A Day Off For The Koch Assault On Women

March 8, 2016

A Charles Koch Foundation senior program officer chose the eve of International Women’s Day to blame feminism for “rape culture.” Seriously. And that’s infinitely more representative of the Kochs and their network groups’ attitude toward, and actions with respect to, women’s equality than the PR charade they’re putting on to commemorate International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month.

Koch Industries subsidiary Georgia Pacific is putting on a show of reverence for women’s equality this month with a Brawny Paper Towels #StrengthHasNoGender ad campaign. But a new hashtag doesn’t do much to make up for other Brawny ads, like this one. And it definitely doesn’t compensate for the substantive actions that the Kochs and their network have taken to undermine feminism and women’s empowerment.

Here are some examples of Koch groups’ shocking, anti-women’s empowerment rhetoric and advocacy:

Don’t buy into the “the Kochs believe #StrengthHasNoGender nonsense.” Its an insincere PR campaign that’s wildly unrepresentative of the repugnant rhetoric that Koch representatives have used and the significant advocacy that Koch groups have done to impede women’s rights and female empowerment.

Background:

The Koch Network’s Assault On Equality For Women

The Koch Network Has Worked To Undermine Feminism And Female Empowerment

Senior Program Officer At The Charles Koch Foundation Adam Kissel Blamed Feminism For “Rape Culture”

Senior Program Officer At The Charles Koch Foundation (CKF) Adam Kissel Blamed Feminism For “Rape Culture” By Tweeting An Article Entitled “6 Feminist Traditions That Reinforce Rape Culture.” According to a tweet by Senior Program Officer for University Investments at the Charles Koch Foundation Adam Kissel, “6 Feminist Things That Reinforce ‘Rape Culture’ | Madame Bluestockings http://www.madamebluestockings.com/2016/03/07/6-f” [Adam Kissel – Twitter, 3/7/16]

  • The Article Tweeted By Kissel Argued That We All Lost, “When Feminists Behave Like A Hate Group” And Suggested That Feminism Demeaned And/Or Infringed Upon The Rights Of Men To “Elevate And Protect The Rights Of Women.” According to Madamebluestockings.com, “When feminists behave like a hate group, we all lose. Any strategy that sees civil rights and empowerment as a zero sum game – demeaning and/or infringing upon the rights of men in order to elevate and protect the rights of women – fundamentally misunderstands the nature of rights and the human dignity in all individuals. Wherever you erode human dignity, you erode the tolerance, civil discourse, empathy and other such critical foundations of the type of society capable of meaningful, lasting elimination of rape culture and misogyny.” [Madamebluestockings.com, 3/7/16]

The Charles Koch Institute Hosted A Panel, Which Featured Resident Scholar At The American Enterprise Institute Christina Hoff Summers Who Claimed That Young Women Were “Being Treated Like Fragile Little Birds, Which Is The Opposite Of What Feminism Should Be”

The Charles Koch Institute Hosted A Panel, Which Featured Resident Scholar At The American Enterprise Institute Christina Hoff Summers Who “Lamented” That “It’s Almost As If They’re Treating Young Women [Like] Fragile Little Birds, Which Is The Opposite Of What Feminism Should Be.” According to the Charles Koch Institute, “Long rounds of applause were also heard at the Institute’s evening panel, featuring a conversation with Christina Hoff Summers and improvisational comedy from the Theater of Public Policy. Sommers, a former professor of philosophy and current resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, lamented that in a culture of intolerance on college campuses, ‘today’s feminism is becoming unrecognizable. … It’s almost as if they’re treating young women [like] fragile little birds, which is the opposite of what feminism should be.’ Sommers, who, as the subject of controversy for her approach to feminism, has required security when speaking on campuses around the country, pointed to data from the University of California, Los Angeles that shows a record high in the percentage of college freshmen who believe speakers should be banned from appearing at universities.” [Charles Koch Institute, 3/4/16]

AEI’s Summers Wrote A Book Called “The War Against Boys” Which Claimed That Feminists Have “Seized Upon” The “Girl Crisis” And That Many Schools Have Adopted Policies That “Penalize Boys, Often For Simply Being Masculine”

Christina Hoff Summers Authored A Book Entitled “The War Against Boys.” [American Enterprise Institute, 6/1/01]

American Enterprise Institute: “It’s A Bad Time To Be A Boy In America…It Would Seem That Boys In Our Society Are Greatly At Risk. Yet The Best-Known Studies And The Academic Experts Say It’s Girls Who Are Suffering From A Decline In Self-Esteem.”According to the American Enterprise Institute, “It’s a bad time to be a boy in America. As the century drew to a close, the defining event for American girls was the triumph of the U.S. women’s soccer team. For boys, the symbolic event was the mass killing at Columbine High School. It would seem that boys in our society are greatly at risk. Yet the best-known studies and the academic experts say that it’s girls who are suffering from a decline in self-esteem. It’s girls, they say, who need extra help in school and elsewhere in a society that favors boys. The problem with boys is that they are boys, say the experts. We need to change their nature. We have to make them more like . . . girls.” [American Enterprise Institute, 6/1/01]

