Naomi Wolf vs Karen Straughan - Do We Need Feminism? [DEBATE] 

Naomi: ...I live in New York and I'm divorced. Everybody I know shares custody of their children.... Karen: You're a wealthy woman. Naomi: I'm actually not but thanks for that stereotyping, insulting--assumption about my income. Karen: You can afford to live in New York. Naomi: You have no idea what my personal circumstances are. And this is why people don't really like dealing with Feminists. Perpetual offense wins the debate. smh

I love Karen Straughan. What an incredibly inspirational woman!

"It's not the oppression Olympics, it was shit for everyone!" -Karen Straughan; Best quote ever! karen straughan

Couldn't watch anything beyond the first time Karen tried making a point and the 'moderator' shut her down for her choice of the word 'henpecking' rather than address the point she made. Useless forum ....

Awful, awful, awful. Naomi is a disgusting and disrespectful narcissist. She is so rude, my mind is absolutely blown, I cannot believe how dismissive and self centered she was that entire time. She asked Karen what world she is living in, I would love to know what kind of world SHE is living in.

I don't know how you do it Karen, I would have lost my mind up there. You still have our support.

At Least Karen Straughn is attempting to use actual facts instead of spewing political claptrap.

Google says Naomi is worth 3mill might not be completely accurate but It's bizarre for her to take offense when Karen said Naomi is wealthy.

I love Karen, her views are so on point and she never gives into the scare tactics most feminists including Naomi like to use.

Naomi Wolf's net worth is estimated to be around $3 million. Evidently that's working class to her. LOL.

Wolf: "There is no gendering of injustice or cruelty". Karen S: "There is though." Wolf: - stumped - Moderator - interrupts. Wolf - change the subject and goes on a long winded monologue.

Worst moderator ever. She never interrupts Naomi and adds stupid little cute and giggly comments. All in all.. not much was accomplished in this debate and you can tell they all wanted to talk about more.

Wolf is pretty vile and condescending but as the discussion continues she actively shuns Karen (on her right) through body language. When she talks she only talks to the two ladies on her left and the audience with only cursory recognition to Karen even when she speaks.

"I'm a bad moderator." Yes. Yes, you are.

This is the worst moderator I've ever seen...

I love how uncomfortable the feminists get when confronted by the extreme bias and downtrodden affect of law against men.

it was irritating to see how many times the moderator jumped in when Karen started to speak

That was terrible moderation. Absolutely terrible.

Naomi seems to try to appeal to people from a perspective of self proclaimed victimhood, the way she holds herself gives it away. She constantly apologizes, thanks etc. Everyone as if she was trying to say :" Hey, I'm just a little woman, please don't eat me and oh btw 1st wave feminism was necessary,therefore modern feminism is too, but please don't hit me!"it appears to me that she s using her female privilege to get away with nonsensical arguments.

Naomi is the nicest monster I’ve seen in a while. She is so pandering to everyone until someone disagrees with her and then the victim baiting and dismissal come out in force.

The feminist plant in the middle wouldn't look at Karen the whole talk (unless she was yelling at her), and the the colors start showing toward the end. *sigh*

This moderator is the cringeyist person in our world

As soon as Naomi incited the Wage Gap, she instantly lost all credibility.

That woman in red is hijacking the thing, and the moderator is letting her.

i used to like Naomi wolf... after this i wont be able to look at her without remembering this smug, sanctimonious and self- righteous cretin that I've witnessed. AND a moderator that goes "la la la la la" when important issues come up? disgraceful!! shame on them all. what a stitch up for karen.

The moderator needs to be told to never moderate again. I have never heard one come out with as many cringe worthy and crass comments and she did.

Karen actually makes sense. These other women don't make any sense. What the frick are they saying?

The woman in red is obnoxious.

Naomi's body language towards Karen is so awkward.

Moderator: uses the word cat-fight numerous times.... "I heard you use the word hen-pecking, we shouldnt gender violence!"

