Better Late than Never; Part the Second

The Epic Continues! This time, Young Women Convert to Islam. H/T Mark Steyn (through his Ports Of Call, it was a British Newspaper. I'm sure you can Google it)

I recently read an interesting piece on young British women converting to Islam.  Of course, this piece doesnt so much speak to me of the virtues of Islam as it does the vices of modern feminism.  I've ranted on this before, but it's time for an update.


Read the article.  What do these women have in common? A malaise associated with modern hedonism.  Oddly enough, a few thousand years ago, a philospher in a hedonistic aesthetic society spoke out against meaningless living. "The unexamined life is worthless" said our friend Plato.  So, it comes as no shock that these young women found that either the culture of ambition in the workplace or the culture of senseless debauchery was unfulfilling.

"But Morgan!" you say, "You enjoy a good debauch as much as the next man!"  Indeed I do.  But, I am not being shoehorned into a role that runs counter to my inherent gender identity.  I have a job that allows me to protect and provide. My masculinity satisfied, and my contribution to society assured, I enjoy the occasional release from responsibility afforded by sitting at the bar with a good Bourbon and a fine cuban cigar.  I also shamelessly appreciate the beauty of the female form, without objectifying it.  After all, the modern woman possesses agency in her own beauty, does she not?

So, back to Islam.  It appears to me that the comfort these young ladies find in Islam is that it encourages their natural female tendency to desire companionship and a domestic sphere.  And here is where my critique of modern feminism begins.  You see, I don't object to the idea of a woman in the workplace.  Should she be able to do the job, she is more than welcome to.  After all, the gender identity I spoke of regarding myself in the previous paragraph is not necessarily the gender identity of all men.  Without fully ascribing to the concept of gender being a spectrum, I can accept that there are variations on the binary.  Some men want to be protected and provided for, whilst some women want to be breadwinners. Kosher, halal, spot on, your own little piece of Nirvana.  Problem is that most modern feminists (from personal and academic experience) label a woman comfortable being barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen Persona non Grata at best, and Traitora Excommunicatis at the usual worst.  And so, like the confused young men who have difficulty with the insufficiently physical academic environment, young women find themselves unsatisfied with their oddly androgynous work environment.

As for the social scene, this is a particularly thorny issue as it is in effect a negative feedback loop that corrupts both genders.  The modern sexual revolution allows for promiscuous behaviour because it is (abortions, morning after pills) consequence-free.  This concept has deconstructed centuries worth of work to reconcile the naturally promiscuous nature of the male with the socially beneficial monogamous family model.  Gone are the days where seduction was the art of demonstrating not only physical, but also social skill and beauty.  Modern pickup artisits like to think of themselves as Casanovas; this is a sad joke.  Where Casanova penetrated the Citadel walls of European nobility, the modern pickup artist bashes his way through the gyp-rock of a run down Baltimore housing project.  Men behave badly to get sex, and because women are but infrequently socially stigmatized for accepting purely physical advances, why would they resist the advances?  Of course, women not resisting advances leads to men repeating the process.  After all, if behaving like an animal gets you sex, why change it?

Just look at the "culture" being foisted on us by music videos.  I, too, dream of one day sitting pool-side, surrounded by gorgeous women all vying for my attention.  But I dream of achieving this by being an inspired leader, a captain of industry, an illustrious poet, a vivacious politician.  Current pop culture suggests that I forget how to speak any language above a grade 3 level, that I carry concealed and illegal weapons, engage in criminal activity on a regular basis, and treat the female form as a vulgar receptacle for my own masturbatory urges. One of our day's most popular songs refers to a woman as a "sexy bitch", that you can't "compare to your neighbourhood whore" and yet the beleaguered artist is "trying to find the words to describe this girl without being disrespectful".  Without the slightest trace of irony. Seriously.  I weep for the poor songsmith's agonies; alas, if only we had the words in English to describe a beautiful woman without descending into the vulgar.  What's this book you're offering me? Norton Anthology of English Poetry?  I don't even know what half of those words mean. I was too busy getting drunk, and increasing my collection of illegitimate children and criminal charges.

And you wonder why a world such as Islam, with structured rules and predictable (if irrational) expectations, would appeal to these young women.  Maybe they were tired of being compared to the neighbourhood whore.