Feminists Naomi Wolf & Jaclyn Freidman Debate Sexual Allegations Against Wikileaks Editor In Chief Julian Assange.
3 responses to “Feminists Naomi Wolf & Jaclyn Freidman Debate Sexual Allegations Against Wikileaks Editor In Chief Julian Assange.”
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- - Wednesday , December 22 , 2010
Gayblackcanada 
There has been a recent media frenzy trying to define what “rape” and “sexual assault” are – in trying to determine whether the Swedish charges against Assange have any merit. I would be really grateful if the mainstream media made the same effort to define what a “feminist” is. There seems to be a strong tendency to portray them as rabid, hysterical, ball-breaking harpies.
Unfortunately even many progressives are unaware of two important facts: 1) that the federal government effectively infiltrated and smashed the feminist movement, just as they did the civil rights movement, the anti-war movement, and other American left/progressive movements and 2) that the angry, arrogant, ball-breaking stereotype feminists enjoy in the mainstream media is mainly the one the US government created for them.
Unfortunately the US intelligence role played America’s feminist poster girl Gloria Steinem is still largely invisible to most Americans. In 1976 Steinem blocked Random House from publishing details about her CIA past (see http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/msg02217.html). A great pity – as its publication might have changed history for American women. Betty Friedan, the founder of NOW, publicly confronted Steinem for deliberately sowing dissension and trying to break up the organization. Steinem also very effectively used Ms Magazine to create massive divisions between professional and working class feminists and between feminists and progressive men.
In addition African American activists have long been aware that the FBI was planting so-called “black feminists” in civil rights organizations to break them up. More recently evidence has surfaced that Steinem created and ran this operation (see http://rah.posterous.com/black-feminism-the-cia-and-gloria-steinem-fwd). I (I’m female, despite my name) ran across some of these agents when I worked with a group creating an African American Museum in Seattle. I write about it in my recent memoir: THE MOST REVOLUTIONARY ACT: MEMOIR OF AN AMERICAN REFUGEE (www.stuartbramhall.com). I currently live in exile in New Zealand.
I thought that Naomi Wolf was eloquent and professional. However, Jaclyn Freidman was a bit rude to Naomi and I sensed an attitude of resentment.