May 23, 2022

"But while I identify as a female, through the show I’ve learned that we probably need to stop focusing on the two sexes and expand it to equality of all human beings."

"Absolutely I’m a feminist. I support women. I want us to all succeed. But we need to expand that concept to humans in general because there are a lot of communities that are not being given an equal chance. So yes, feminism, but let’s broaden that conversation past just women.... Gender is so fluid, and everyone needs to get on board with that evolution. I don’t have all the answers. I am trying to learn.... When I got my braces off, got on Accutane, slapped some hair dye on and I started playing soccer and growing muscle... all of a sudden people started treating me differently because I was a hot chick. I felt like, Wow, that’s all it took? I still feel like the little ugly awkward girl in middle school. For a while I had to fake confidence and convince myself I was confident when I wasn’t. Knowing I’ve gone through that in my life, I can teach other women to fake it till you make it...."

From "Alex Cooper Is Coming for Joe Rogan’s Spot" (NYT).

This long piece that went up 3 days ago only has 1 comment. Isn't that strange? The article is all about how contagiously popular she is. 

The one commenter is concerned with the same thing I quoted:

"So yes, feminism, but let’s broaden that conversation past just women." When Alex Cooper talks about being a woman and a feminist, she feels a need to qualify it and basically say that feminism shouldn't just be about women. It seems incongruous that Ms. Cooper speaks this way about feminism when women's rights are currently being threatened in a very frightening way by the supreme court and state legislatures.....

Right. This is the problem I've been discussing under my tag "women (the word!)" and in posts like "If you won't say 'women,' you are embracing the self-subordination of weak political speech."

56 comments:

Jake said...

Alex Cooper tells the best blowjob stories.

Robert Cook said...

Who is she?

Enigma said...

A biological woman does what biological women have done forever: sacrifice for their man, their children, and their community. Males historically competed for food, resources, and fertile women, while women took care of home and family.

In the 20th century males gave women the vote, males also gave women segregated Title IX and sports to support them. Then, within 2 generations women gave it all away. This is because biological women are biologically programmed to sacrifice, show compassion, and be generous socially.

You can't stop the grim reaper, nor can you stop biological factors. Biology controls 40% to 60% of all behavior. Ideological denials are doomed to self-destruction.

Sebastian said...

"feminism shouldn't just be about women"

Slight problem here: feminism is the theory that women are special. Hence "women's rights," women's claim to bodily autonomy, the assumption of a lack of agency that fosters #MeToo, etc.

But feminism was always also the patriarchy's way to liberate women into more casual sex and a prog tool to chain women to the cause of power and more power for Big Brother.

But the assumption here is that we sorta know what a woman is, as if we don't need biologists to tell us. (And by the way, isn't it a form of disgraceful biological essentialism to reduce womanhood to biology, a la KJB?)

Ann Althouse said...

"Who is she?"

She's the feminist who's learned not to say "woman," who "tells the best blowjob stories," and who has a podcast on Spotify and therefore is "coming for Joe Rogan's spot."

Ann Althouse said...

" feminism is the theory that women are special."

That conflicts with the famous definition: "Feminism is the radical notion that women are people."

Dave Begley said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
wildswan said...

I keep thinking about the story of the guy who dug a hole, and, when they asked him where he was going to put the unsightly pile of dirt which resulted, he looked around and saw a nice hole to put the dirt in. So he did. Not sure how this applies to women's issues since this is a guy story but maybe the "guy" was a trans (pronouns: don't, ask)

West TX Intermediate Crude said...

" ...there are a lot of communities that are not being given an equal chance."

That's it.
Everyone out there except (toxic) white men has risked it all, taken chances, sacrificed, won some and lost some, and for now the white guys are on on top, and have been for several hundred years.

Now this Alex wants to be "given an equal chance."

Nobody is going to give you a chance.
If you want your chance, you will have to take it. More likely than not, you will fail, because you are a loser who is sitting around waiting for someone like me to give you a "equal" chance.

As a (toxic) white man, I'll show you the way, give you a boost, help you learn, do whatever it takes to help you reach your potential. I have done that my entire career, and have a lot of success in it as demonstrated by former mentees of all "under-represented" groups who have succeeded. What I will not do, because it can't be done, is give you what you really want, which is to magically impart to you the results of my decades of hard work, successes, failures, risk taking, gains, losses, and woulda-coulda-shouldas.