With all due respect to Naomi Wolf, she is not Karen Straughan's intellectual equal. If Karen were to pursue a PhD in a relevant field of study I am sure she would be successful.

What a waste of Karen's time.

An unsurprising outcome to a debate courtesy of an incompetent and blatantly biased moderator. Karen has extreme patience, and she still managed to do a far better job than anyone on the panel in addressing and countering arguments against her.

Ms. Wolfe keeps appealing to the audience with generalities rather than any specified fact or data.

Is it just me or was the moderator allowing Karen to be cut off by Naomi a lot but not the other way round?

Maybe someone can post a version of this with the moderator edited out; she never seems to say anything but idiotic fluff.

The literal framing (Karen Straughn is not in frame much of the time) of this video is unfortunate. Also unfortunate is Naomi Wolfe's body language, turned away from Straughn with her hand on Antigone Darling's chair. She nods and fawns whenever Antigone utters a sentence. I'm not sure what justified the coldness or the overreaction to the suggestion that Naomi Wolfe's wealth might distinguish her and her friends from other American women. It did allow her to deflect from the topic at hand.

FEMINISM = fighting fires in a city with no fires.

For Christ sake, this is coming from a feminist- the moderator was shocking and Naomi was full of it up to here

Karen Straughan is the only one of these women I want anything to do with.

I feel sorry for Naomi, because it seems like she just has no fucking clue - AT ALL - what her movement has become over the last decade. She's just hung out in her own bubble and just has NO concept of how sour things have become. She seems to indicate that she knows this. She says a number of times, "Maybe I'm just out of date" - and, well, that's true, but it's also because she's sheltered from a lot of the realities of the everyday, mainstream movement. And honestly, despite her history and how well-meaning she may be, that complete lack of awareness totally disqualifies her from being able to comment on the state of things and "moving forward." I wonder how many middle-aged-to-old feminists are in the same situation as her, and it would be important to wake them up to what's been going on, because it would be helpful if more of these last-gen feminists would pitch in in helping the current SJW scene to calm the fuck down.

Karen is awesome.

I don't like how Karen is cut off

This "moderator" thinks she's being cute, but she's actually being ineffectual. She was - to me - even more annoying than Naomi Wolfe.

Naomi's attitude here is appalling. I admire her analyses on other topics and her open, honest attitude in general but the arrogant, presumptuous and patronizing way she handled Karen was beyond belief. This moderator forgot to do her job and ensure equal and FAIR treatment and TIME amongst her panel (Naomi hijacked the whole god damn thing). On the whole, Karen maintained a consistent and logical stance throughout, Naomi's closing statement was very important - and have no idea what the other one was doing there (though she's pretty cool too).

I never got to hear Karens finishing thoughts because the moderator kept only cutting her off! Not cool!

And as usual, the feminist takes over. Speaks the most. Talks over people, trys to dominate the conversation, and as usual the main panelist isn't neutral, she sticks up for the feminist, and her values, and they constantly interrupt karen straughn when she speaks.

Karen, the only voice of reason.

Old days feminism made sense but now it really doesn't.

Good job Karen hanging in there suffering the fools. They put the Naomi in the center and gave her her feminist privilege to be more heard because she just had to say this or that and you know she is used to getting her way and being the center of attention and playing the spiritual mommy lecturer, and because the moderator seemed to want to be her gay lover. The anarchist chick was cool and humble enough and said some helpfully undumb things. The Naomi got very annoyed if she couldn't have the last word after Karen would poke an inconvenient hole in her wonderful fem-victim-justifying world view. Interesting that they supposedly had half men in the room and nobody thought to mention that the panel was totally gender exclusive, as if men could appreciate and support the discussion, but really didn't have anything of value to contribute, except "questions" for the all knowing experts. A total illustration in fact of what feminism is and means in practice.

When Karen talks everybody gets thirsty.

Red Lady "We're teaching men not to be abusively masculine" Lady with Black Dress "I think there's a problem with masculinity" Red Lady "I totally agree with you..." Hypocrite.

