Alt-Feminism and the white nationalist women who love it
A gathering and conference of European and American white nationalists took place in Sweden at the end of February. This conference didn’t get much mainstream media coverage in either Europe or the US but it was extensively covered by the loose network of right wing and white nationalist blogs and YouTube channels. A portion of the event was crowdfunded and brought together a majority of Swedish and American speakers with at least one Estonian and one Scottish white nationalist. It was also live streamed and if open threads and forum discussions are to be believed, these streams were quite widely watched across both continents. The speeches are also currently available on YouTube where they have gathered pretty high view counts.
I have watched a number of these speeches because I believe they are important artifacts in how they spell out ideological common grounds and how self perception operates to both articulate political visions and propel white nationalism further into the mainstream. These are not “ethnographic curiosities”, in the sense of small and inconsequential ideologues discussing zoning laws but a growing number of people who have found a role model in the Trump administration. One common thread in all the speeches is the constant reminder of how awesome it is to be white. As Sander Philipse pointed out to me in a recent chat, they resemble pep talks where speakers constantly remind each other that they are “right and good”. Across the speeches, there is also a constant repetition that war in Europe is either imminent or a necessity. A war that is going to be waged against non white people, immigrants, the left, commies, globalists and an assortment of vaguely defined enemies that are not part of the white nationalist movement.
In another example of the group’s self perception, the Scottish speaker known as “Millennial Woes”, kept talking about the failures of the left and he articulated what he believes to be “leftist political strategy”:
“The methods of the left: control, censor, guilt trip, gaslight, demonize, ostracize and manipulate the narrative stealthily and always cry out in pain as you strike your enemy. That’s the left as manifested in media and technology today”.
He kept stating that “the left” betrays its own ideals when it celebrates Richard Spencer’s punch and that “The left are not accepting the new status quo of Brexit and Trump. They are not getting on with the program”. That the white nationalists are encountering resistance seems to come as a shock to the conference speakers.
I have written before about the “alt-feminism” and how white nationalists have appropriated feminist ideas to advance their cause. So, of particular interest to me, was Lana Lokteff’s speech “How the Left is Betraying Women”. Lokteff is not a minor figure in the US alt-right movement. In fact, if there is an alt-feminist leadership, Lokteff would be their top figure. She hosts a popular radio show in the white nationalist circuit and is a regular guest of some well known YouTube channels. Sarah Posner interviewed her for her post election profile of the alt-right in Rolling Stone. Lokteff is a Holocaust, Native American and Armenian genocides denialist who also claims she doesn’t “hate Jews”.
I have transcribed what, to me, are the salient points of her speech. I believe that these are ideologically important statements that are worth noting since they pick on a number of political issues that are part of contemporary feminism. If we are to understand why white women vote these ideologies aside from the more visible reasons (racism being probably the main one), Lotkeff’s speech can shed light into the attraction of white nationalism and, at the same time, explain why there were so many shocked reactions when white women massively voted for Donald Trump. Lotkeff herself addresses this in the speech saying “It was white women who got Trump elected and to be real edgy, it was also white women who got Hitler elected”.
Verbatim (unless otherwise noted) from her speech:
- Conservative women are portrayed as two types: white trash living in trailer parks or religious women chained to the stove in the kitchen (feminists will tell you that these women secretly want to be CEOs of Fortune 500 companies).
- The women who follow my shows are not from the trailer park and they are not weak and naive.
- On why women are flocking to the right: All the girls are starting to like the “bad boy” who’s the Nationalist.
(Ed Note: I wrote before about the glamorization of white nationalists and the fashion profiles that make them sexually desirable)
- Many women harbor our views quietly because they do not want to face attacks
- White women are starving for a true sisterhood: Blacks have it, Mexicans have it, Jews have it. White women need to have it again.
- White nationalist women are afraid because leftists/commies say that “fascist women deserve to be raped”.
- Women are afraid to be publicly shamed. They prefer to watch livestreams from the comfort of their homes rather than attend events.
- While feminists whine about the patriarchy and having another abortion (which, by the way, I’m OK with) we are raising the future of European countries
- There are three important things for a woman, they are ingrained in our psyche and no matter how hard you try they will never be removed: beauty, family, home
(Ed note: Is she perhaps articulating the source of Ivanka Trump’s sudden appeal among white women?)
- White European men built all civilization and beauty. It is the ultimate romantic gesture of European men to women.
- The Nationalist right has the winning argument and remember: women choose winners.
- European right (and also in the US) is a very attractive, sexy bunch which is also in our favor. Women love it because they can have their pick of the best.
- I hear it all the time, women tell me “I need a husband! I’m 29, I need to have kids”. I say “come to a right wing conference”
- And I’ve seen it all the time: matches being made, couples meeting. It’s a eugenics process. It’s a eugenics process we find ourselves here. You managed to jump through the cracks and now you will procreate.
(Ed Note: She did use the word “eugenics” and made a call to create more white babies)
- Although I think women are too emotional for leading roles in politics, this is a time for female nationalists to be loud.
- (On how nationalist men are driven by a desire to please women) To be graphic, a swastika is reminiscent of a vagina
(Ed note: Matt Cornell pointed out to me that she might be saying “vesica” and not swastika, given the context of the speech, I am uncertain though. The statement comes at the 11:09 mark)
- If the women who were raped (in Sweden) got together at a press conference and said “We were raped by migrants” it could undo years of a massive cover up”
- It’s our duty as women to speak to our friends who are feminists and got caught in this Marxist bullshit and bring them over to reason, to our side.
- The left offers nothing but unrealistic fantasies of a global utopia where we are all one mixed people worshipping at the mall. It must be said again and again that this is anti diversity. If that’s what they want, those Europeans can just move to Brazil, if they want multiculturalism.
- If it wasn’t for the constant anti white messages in media, politics and education I wouldn’t be here.
It is worth pointing out that while this alt-feminism openly advocates for eugenics, it also promotes contemporary feminist views such as abortion rights. Perhaps, one of the failures of mainstream white feminism in it’s constant promotion of corporate careers is that it never saw the threat of globalized precarity for what it’s worth: a model that left white women in search of a new ideological home where in lieu of social policies that protect them from their fears of falling through the cracks of an exclusionary system, they can feel “protected” by the ever present blanket of white supremacy. After all, it’s the kind of familiarity that comes from the same protection they have enjoyed for centuries.
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