There is only one way, the hard way.
Your call, Alex.

campy said...

[...] the famous definition: "Feminism is the radical notion that women are people."

I can never read that sentence without also imagining the tacit continuation: ... and men are scum.

Christopher B said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Christopher B said...

Trans-mansplaining? or Transwo-mansplaining?

Gahrie said...

"Feminism is the radical notion that women are people."

Pro-life is the radical notion that the unborn are people.

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

Seen in the interwebs:

"I identify as" is just a fancy way of saying "I pretend to be"

Prove me wrong.

Birches said...

Ha! She owes her career to Dave Portnoy and is trying to be a woke feminist? That's hilarious. I guess people are betting she'll continue to succeed without the stoolies. We'll see.

Joe Smith said...

Kind of the way blacks are feeling about Hispanics these days.

They were the flavor of the month forever.

But the last 5-10 years they've been thrown under the bus.

Women? Who cares.

Trans? Yeah! We love you!!

John henry said...

So is this person a woman or not? Can't read the article so only have the snippet Ann posted. It is unclear to me, though I am inclined to believe that they are not a "woman" in the sense that no adjectives or explanation is needed.

John LGKTQ Henry

Leland said...

all of a sudden people started treating me differently because I was a hot chick. I felt like, Wow, that’s all it took? I still feel like the little ugly awkward girl in middle school. For a while I had to fake confidence and convince myself I was confident when I wasn’t.

I've heard stories like this from various women, and while Sebastian may be wrong about the definition of feminism; anecdotal stories like the above suggests feminist do think themselves special. Children going through puberty feel a bit awkward. At some point, they come out of it, start self-caring for themselves, and people treat them differently. Most children lack confidence and have to build self-esteem. Some do it better than others, but they still went through the experience.

If feminist want to be considered regular people, and I think that is laudable, then quit suggesting women are unique in the human experience.

John henry said...

Is this person coming after Joe Rogan in the same way that Al Franken and 100 other progfa talkers were coming after Rush Limbaugh?

Did any of them come close? Did the top 100 of them combined have Rush Limbaugh's reach?

John LGKTQ Henry

Milo Minderbinder said...

Look, if the left-most among us can't even define "women," then we're wasting our time here. Every day becomes Halloween. (Not that I'm disparaging Halloween, it's just that the position that "perception is reality" is not a basis for intelligent discussion. Call me when we can all agree that "reality is reality.")

Mark said...

See, this is the problem. I've never heard of Alex Cooper.

Is she/he a woman woman, or a "trans-woman"? Is this a case of a guy mansplaining to women what women are and what women should be about? Or is this a woman on the trans support train?

Eleanor said...

Feminism reminds me of that story of the guy on the roof in a flood begging God to send him help.

Sebastian said...

"Blogger Ann Althouse said...

" feminism is the theory that women are special."

That conflicts with the famous definition: "Feminism is the radical notion that women are people.""

As I understand it, your own feminist case for abortion depends on the notion that women are special.

If women are only "people," there would be no reason to privilege their choice to abort.

Bruce Hayden said...

Paywall, but is the idea that this person(can’t tell if they are really male or female, just that they are presenting as female right now) going to dethrone Joe Rogan as the king (or monarch) of in depth socially relevant interviews? Nope. Rogan got there one eyeball at a time. Years of hard work. A lot of natural talent. A lot of calculated risk. Does Rogan even know who this Alex is, who is supposedly going to dethrone him? More likely, probably not. Hey, I would love to dethrone him, for a $100 million contract. I could do a lot of socially redeeming things with that money. Maybe some fun things too. But the first time I went on the air, I would bore much of the audience to sleep. Maybe I should sell my lectures to compete with recorded sounds of rain, babbling brooks, bird calls, etc, in the market of sleep aids. But just as Alex is no threat to Rogan, neither am I.

Howard said...

I am confused. Alice Cooper is really a hot chick gunning for Joe Rogan?

Rusty said...

Yeah. But can she take a punch like Joe?
Much like Christopher Hitchens Rogan got where he is by being honest and genuinely open to others opinions.

