If there is any idea the Right truly hates, it is the idea that the political is personal. It's why they claim to hate "identity politics" —ultimately, they feel like it's "cheating" for those whose lives are directly affected by laws and political decisions to vote for better outcomes for themselves and to be able to do so vocally, without looking like selfish or oppressive assholes. They too, vote for politicians who are going to do things that will directly benefit them, but "Hey, fellow rich people! We must band together against an estate tax, in order to ensure that our great, great grandchildren never need to get an actual job!" is not a particularly compelling rallying cry. They have to pretend that the things they want will benefit everyone (who will someday be a billionaire). They have to pretend that they are detached, objective observers who just want to do what is best for society.
But the personal is political, and in more ways than one. While we can all agree that it's very possible to have great politics and not be a great person, people with truly shitty politics are almost universally going to be truly shitty people. Someone who is hateful politically is going to be pretty hateful personally. Someone who makes a living being a misogynistic bag of dicks is not, in secret, going to be really awesome to women. You just don't work up that kind of viciousness in a vacuum.
Far-right vlogger Steven Crowder did not work up his viciousness or his hatred of women in a vacuum. The kind of person who claims that only "blue-haired-would-be-lesbian-feminists" are raped is someone who hates women. All women.
“Steven Crowder: "It's always the blue haired would-be lesbian feminist who claimed they're raped. As far as I know, not one Victoria Secret model has been raped"”
— Jason Campbell (@Jason Campbell) 1664203500
Someone who demands women thank "the patriarchy" for giving them the right to vote hates women. Someone who says "as women's share of household duties has consistently gone down, so has their happiness" hates women. Someone who calls women who have had sex before marriage "whores" hates women.
That is not the kind of sentiment one leaves at work when the day is done, or leaves on social media or at the ballot box. It's not a hatred that conveniently only applies to liberal women or "blue-haired feminists" like that Marge Simpson.
Earlier this week, Crowder announced to the whole wide world that he was getting a divorce — viscerally angry about the fact that some of his fellow wingnuts were supposedly "extorting" him and holding it over his head somehow, as well as about the fact that the state of Texas dared allow his wife to divorce him.
It has now come out that Steven Crowder was — shockingly — pretty fucking horrible to his ex-wife, Hilary Crowder. In a Ring surveillance video obtained by journalist Yashar Ali, Crowder can be seen sitting on a divan, smoking a cigar while berating his wife — at the time, eight months pregnant with twins — for wanting to use the one car they share for grocery shopping, and not wanting to personally handle dog medication she feared could be harmful to the fetuses. You know, the fetuses they love so very much when they're railing against abortion?
The whole thing, I warn you, is extremely disturbing. He rails at his wife in the same mocking, dismissive tone we have come to expect from Steven Crowder, but which no one should expect or accept from their husband or someone who is supposed to love them.
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Via Yashar Ali:
Steven Crowder insists that Hilary not take their one car to run errands as it would keep him housebound and that she, at nearly eight months pregnant, should take an UBER.
He also berates her for not doing her "wifely duties," like grocery shopping, in a way that pleases him.
Tensions rise as Steven Crowder gets more agitated.
"Feeling some constraint?" Crowder said to his wife.
Crowder gets irritated and says that if Hilary, his very pregnant wife, takes the car, he can't go to the gym, see his parents, or see his friends.
"The only way out of it is discipline and respect," Crowder said to his wife.
Hilary Crowder, in an attempt to leave, tells her husband that she loves him and that she's committed to the marriage.
Steven Crowder gets angrier and suggests that if she is committed to their marriage, she should put on gloves to give his dogs the medicine that his wife was concerned was toxic for pregnant women and walk their dogs.
As they headed inside, Crowder got angrier and angrier and was, by his admission (via audio I reviewed) yelling angrily and said, "I will fuck you up." According to both Crowders, Steven immediately pulled back and realized what he said. But by that point, Hilary was frightened and left the house.
According to her family, who sent the video in to Yashar, this has been going on for a very long time. For years, really.
They also say that he underwent elective surgery (which he presented to the world as an emergency heart surgery to save his life) the week she was to give birth. He refused to be with her while she was giving birth, and after she had their twins, he moved into a townhouse, hired a divorce lawyer behind her back, and looked into cutting her off financially. So much for "poor me, my wife is divorcing me against my will."
The political is personal.
This is why these men are obsessed with marrying virgins. This is why they want to be able to force us to give birth against our will, why they get so mad about feminists, why they are angry about no-fault divorce, why they sit around railing against the disintegration of beauty standards, why they push for young marriage and indeed fight for the rights of adult men to marry 12-year-old girls.
What they want are trapped women with low self-esteem who don’t know any better, so that they can behave this way without worrying that their wives will leave them. There is no larger point to any of it.
I am glad that Hilary Crowder is getting out of a terrible marriage, because no one deserves that treatment. I do hope, however, that other women will look at this and realize that these men hate them just as much as they hate the bad feminist ladies. That the reason they hate feminism isn't because they, as detached, objective observers, feel that it is "bad for society," but because they are fucking nuts who want to be able to scream at their 8-months-pregnant wife for wanting to go to the grocery store without consequences.
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Just to get this right, he initiated divorce proceedings before his wife, but is telling everyone she's the one who really wants it, and he's actually committed to their marriage. Do I have that?
Because psychological, emotional--and most likely physical--abuse aside, this straight up sounds like my own ex. He didn't want to be with me, but rather than just straight up tell me he wasn't in love with me, did everything he could to make me miserable so I'd move out. And now he tells everyone I broke his heart, and he totally wanted to marry me and have kids with me.
And much like my ex, Stevie's going to be crying because there's actual evidence he's full of shit.
I'm very sorry that you lost your Mom in such a tragic way. I'm thinking of all of those who don't have their Moms to spend today with. My heart goes out to you.