Progressives argue that Guantanamo Bay has been a huge recruiting tool for radical Islamists. If one small prisoner of war camp has that power, imagine what a massive recruiting tool the Western feminist movement is for jihadists.

That thought came to mind when Egyptian-born Nonie Darwish said, at the Institute’s Midwest Women’s Summit in Minnesota, “the Middle East watches what happens in the West.” No doubt Middle Easterners draw inferences about Western culture generally and Western women specifically from the behavior of feminists today. That’s a shame, because (to paraphrase President Obama), modern feminism is “not who we are.” Not by a long shot.

Feminists’ utter disdain for men, children and family, and their penchant for excusing and/or defending even the worst sexual misbehavior of women, paint an ugly portrait of Western culture — one that even a majority of American women find distasteful. An Vox poll this month found only 18 percent of Americans consider themselves feminists.

Any positive messages traditional feminism might once have had — equal workplace opportunity for women, and equal treatment of women under the law — have been lost today. That’s sad for women in the world still dreaming of that degree of equality, and it’s a disaster for Western culture.

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Below is a video of Ms. Darwish’s full remarks at the Summit: