Squires: Feminists hate women. Period.

Adele is the latest celebrity to get caught up in the gender war that is raging in the West. The British singer made the following remark at a recent award show while accepting an award for a new “gender-neutral” artist of the year category:

“I understand why the name of this award has changed, but I really love being a woman and being a female artist. I do!”

Adele received applause from the audience, but that didn’t prevent critics online from accusing her of transphobia.

Her experience represents the dirtiest little secret in America’s political culture.

Feminists. Hate. Women.

This may sound hyperbolic and counterintuitive, but the use of terms like “birthing people,” “menstruator,” and “non-prostate owner” in the halls of Congress and corporate media outlets prove it every day. It’s hard to claim you care about a group of people when you deny their existence, reject everything that makes them unique, and refuse to advocate on their behalf.

The most salient example in the culture today is the feminist support of biological males competing in girls’ sports. Corporate sports media companies like ESPN, Fox Sports, and Deadspin rarely address this issue, and when they do, it is always to defend the men who demand access.

The same dynamic exists in every area of politics and culture. There is no area of American life that remains the exclusive province of biological females.

The mothers of today’s women’s liberation movement have prioritized confused sons over confident daughters. Their anthem has gone from the opening line of Helen Reddy’s liberation song to the opening line of a James Brown classic.

“I am woman, hear me roar” is out. “This is a man’s world” is in.

This reality hovers on the surface of every conversation about sex and gender identity, but the use of dehumanizing language from the champions of women’s rights reflects a much larger issue.

Feminism is doomed to failure because it is an ideology that claims to want equality for women while rejecting the things that make women unique.

Feminists confuse equality with sameness, which sends a signal to our entire society that the height of womanhood is thinking, speaking, and behaving like men.

The irony is that many of the social norms feminists have worked to undo have been exactly what men have desired for ages.

The clearest example is in all things related to sex. We live in an age when virgins are mocked and women who have casual sexual encounters with different men every weekend are celebrated.

This is one reason abortion is one of the central planks of the feminist movement. It allows women to have sex free of reproductive consequences, just like their male counterparts.

Feminists also sold women the lie that a high-powered career is a more worthy pursuit than staying at home to manage their own homes or teach their own children. This worldview is the source of a great deal of the conflict between men and women. It is also a source of the frustrations many women feel when they realize they neither have the time nor energy to have the perfect career and ideal home life.

This dynamic never goes in the opposite direction.

Most men don’t complain about the lack of representation in the social work or teaching professions. We don’t lead protests to integrate ladies’ night at the local bowling alley or to gain admission to women’s colleges. We don’t start movements to gain access to all-female spaces or mimic female speech patterns in the home when communicating with our children.

Those things don’t typically happen because most men value masculinity. Unfortunately, those who don’t are the favorite foot soldiers in the left’s war against manhood.

As is always the case in America, there is a racial component that complicates these dynamics even further.

One black transgender actor named Angelica Ross appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Network and lectured a room full of black women about their “privilege” and role in perpetuating harm against trans women.

I imagine this may have been the first time these women have been accused of wielding privilege, but it definitely won’t be the last. In a world in which everyone is seen as either oppressed or an oppressor based on different aspects of their identity, a cisgender black woman will occupy a higher social station than any transwoman. That means the latter can demand more resources and opportunities at the expense of the former.

Let the intersectional Hunger Games begin.

Feminism is an ideology fueled by anti-identity. If the patriarchy says women should be protected, feminists reject chivalry as patronizing. If men argue for modesty, feminists argue for lewdness.

In some ways freedom is more difficult to manage than subjugation. Liberation becomes a more pernicious form of bondage when the purpose of our lives and the highest use of our bodies is to pursue our own interests, not to glorify God and reflect the beauty of His creation.

This is why a society is doomed to failure when it sees a woman who is married with children by 21 as oppressed, but a stripper or cam model of the same age as empowered.

The choice for women today is clear. They can align with the feminists who believe womanhood is a feeling that is impossible to define or with the traditionalists who value and cherish femininity. They can choose the women who prioritize the feelings and mental health needs of men who believe they were born in the wrong body or the men who believe women deserve their own spaces free from the intrusion of “prostate owners.”

This fight isn’t going anywhere. The left believes womanhood should be rejected. The right – for now – thinks it should be protected. The future of women is at stake. Either they will fight for their right to exist or succumb to the feminists who subconsciously believe men are better at everything – even at being women.