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Defending Men Who Want to Woo

'Superman' Henry Cavill is besieged by feminists after he says he likes to chase women. Is this what we've come to?
cavill

Modern feminism has achieved its most evil feat to date: causing Henry Cavill, the quintessence of masculine beauty, to fear flirting, lest he be accused of something more sinister.

In today’s day and age, when a man opening a door for a woman gets labeled “misogynist pig” faster than you can say “free birth control,” Cavill is correct to be concerned. In a recent interview with GQ Australia, the Superman actor said:

There’s something wonderful about a man chasing a woman. There’s a traditional approach to that, which is nice. I think a woman should be wooed and chased, but maybe I’m old-fashioned for thinking that.

It’s very difficult to do that if there are certain rules in place. Because then it’s like: ‘Well, I don’t want to go up and talk to her, because I’m going to be called a rapist or something’. So you’re like, ‘Forget it, I’m going to call an ex-girlfriend instead, and then just go back to a relationship, which never really worked’. But it’s way safer than casting myself into the fires of hell, because I’m someone in the public eye, and if I go and flirt with someone, then who knows what’s going to happen?

Now? Now you really can’t pursue someone further than, ‘No’. It’s like, ‘OK, cool’. But then there’s the, ‘Oh why’d you give up?’ And it’s like, ‘Well, because I didn’t want to go to jail?’

Cue the crazy #MeToo backlash.

Twitter was quick to call Cavill an “idiot,” “clown,” and “ignorant jackass,” among other things. Bustle reported that Cavill has since apologized, “after rightfully being called out on Twitter.”

Feminism as understood in today’s insane social media age is an unsound perversion of natural law that makes everyone it comes into contact with worse off. The #MeToo movement has had an especially destructive effect. It trivializes real sexual assault, making everyone who has ever been complimented by the opposite sex a “victim” and men afraid to be men.

If someone like Henry Cavill, who, by the looks of things—we’re talking granite jaw line, romantically clefted chin, boyish curls, dreamy aquamarine eyes, and strapping muscles (seriously, writing this article has been full of distractions, see here)—is a super man, fears hitting on women, what hope do we have left in this world?

Feminism has reversed and thus destroyed traditional male-female roles, and with it, as Cavill alluded to, the thrill of romance, the stuff fairytales are made of. Feminists insist men and women are the same and that gender differences do not exist, yet also declare males the enemy. Some even resolve to #KillAllMen.

Herein lies the tip of the hypocritical iceberg that is modern feminism. Problems really started to escalate with the attempted normalization of transgenderism a few years ago, which made all genders equal so long as they’re feminine.

Remember when Bruce Jenner was awarded an ESPY for pulling his gender switcheroo? The prevailing reaction to Caitlyn’s new identity was positive, with such descriptors applied as “beautiful,” “inspiring,” “amazing,” “heroic,” and “brave” to his transformation.

(Personally, in a time of feminist dominance, I’d say it’s actually braver to stay a man. Every bar has a “ladies’ night,” but doesn’t “gentlemen’s night” sound strip-clubbish? Not to mention the fact that Jenner got to waltz into the girls’ club after spending his entire life never having to experience PMS or pregnancy or the horror of the “wage gap.”)

But wait. It’s been the campaign of the Left—and feminists in particular—to eradicate societal stereotypes of how men and women should look and behave. How can Jenner transition into a woman if being a woman means acting like a man? And if acting like a man means making the first (and sometimes second, and third) move in a dating scenario, and such behavior is considered predatory, doesn’t that mean women are just as likely to be considered sexual harassers as men?

No wonder our marriage and birth rates are at an all-time low!

Let’s take a step back and reminisce. There was a time, many moons ago, when the world was sane. Men were free to pursue women. Women had more power over men, and could pick and choose which men’s attentions they reciprocated (ever seen How to Marry a Millionaire?). As it turns out, and as “The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness” reported in 2009, women were happier when traditional roles were observed, despite the 40 years of feminism that have followed.

So are men more likely now to be sexual deviants than they were in the ’50s and ’60s? Or are modern women more likely to report unwanted advances than their ancestors were? Or is #MeToo an exaggerated feel-good movement aimed at turning its participants into victims regardless of whether they are or not? (These are the same ridiculous virtue-signalers who went so far as to declare the tone of the innocent and fun Baby It’s Cold Outside “rapey.”)

In contrast, Brigitte Bardot, the 1960s sex symbol whom one could presume was the poster girl for sexual harassment, told France 24 that “she was never a victim of sexual harassment and found it ‘charming’ when men told her she was beautiful or that she ‘had a nice little backside,’” Deadline.com reported.

“Lots of actresses try to play the tease with producers to get a role,” Bardot said. “And then, so we will talk about them, they say they were harassed.”

Bardot was, of course, criticized for her comments.

In a similar vein, Ninalee “Jinx” Allen Craig, the pretty young woman being ogled by a street full of men in the iconic “American Girl in Italy” photograph from 1951, opened up a few years ago about the circumstances of the famous picture.

“It’s not a symbol of harassment,” Craig said. “It’s a symbol of a woman having an absolutely wonderful time! I clutched my shawl to me because that sheaths the body. It was my protection, my shield. I was walking through a sea of men. I was enjoying every minute of it.”

“In fact,” messynessychic.com reported, “…Craig even went for a scooter ride with the man on the Vespa seen in the photograph after it was taken.”

Sigh. Feminism has thus distorted a healthy attitude toward sexuality, love, and family life into one in which the man with the most desirable genetics of all time is fearful of doing what it takes to continue his bloodline. And the rest of us—mostly me—suffer by being deprived of the advances of Henry Cavill (and others).

Feminism’s miserable misandry has made proper courting a Mission Impossible. Ovid, in The Art of Love, encouraged men in the years before Christ to be attentive to women, writing that even when women reject them, they are still flattered to be wooed. It’s true. A quality catcall (obviously I don’t mean an overtly sexual one) puts a smile on my face and some pep in my step. Modern feminism, however, would have us believe that being recognized in such a way is a form of abuse and that we should be outraged by any man’s admirations. #MeToo has taken the magic of a man romancing a woman—and all of the fun and joy that goes with it about which so many stories, songs, and sonnets have been written—and made it criminal.

So what do these feminists want, anyway? If it’s to ruin the traditional roles of men and women that have been working well for thousands of years, proliferating love and children who grow up to be Henry Cavills, then they’re succeeding.

Teresa Mull is a writer living in Teton Valley, Idaho.

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