Perfect Madness

John Podhoretz nominates this Judith Warner post for the "Repulsive Blog Item of the Year Award." I would second the nomination, but I also think it's worth zeroing in the structure of Warner's post, which reflects the kind of gonzo inanity that's made her a hathetic joy to read for a long time now. The item starts with her reading about hymen restorations among Muslim women in Europe, which in turn inspires her to forage for a Times story she's clipped about father-daughter "purity balls." At which point you think you know where this is going: Toward a "plague on both your houses" attack on the creepiness of Muslim and Christian fixations on female virginity. And if you're a fair-minded reactionary, as I like to fancy myself, you think to yourself: Well, that's a little bit of a stretch, but those purity balls are high on the "ick" factor ...

But then Warner pulls the rug out from under you:

“From this, it’s only a matter of degree to the man in Austria,” I’d scribbled across the first page [of the purity ball story].

"The man in Austria"? Wait for it ...

The “man in Austria,” of course, was 73-year-old Josef Fritzl, who was around that time also making headlines after it was discovered that he had kept his daughter, Elisabeth, 42, locked up in a cellar for 24 years, during which time he’d raped her regularly, and had her bear him seven children.

Yep, that's the Judith Warner I've come to know and love. (Though I still think that Warner's meditation on why her readers shouldn't resent her for having a summer place in Normandy remains in a hathos-inspiring class by itself.)

Comments

"fair-minded reactionary"...that's going in my "political views" box on facebook.

I think "hathos" is a pretty good description of my feelings when reading the posts of MoeLarryAndJesus. Hi Moe!

Posted by Philip Marlowe | June 13, 2008 10:51 AM

Given Austria is 79% Christian and 74% Catholic, it's more likely Fritzl is Christian than Muslim I would think, not least his insistence on making his daughter have the children he sired, rather than abortion.

And as deranged as the post was, it did have this quote

"Fritzl, a self-described “man of decency and good values,” had imprisoned his daughter after she began staying out all night and drinking. “I had to create a place where I could keep Elisabeth by force if necessary, away from the outside world,” he confessed."

and then

"I don’t want to take this analogy too far. I don’t mean to imply that there’s any equivalency between Josef Fritzl’s acts and the Purity Ball. Fritzl’s actions were uniquely horrific, and I am not accusing the men who danced in Colorado Springs of any crimes."

you missed that part of the structure, which used a pretty ridiculous analogy and then meditated on what it actually means for these grown men to be obsessed with their daughters 'purity'.

If it's such a poor post, which it is, I'm not sure why you have to misrepresent it further to make your point.

Oh, yes I do.

Posted by James | June 13, 2008 10:57 AM

Can we create a new version of Godwin's law for references to "the guy in Austria."

As far as I know, Austria is not in the process of some grand socially conservative restoration. But now, if a liberal doesn't like some activity of social conservatism, it's a short step from that to locking your daughter in the basement and raping her.

Posted by JohnMcG | June 13, 2008 11:15 AM

'Can we create a new version of Godwin's law for references to "the guy in Austria."'

Maybe just amend Godwin's Law so that mention of anyone at all from Austria causes the person to lose the argument?

Posted by Tel | June 13, 2008 11:52 AM

I'm thought 'guy in Austria' was covered under the existing Godwin's law, under the Schicklgruber amendment.

Posted by James | June 13, 2008 11:55 AM

This is the mind of the far left. Those “sophisticated” folks who don’t see a different in kind (just degree in)

#1. A (quasi) medical test to insure a virgin bride – The hymen breakage

#2. Fathers encouraging their daughters to remain chaste and discouraging promiscuousness.

#3. Locking up your own daughter in a dungeon and forcing her to have incestuous relationships & bear multiple children through them.

Posted by Fitz | June 13, 2008 11:58 AM

Clever framing, fitz. BS, but clever.

Posted by Pooh | June 13, 2008 12:15 PM

“From this, it’s only a matter of degree to the man in Austria,"

In the sense that, what, it's "only a matter of degree" between onanism and rape?

Posted by John Thacker | June 13, 2008 12:21 PM

Maybe just amend Godwin's Law so that mention of anyone at all from Austria causes the person to lose the argument?

The Wittgenstein gag rule?!

Posted by David | June 13, 2008 2:01 PM

John Podhoretz nominates this Judith Warner post for the "Repulsive Blog Item of the Year Award.

Should someone who compulsively compares foreign leaders to Hitler and foreign governments to Nazi Germany really be bitching about invidious comparisons? And it's unlikely that Warner means to shuffle us into a war with her post, so that has to be another point in her favor, I'd think.

