Review and Discussion of The Monstrous Regiment of Women, Pt. 2

In this installment of my series of mini-reviews of The Monstrous Regiment of Women, I'm going to discuss the logic-- or my perceived lack thereof-- presented by the documentary's commentators. To begin with, I really have bone to pick with one Jennie Chancey. Mrs. Chancey, according to her anti-feminist Web site-- which I won't name here in order not to give credence to the ideology-- is a big fan of Jane Austen and even runs a company called Sense & Sensibility, through which she sells Romantic Period-style dress patterns. That's funny, because Jane Austen's heroines were actually quite liberated and outspoken (hello, Lizzy Bennet from Pride and Prejudice?!). Being somewhat well versed in the study of Jane Austen's England, I think Mrs. Chancey would be shocked if she actually studied the in and outs of this era. (BTW, Ms. Austen herself died in her 40s, childless and never married. Just thought that would be an interesting point to bring up here.)
This leads to the next point I want to discuss. Young women in the movement are basically forbidden from pursuing college educations and careers. Two more commentators-- Carmon Friedrich and Dana Feliciano-- outline their reasons for their opposition to higher education for girls. Friedrich, for example, cites her belief that young ladies are fed "garbage" at liberal arts colleges. Yeah, well, I took a philosophy class once at EIU, and I had to listen to how all these supposedly great male thinkers supported slavery, oppressed women, and believed that education was the privilege of the social elite. Maybe I'm totally insane, but that's my idea of being spoonfed "garbage" in school. She also ridicules the feminist interpretation of the biblical story of Deborah, a woman who became her nation's leader after the men of that nation had all become incapable of doing so by "asserting" that it was a sad day when this happened. Whoa! Let me get this straight-- the men weren't doing their jobs, so a woman had to step in to save the day. That's supposed to be a bad thing? Hmm... I think I have a new literary role model. lol! Also, there's such a thing as gender-based limitations in the educational, political, and business worlds? Wow, I must not have gotten that memo. Apparently, Mrs. Friedrich & Co. believe that the fairer sex is emotionally and intellectually incapable of leadership and self-suffiency. Needless to say, the gals in this movie aren't really big fans of the Nineteenth Amendment. Later, Friedrich explains how young women can find fulfillment in the home. Here, narrator Emily Gunn rips on feminist pioneer Betty Friedan by mocking a quote from Friedan about how housework produces nothing meaningful and arrests girls' development. (My feelings exactly, Betty!) As for Feliciano, her beliefs stem from a personal experience, which I'll more than likely discuss in a later post. Yes, folks, this is a segway into the next installment.