AEI: “The ‘Girl Crisis’ Has Been Seized Upon By Some Feminists And Has Been Suffused With Sexual Politics” And Many Schools Have “Adopted Policies That Penalize Boys, Often For Simply Being Masculine.” According to the American Enterprise Institute, “The ‘girl crisis’ has been seized upon by some feminists and has been suffused with sexual politics. Under the guise of helping girls, many schools have adopted policies that penalize boys, often for simply being masculine. Sommers says that boys do need help, but not the sort they’ve been getting. They need help catching up with girls academically. They need love, discipline, respect, and moral guidance. They desperately need understanding. They do not need to be rescued from masculinity.” [American Enterprise Institute, 6/1/01]

Koch-Funded FIRE Worked To Scale Back Initiatives Aimed At Reducing Rape On Campus

Fire Said That There Was A “Witchhunt” Taking Place On Campuses

Director Of The Foundation For Individual Rights In Education Thor Halvorssen Said He Was “Outraged” By The “Witchhunt” That Was Occurring On Campuses And The Rise Of “Star Chambers” At Universities Across The Country. According to the Director of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education Thor Halvorssen, “Halvorssen is outraged by what he calls a ‘witchhunt’ on campuses and a rise of ‘star chambers’ at universities across the country. Student/faculty judicial boards – often, according to Halvorssen, with an agenda — are allowed to mete out punishments for serious offenses with no guarantee of due process. Halvorssen says that at some colleges students face possible career threatening sentences without basic rights like the right to an attorney, the right to confront their accusers, the right to hear evidence against them and to cross-examine witnesses. FIRE has a network of lawyers who take on cases like Schaer’s pro bono. The message to parents – this could be your child.” [Foundation for Individual Rights In Education website, accessed 12/9/15]

FIRE Referred To Campus Hearings For Sexual Assault Cases As Kangaroo Courts

Co-Director At The Foundation For Individual Rights In Education Harvey A. Silverglate Claimed That “False Convictions” Were “Abound In Campus Courts” And Called For Taking The “Kangaroo” Out Of Campus Courts. According to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education’s website, “‘False convictions abound in campus courts, and not only in sexual assault cases,’ said [FIRE Co-Director Harvey A.] Silverglate. ‘Universities desperately need better procedural protections and more rational ways to find facts and to guard against unjustified convictions,’ he added. ‘It is time to take the kangaroo out of campus courts. This is a very important first step. OCR’s stamp of approval will open the door for greater due process at colleges across the country. It sends precisely the right message. More due process protections serve the rights of both the victims and the falsely accused. Rights are not a zero-sum game. They belong to everyone.’” [Foundation for Individual Rights In Education website,4/8/03]

While At Fire Kissel Demanded Hamilton College Make A Mandatory Session Aimed At Reducing Campus Rape Optional

Vice President Of Programs At The Foundation For Individual Rights In Education Adam Kissel Wrote That FIRE Was Concerned About The “Threat To Freedom Of Conscience” Posed By A Mandatory Presentation For Male Hamilton College Students On “Rape Culture” On Hamilton’s Campus. According to a letter to Hamilton College’s President Joan H. Stewart from Vice President of Programs at The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) Adam Kissel, “FIRE is concerned about the threat to freedom of conscience posed by a mandatory, ideological presentation designed for male Hamilton College students to acknowledge their personal complicity in a ‘rape culture’ on Hamilton’s campus and to change their ‘rape-supportive beliefs’ and attitudes. The mandatory presentation depends on ‘a combined cognitive and emotional intervention.’” [Letter to President of Hamilton College Joan H. Stewart – Adam Kissel, 9/24/10]

FIRE Said Requiring Male Students To Attend Such A Presentation Was Encroaching On Their Humanity
Kissel: “When Hamilton College Authorities Force Students To Attend Such A Presentation Lest They Be Punished, Those Authorities Have Encroached Upon The Very Respect For Humanity That [Keith] Edwards [Founder Of Men Ending Rape] Intends To Teach.” According to a letter to Hamilton College’s President Joan H. Stewart from Vice President of Programs at The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) Adam Kissel, “When Hamilton College authorities force students to attend such a presentation lest they be punished, those authorities have encroached upon the very respect for humanity that Edwards intends to teach. The mandatory nature of this program cuts to the core of the most essential rights of a free people. Students must be free to choose whether or not to attend such a presentation. Hamilton College offends the fundamental intelligence and humanity of its male students by invading their freedom of conscience, the right to keep their innermost thoughts free from intrusion by the authorities. No agency of Hamilton College, no matter how noble the intended purpose, should believe it is morally acceptable to re-educate students by such coercive means.” [Letter to President of Hamilton College Joan H. Stewart – Adam Kissel,9/24/10]

The Koch Network Donated Almost $4.4 Million To FIRE

The Koch Network Donated Almost $4.4 Million To The Foundation For Individual Rights In Education (FIRE) Between 2003 And 2014, Through Donors Trust And The Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation. [Conservativetransparency.org, accessed 3/8/16]

The Koch-Backed Cato Institute And Institute For Justice Filed An Amicus Brief Against The Violence Against Women Act

The Koch-Backed Cato Institute And Institute For Justice Filed An Amicus Brief, Which Opposed The Violence Against Women Act. [Cato Institute and Institute for Justice Amicus Brief, 5/99]

Paid for by American Bridge 21st Century Foundation