In this harrowing chapter of The Little Mermaid, Ursula's wish for legs comes true and she becomes a debate moderator.

Your amazing karen...!!!...love your work

Sheesh, look at Ms. Wolfe touching that woman on her left all the time... What is up with that? That would make me very uncomfortable - especially when talking about sexual violence and rape.

Thanks for the full vid! Very much appreciated! ^__^

I now believe in the need for censorship. A mute button for her microphone, every time the moderator begins to laugh.

Naomi wolf is stuck in the fifties

He asks: What is left for feminism to address? She states: 1. One specific IUD is available on the internet but not in a shop in the USA as it is in Italy. 2. Too many women are on antidepressants. 3. Cannabis is a feminist issue? These are the burning issues that explain why feminism must remain in order to address because of gender oppression? Really? Feminists really have zero clue about how privileged they are.

Naomi Wolf makes empty remark about not assigning blame. And leaps straight to advocacy of a group that is ENTIRELY about assigning blame and making it men's imperative This is more to watch than can be quickly digested

Chick in red says our time is precious then blathers on about nonsense.

What's impressive is that Karen took on 3 feminist and won. You'll probably never find a single feminist agreeing to debate three non-feminists. Moreover, she was able to calmly dismantle all of Naomi Wolf's constant appeals to emotionalism as empirical fact. Small wonder feminists widely disable comments on their videos. its not because of trolls its because they know their ideology cannot survive objective scrutiny.

Also, the moderator is the Joy Behar of the panel. "Not well read in the slightest but, boy oh boy, do I have an opinion."

that moderator is disgraceful.

The strident Feminist, Naomi Wolf, is using her seductive appearance to make her argument seem more persuasive. Frankly, the argument isn't, but I regret to admit that the seduction is. Naomi is much more insidious than the militant radicals of my youth, who made it clear that they hated femininity almost as much as they hated masculinity.Karen Straughan, who ironically looks to me like the radical Feminists of the late 1960s, won the day for MRA by logical argument.

Wow, so where the hell is Naomi Wolf on the subject of Feminism checking facts?

You don't ask for direct evidence during an offline debate/discussion like this, unless you want everyone bringing their research on stage with them, Naomi is such a blatant deflector and manipulator, and the moderator was biased enough or clueless enough to allow Naomi to control the entire conversation, even when she wasn't speaking. Also notice how she speaks with subtle condescension and expressive hand motions, as if everything she is saying is self evident and she is merely educating the rest of the children in the room who don't get it yet, that this woman has been as successful as she has is a testament to the rampant stupidity and ignorance inherent in this modern culture.

Naomi says at 29:17 "I live in NY and I'm divorced. Everybody I know shares custody of their children. I don't know anyone that can say to their lawyer ""He can't have the kids more then I can have the kids"" unless their like a drug addict or violent. I don't know what world your living in." Naomi, that statement "I don't know what world your living in" is quite ironic to me since I was thinking almost that exact same thing about you. Edited to add another tidbit.. Naomi comes off as a politician... dodging, deflecting, outright lies... She should be running for president...

WORST. MODERATOR. EVER. EVER.

All the studies show... citation fucking needed, Naomi. She just makes baseless claims, then begs the question when someone makes a claim.

Wolf got pwned. She never mounted a defence when challeneged, just deflected, changed the subject and only looked comfortable speaking when spouting epithets or dogmatic positions.

' The oppression olympics '

Is she the moderator or is she part of the debate? Let me generalise a little here. Is it any wonder there is a "wage gap" when women can't even do one simple job.

Why the fuck is the moderator letting Naomi talk over everyone whenever she wants? And her only response to things she can't give a rebuttal towards is "I haven't heard of that" or "email me your sources"

is it just me but whenever karen was going to hand out a verbal kick ass point to argue naomi the moderator jumped in to like make her stop nor did she chastised naomi for cutting off karen?

