Libertarian Women

You gotta love 'em for being able to think outside the box, so to speak. In the modern world where women have a voting majority, you better appreciate fair-minded women who can transcend their own sex's self-interest. Favor them with your comments. They are treasures.

Two I advise you to watch out for are Wendy McElroy and Cathy Young.

Wendy's latest is usually found, of all places, on the Fox News site. More of her articles are collected on Lew Rockwell's site. She has her own iFeminist site too, where you can find an informative brief history of American feminism; and she now has a blog. That's her picture to the right. Lately Wendy has pointed out the unfairness of the media's publishing the names and pictures of the Duke students accused of rape while refusing to do the same for the alleged victim.

The names and photos of the accused are smeared across network television in what sometimes seems to be a conscious effort to destroy lives. Meanwhile, so much as hinting at the accuser's initials is strictly forbidden. The imbalance is wrong.
. . . .
The media is not required to protect the name or privacy of accusers. Although rape shield laws are widely viewed as imposing such an obligation, they are actually rules limiting what evidence about a victim's sexual history can be presented at trial. They do not limit freedom of speech or the press.

Read the rest of that piece here, and a related piece, "False Rape Accusations May Be More Common Than Thought," here.

Cathy Young (Ekaterina Jung) has weighed in on the Duke case too, both at ReasonOnline and in a piece on her blog cross-posting and elaborating on her column on the subject in the Boston Globe. Cathy also has a website with archives of her columns. That's Cathy to the right.

To recognize that some women wrongly accuse men of rape is not antifemale, any more than recognizing that some men rape women is antimale. Is it so unreasonable to think that a uniquely damaging charge will be used by some people as a weapon, just as others will use their muscle? Do we really believe that when women have power—and there is power in an accusation of rape—they are less likely to abuse it than men?

Regardless of the eventual outcome, you've got to respect this kind of clear, gender-neutral thinking. I've blogged some examples of conservative women's sympathetic writings before; but it is high time to honor these libertarian women as well. If any of you brainy ladies are passing through my town and need a tour guide, I am your man.

INSTANT UPDATES: Girl, 13, admits sex with 7 wasn't forced; and Woman rips off her husband's testicles with bare hands.