sex and politics

It seems to be an article of faith among the dissident right that women are politically more left-leaning than men. Half a century ago it was an article of faith on the Left that women were politically more conservative than men. Sex and politics seems to be a complicated business.

Of course it has to be said first of all that the political parties for which women are more likely to vote today are not really left-wing at all but clearly there’s something going on. Maybe women are more likely to favour the status quo? That’s possible but I think there’s more to it. I do think it’s likely that women favour stability. Fifty years ago parties of the Right seemed to offer stability. These days, whatever it is that right-leaning parties offer, it certainly isn’t stability. Fifty years ago the parties of the Right also seemed to stand for strong government, which women tend to like, while today it’s the parties that identify themselves as leftist that seem to be the ones favouring strong government.

The disparity between male and female views on politics become more marked when we look at fringe political ideologies. Consider libertarianism. Are there any women libertarians? I’ve never encountered one. Which is hardly surprising. Rugged individualism, the struggle for survival, the survival of the fittest, complete selfishness, the fetishisation of individualism – the world that libertarians dream about has little to offer anybody but it offers nothing whatever that is likely to appeal to women.

The alt-right is also very much a Guy Thing. It’s not that some of the beliefs of the alt-right could not be sold to women, but they certainly are not going to be sold to women while they’re packaged the way the alt-right packages them. And the whole style of the alt-right is something that is mostly going to attract young men.

It’s also noticeable that on the alt-right there’s a certain unwillingness to admit that women may have a point about some things. Anyone who has ever had the misfortune to live through a period of instability will agree with women that there’s a lot to be said for stability. Silly talk about civil war also turns to turn women off. Women have a fair idea that the chaos that the alt-right seems to want will be very bad for women, and also very bad for the men that women love.

Political movements that have achieved some degree of success are usually those that appeal to women as well as men. I’m very sceptical that the dissident right will ever achieve anything anyway but it’s certainly not going to enjoy any success if it is unable to attract a reasonable degree of female support.