Karen was constantly interrupted, yet she didn't interrupt anyone else. That's all I need to know to make an opinion on each of these individuals.

The Jew in the red dress comes off as if she is talking down to everyone

What I take away from this is that Feminists will say one thing and behave in a different manner.

Free from rape, it was pointed out that it could be a word against word argument that's difficult to prosecute. "Oh my god you're a rape apologist". No that's called a fucking fact.

Karen did well

"There are a million feminism's..." In other words, it's so malformed and self contradictory... that it really can't be seen as a thing. Well done Naomi.

This video must be really old because I wasn't denied non-hormonal IUDs... Was this not available a couple years ago?

In this episode of 'The Whiny Princess of Smelly Air' Naomi gets triggered. Human Ursula also joins in with cringe.

I am shocked no one here has commented on how the last guy pretty much asked the one single question that destroys feminism (What law works against women that need to be changed) And all she can say is she wants imported pills and legalize weed.

This debate is a disgrace. No timer? Shouldn't people be given equal time to talk? This is absurd.

Thanks for the thoughts you have contributed here.

I'm for equality. Women need to register for the draft, and then take me out to dinner. What a crock. Going into history. Today is what is relevant. Today men don't get the kids, just the bill. Too painful to watch all this drivvle.

There are so many challenges for men who don't earn much don't get a girl so easily even if the girl has a job. It's a challenge for men when if a girl slaps on the face is made fun of and no one really cares to help.

what did that person google? It took me 5 seconds to find piles. www.nownys.org/archives/leg_memos/oppose_a00330.html

Karen is a Class Act.

Mgtow ....red dress lady

"OMG you're a rape apologist?!!!" Says the woman who hates labels...

Love you Karen. The lady in red just doesn’t get. It’s pointless having dialogue with people who want to remain ignorant. The lady in red tried to hide behind a nice facade. At 27:46 into the discussion, that illusion quickly dispersed

I thought it was land owners that were the first people to get the vote not just men. I may be wrong but please correct me with link.

Funny how naomi says its illegal for women to prevent men from getting custody, there are laws to protect her from every single thing she is moaning about so wtf is she on about?

karen straughan You are such a bad ass! Keep up the wonderful work and your powerful voice! :D

"There are a million feminisms." In other words it is completely nebulous and meaningless. Yeah right!

The first thing I noticed when watching this is the moderator saying that the government "grants rights". My issue with this is that this country was founded on the principle that all people have certain rights naturally, and that the only things a government could do is take them away, but a good government protects them. So many people ignore this or just plain don't understand it.

I have never heard a Feminist talk sense, and they know they do not as they always look really shady when they talk, like they know its not making sense, its just they need to say it..

Absolutely _awful,_ obviously biased moderator. At about ten minutes in Straughan outlines the profoundly different and hypocritical ways domestic violence against men and women has always been treated and the moderator homes in on _one bloody word_ from one bloody _poem_ that Straughan used as an example and wants to focus on that because 'language is important.' Obviously she just heard the word 'henpecked', this set off her 'bad word alarm' and she zoned in on that to the exclusion of everything else. Then she has the fucking cheek, when Straughan explains it, to act as though it was _Straughan_ who zoned in on it and is somehow talking about 'chicken violence'. That Naomi Wolf is just a bloody politician. We should ignore gender in this case, we shouldn't ignore it in that case, the past is irrelevant in this case but relevant in that (no actual reasons given for any of these choices), and so on. Constantly switching frames of reference from her own personal experience to global trends then back again (her personal experience that nobody she knows is a,b,c is relevant but Straughan's personal experience that counters this is irrelevant somehow). No, bollocks to this. I've skimmed through the whole thing and watched 20 minutes continuously from the start and I'm done. Waste of time - Wolf is not arguing in good faith but just trying to obfuscate and pacify with a lot of calming body language and soothing, reassuring words, as George Orwell would say, '...that fall upon the facts like soft snow, blurring the outlines and covering up all the details".