Posted by SomeCallMeTim | June 13, 2008 3:32 PM

I don't think what she's saying is particularly unusual for feminists I've read. Generally the idea is fathers should be supportive of however their daughters choose to live or they are malign figures of oppression. Same might also go for mothers. A mother who says her daughter is too skinny is only a difference in degree from Theresa Knorr who force-fed her daughter then shot her.

And there might be some small truth in this. In a way insulting someone's lifestyle is only a difference in degree from smashing their face into a brick. Her disapproval of these groups is only a difference in degree from Communists or anarchists burning their churches down as reactionary. However a difference in degree can be all the difference in the world.

Posted by Thomas R | June 13, 2008 4:34 PM

Why are there no rituals for protecting young male virginity?
The point Warner was making that seems to have by passed most of the responders is the fact that
1. Both male and females should remain chaste until marriage, that is why we have abstinence education.
2. Who do young men have to pledge to? Or is there a double standard?
Fathers should bring both daughters and sons to the ball!

Posted by Diane | June 13, 2008 4:53 PM

But Diane, it's only the daughters that the fathers find sexually fascinating. Feeling the same way about the boys.....well, wouldn't be Christian.

Posted by James | June 13, 2008 7:12 PM

For the record, Fitz, I am on the left side of the political spectrum, can't stand "purity balls", and... don't think they have anything to do with that pervert in Austria.

Posted by Dilan Esper | June 13, 2008 7:44 PM

Because they don't.

And no one really thinks that, nor does Judith Warner - it was a dumb gambit she used to call attention to it.

But instead of the point being made - that its a bit suspect to be obsessing over your daughters purity, whereas the boys arent really an issue, its easier to throw up mock outrage rather than consider that point.

incidentally, none of the Muslim virginity things really have anything to do with the woman's purity as a thing itself. It's essentially only in relation to the mans and respective family's honor.

checking the hymen is not much different from checking the livestock. disgusting, but it is often merely a transaction, with dowries and the like.

That doesn't compare with Daddy wanting to make sure no dirty boys touch her angel. If there is not at least some unconscious incestuous undertones to this in some cases (part of the fathers duty should be to gradually sexually distance as she reaches maturity, not make him the only one), then there is serious denial going on.

If you reverse this and you have a mother doing this for a son, then you have Buster from Arrested Development.

Posted by James | June 13, 2008 7:58 PM

Philip Marlowe writes: "I think "hathos" is a pretty good description of my feelings when reading the posts of MoeLarryAndJesus. Hi Moe!"

I think "hathos" is a good word to describe your mom and sisters when they're wearing hats, Marlowe.

As for "purity balls," doesn't that term describe testicles that have never been used, like Fitz's? This term is used in sentences like, "You still working on getting rid of those purity balls, Fitz?"

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | June 13, 2008 10:47 PM

"Fathers should bring both daughters and sons to the ball!"

TR: I don't think these are the kind of guys that associate boys with balls, err uhhh. (I've worked several ways to say this, but they also sound a bit dirty) Besides that if it's fathers taking daughters it makes sense for it to be mothers taking sons and to something specifically *old-fashioned and acceptably masculine per their views. Like mother-son virginity bowling league or mother-son virginity skeet shooting.

The other problem is if you have boys and girls at the same virginity ball there'd be some risk they'd get together then not be virgins anymore.

Which is my problem on things like this. I don't think it's necessarily creepy, I'm just skeptical it's useful. I value celibacy and all that, but when you encourage a young person to focus on their virginity like this it seems potentially counterproductive to the actual goal. I think kids at a "virginity ball" might be more tempted than normal virgins at a regular dance. Or if not they might feel like if they do lose their v-card that's it and they might as well go promiscuous after that. I remember this of some Baptist kids who felt if they were "fallen" they were damned and it no longer matter what they did.

I think most of my siblings stayed virgins in High School, but by and large this isn't something we felt compelled to talk about or join organizations for. We didn't define ourselves as virgins. We just were, or weren't as a few cases may be, and that was it. Even monks and nuns I knew didn't blather on about their celibacy. They were supposed to be celibate and if they weren't that was their own issue to handle.

*Going to a "ball" sounds like something girls did in the forties or fifties. I think now they tend to call them "Dance parties", "Raves", or what have you.

Posted by Thomas R | June 14, 2008 4:18 AM

Bah. I spot at least five worse entries on Huffington Post every single day than either of these Judith Warner posts.

Posted by Shinyk | June 16, 2008 3:20 AM

Then it shouldnt be hard for you to come back by tomorrow and show us ten.

Or was that the overuse of hyperbole....like....Judith Warner

Posted by Douthat the Hack | June 16, 2008 12:08 PM

"Comment being held for approval by owner"

Moderation autotriggered when I put too many links in my response, Hack.

Posted by Shinyk | June 16, 2008 1:22 PM