Wa St Blogger said...

Gender is so fluid, and everyone needs to get on board with that evolution.

I reject that premise. In the natural world, gender is no so fluid. In the human world, gender fluidity is simply the solution de jure for personal dissatisfaction. There is a whole range of masculine and feminine traits present in each person but we should not mistake traits for biology. You can "feel" like a woman or a man all you want, but that is not biology.

Mostly this is first-world problems. Because we have it so good, all we can do is bitch and moan that others have it better. We are all competing for acceptance, love, wealth, comfort and power. Why is it you can say that some must conceded any of those so that you can have more? Why don't you try taking all your massive power and influence that you already have, far more than any common American that you wish to wrest it from, and work toward helping the truly needy people. Maybe the ones getting raped and abused, living on $1 a day and having no medical care. You might find that your own personal problems melt away as you find fulfilment in making a real difference to people who need it. You will also find fulfillment when you stop focusing on yourself.

Beasts of England said...

Alex is super cute, I'll give her that...

MikeR said...

Just reading that paragraph hurts. These people are tying themselves into mental knots.

Howard said...

Wa St Blogger: In our family, Go Focus on Yourself is code for Go Fuck Yourself.

Anthony said...

Feminism has nothing to do with women and hasn't for at least 30 years; it's solely about Leftist politics (cf. Sarah Palin, Condoleeza Rice, etc.).

JaimeRoberto said...

"Gender is so fluid, and everyone needs to get on board with that evolution." No it isn't and no we don't.

Dave Begley said...

Correction: I thought the story was about ALICE Cooper the singer.

I really, really hate it when a person has a name that can be female or male e.g. Lindsay, Alex and Gail.

Jupiter said...

For those of you trying to figure out whether Alex Cooper is a woman or a hyphenated woman, google her name, and click on images. If hyphenated women looked like that, they'd be a lot more popular.

PM said...

"Gender is so fluid, and everyone needs to get on board with that evolution, because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!"

Ann Althouse said...

Here's the Wikipedia article for the podcast, "Call Her Daddy."

Her full first name is Alexandra, and as far as I can tell, she's a cis female. She's newsworthy because of the big paycheck from Spotify:

"Call Her Daddy is an advice and comedy podcast created by Alexandra Cooper and Sofia Franklyn in 2018. The podcast was formerly owned and distributed by Barstool Sports until June 2021 when it was announced that Cooper had signed an exclusive deal with Spotify worth $60 million. Barstool is still involved in the podcast's merchandising.[2] In the late spring of 2020, Cooper and Franklyn were engaged in a publicized dispute with Barstool founder David Portnoy, which resulted in Franklyn leaving. Cooper reached an agreement with Barstool and continued hosting the show on her own."

Richard said...

“Gender is so fluid”

Supposedly there are 57 or 93 or whatever the current official number of genders. How does a person know which of those genders he/she is? Is there a scientific method for determining which one of these genders you are? If person A says that he/she is gender 25, will that be the same as person B ‘s definition of gender 25? This idea that there are n number of genders, and that someone can determine which of these genders he/she is is just nonsense. Or as the famous statement of Wolfgang Pauli, it is not even wrong.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

"Gender is so fluid, and everyone needs to get on board with that evolution."

Why? And really, what evolution? Something some people pulled out of their ass? And who are you to say everyone needs to do anything? And how could you be so arrogantly clueless as to not realize that making absolutist comments like that will do far more harm to your cause than just keeping your mouth shut?

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...


"Feminism is the radical notion that women are people."

I take their point if that was coined in the aprons-and-heels era, but these days that just sounds laughably self-pitying and Karenistic. I bet it would be genuinely puzzling to the average female college sophomore.

Jupiter said...

"as far as I can tell, she's a cis female."

You are confusing sex with preference. "female" is a biological designation. Almost all mammals are either male or female. That's sex. "cis" is a Latin word meaning across or opposite, and refers to people whose preference is for the opposite sex. But what your commenters are trying to figure out is whether she is really female, or male pretending to be female.

I think it is a pretty good rule that men pretending to be women do not refer to themselves as "feminists", nor display much interest in feminism, except as yet another oppressive facet of the Bioarchy. Only people with natural vaginas, and people wishing to insert their natural penises in those natural vaginas, are interested in feminism.

