On Monday evening, the annual Met Gala took place in New York City. The fundraiser has commanded attention for its celebrity guests who showcase outlandish couture. This year, attendees arrived in some unusual costumes, but the most outrageous looks had everything to do with politics.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez garnered most of the press at the swanky, elitist event in a gown ironically emblazoned with “Tax the Rich.” Model Cara Delevingne, a product of patriarchal privilege, wore a vest featuring “Peg the Patriarchy” on the front. And Rep. Carolyn Maloney paraded around in a design that read “Equal Rights for Women” while clutching an “ERA Yes” purse.
Feminist performance activism is equal parts expected and exhausting.
In defense of her look, Maloney wrote on Twitter, “I have long used fashion as a force 4 change … I am calling 4 the certification of the ERA so women can be equal once and for all.” To be clear, fashion doesn’t bring about any type of intended change, so no points for cosplaying a brave suffragette. And what about the desire that women “be equal once and for all”? I hate to break it to Maloney, AOC, and any of their starry-eyed admirers, but women already enjoy the same rights as men.
There is no doubt that sexism will occur so long as men and women exist together. However, the conclusion that women don’t enjoy equal rights as their male counterparts is a false one. The 14th and 19th amendments provide legal protection and voting rights for all, and the Equal Pay Act of 1963 made it illegal to pay women less based on sex. It is undeniable that men and women possess different skills, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. But personal and biological differences are not handicaps to be overcome. If rights for men and women are equal under the law — and they are — then other characteristics should be celebrated, not maligned.
Feminists have pushed the Equal Rights Amendment since Congress approved it in 1972. Ratification failed to be achieved by the deadline, but that hasn’t stopped the drive to see its final completion. The assertion that women are somehow treated as “less than” until a full ERA victory is utter nonsense. Women already enjoy equal rights and protection. Among other things, the ERA would likely codify Roe v. Wade. Nothing says privilege like the ability to kill one’s offspring in the name of supposed sexual freedom and progress.
Maloney and those of like mind are convinced they are trailblazers for a noble cause. In reality, they desire to stay indefinitely aggrieved, for it makes them feel powerful and productive. Never mind that equal protection under the law exists and the ERA is not only unnecessary but also a gluttonous display. What these activists wish is to right the “wrongs” of biology through legislation, as if such a thing is possible or even needed. Any opposition to their campaigns brands the detractor a sexist who does not believe in freedom.
There is nothing wrong with women. The attributes given by our creator do not impair us. There should be no shame in the differences that separate us from men. More than a faulty, failed campaign like the ERA, there needs to be honesty. The truth of the matter is American women are not viewed as unequal under the law. That we are different from men is not a strike against either camp.
Somehow, I doubt Maloney will correct her manufactured claims at next year’s Met Gala. She’s too busy pushing for nothing and calling it everything.
Kimberly Ross (@SouthernKeeks) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog and a columnist at Arc Digital.
