex has been reduced to scratching an itch. No love needed.
This is terrible for both men and women, but it is especially hard on women, whose predicament is no small thing. The modern woman puts all her energy into the professional sphere because, she says, there are no good men to marry — all the while having no clue that her generation’s attitude and behavior toward sex and love is the reason they are in this quandary. It is a direct result of that which Browder explains: Her generation screwed up.
For decades now, they’ve been teaching young women in article after article, image after image, fake story after fake story all the wrong things about men, women, sex, love, marriage — and even America. The propaganda they spread is 100% responsible for destroying the happiness and well-being of the modern generation.
All we need now are a thousand more brave souls like Sue Ellen Browder to step up and shout it from the rooftops.
Suzanne Venker (@SuzanneVenker) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She’s the author of five books and a relationship coach, as well as host of The Suzanne Venker Show. Her website is www.suzannevenker.com.