Mark said...

she's a cis female

Here too is a REAL problem. It is UNACCEPTABLE, bordering on hate speech, to say that a "cis female" is a real female. But it is OBLIGATORY to affirm, bordering on hate think if you do not, that a trans-female is a real female. And only men are now allowed to be called mothers. Women have been erased from motherhood (and lesbianism).

Mason G said...

"Gender is so fluid, and everyone needs to get on board with that evolution."

No- no, we don't. If you want to navel (or naughty bits, your choice) gaze, knock yourself out. Most people have more important things to do.

Brent said...

Read the article. Her Bravado is not untypical of success. In the 80's, wanting to franchise with the chain founder/owner's own money, I stated when he first met me and asked me about myself "I want your job". He liked it enough to do the deal.

Jason said...

At first I read "Alice Cooper" and I was very disappointed to find out I was mistaken.

John henry said...

Interesting, Ann, Sofia Franklyn is also "Sofia with an F" podcast. I listened to part of it once because the No Agenda boys told me it was dark, twisted and bizarre. I normally like such stuff in limited doses. This was too dark twisted and bizarre even for me.

I did look up pictures of Alex and if you look at a head shot, she looks definitly like a guy. If you look at a nude shot, she is apparently a woman.

John LGKTQ Henry

John henry said...

Feminism reminds me of that story of the guy on the roof in a flood begging God to send him help.

Where he rejects the 2 motorboats and the helicopter then complains when he drowns?

Marc in Eugene said...

I hope her propaganda platform fails miserably but am resigned to the probability that it will continue to flourish.

Also, she seems to be trading on a 'traumatic experience' involving 'inappropriate behavior' by a soccer coach at Boston University, which is distasteful. Were I suffering from the consequences of trauma, I can't imagine chattering about it publicly so I'm not a good judge of such things, probably.

mikee said...

Equality via individual rights is the fullest treatment possible for achieving diversity. The individual expresses all possible intersectionality, and further grouping is about privilege.

Rusty said...

That's sex. "cis" is a Latin word meaning across or opposite, and refers to people whose preference is for the opposite sex.
Thanks for clearing that up. I honestly did not know what the current nomenclature was. So it means not homo, but regular hetero.
Somebody needs to straighten these kids out.

Kevin said...

Joe Rogan does his podcasting thing and is recognized for who he is.

Alex Cooper does her podcasting thing and is recognized for not yet being Joe Rogan.

And this is by the #Feminists.

n.n said...

The individual expresses all possible intersectionality, and further grouping is about privilege.

Yes, a human life is a rough constellation, not a smooth sphere.

Diversity of individuals, minority of one implies that Baby Lives Matter (BLM), which is a hard pill to swallow in the modern model that resurrects human rites held for social, redistributive, clinical, and fair weather causes.

Diversity [dogma], Inequity, and Exclusion (DIE) policy denies individual dignity, agency, and conscience, and normalizes color blocs (e.g "people of color (poc)"), color quotas (e.g. Jew privilege), affirmative discrimination (e.g. too many people of yellow (poy)), and human life as a negotiable commodity.

Lucien said...

So she identifies as “female” not, “as a woman”. She is thus not relying on the dubious claim that gender is socially constructed, even though sex is biological. Since it appears that she really is a woman, she’s not wrong to identify as female.

Blair said...

Feminism, from its second wave onwards, has mostly concerned itself with hating femininity and wishing to be rid of it. The transgender movement is the ultimate end of this. In Catholic professions of Christianity, Mary, the Theotokos, is the ultimate in human mortal perfection and motherhood. Modern feminism wants this erased. Genders are reflections of God, therefore must be degraded. Everything is theological in the end.

Bunkypotatohead said...

Howard Stern with titties.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Gender is so fluid

No, it isn't.

Do you have a penis? Yes: Male. No: Female
It's a binary. And, realistically, you can never actually change it, because a function male / female who has a sex change becomes a sterile, non-fiction sort-of member of the other sex

Get over it

Rusty said...

Bunkypotatohead said...
"Howard Stern with titties."
I really. Really. Did not need that image in my head. There is enough questionable content as there is.
Yours, however, is even more questionable.