"Crap Allies": Right-Wing Women Join The Fight For Equality

Laura Kipnis takes an unusual tack in this piece on recent social upheaval whereby women are outright naming their accused abusers in professional life.

Her focus is on the “unlikely agents of progress” who have furthered rights and equality throughout US history. They are unlikely because they come from traditionally conservative contexts like the military or right-wing media outlets. Gretchen Carlson, former Fox News anchor, is one of them, and Kipnis explores her story in particular.


With the recent release of her book Be Fierce: Stop Harassment and Take Your Power Back, Carlson has become an advocate for (mainly white, wealthy) women suffering harassment in the workplace. She settled a $20 million lawsuit against longtime Fox executive Roger Ailes in 2016, and helped launch the conversation now raging in media about the way media treats women. In her book, Carlson tells the stories of women who contacted her after the lawsuit, demonstrating the widespread nature of abuse. 

But again, Carlson sits squarely on the side of the aisle not traditionally aligned with rights for all:

"Where the book gets awkward is Carlson’s attempts to reconcile her more feminist leanings with the contours of her own career, launched by that stint as Miss America."

One can only wonder if right-wing women’s newfound empowerment might force them to consider other intersectional issues within their cause. Ultimately, to avoid hypocrisy, they may have to take up the fight for the rights of others besides their own demographics. For now, says Kipnis, they are “crap allies” for the rest of us.