Shocked by Epstein’s birthday book? That culture was everywhere before feminism.

This is all true, and terrible (though leans into prudery too much for me), but what is omitted is that feminists greatly overplayed their hand so there was a backlash. Insisting that women are not fully adult until 25, 30, even 40+ years old while men are full adults at 14-ish did them no favors. And believing as well as acting like that all men are crazed rapists while all women are innocent angelic beings also contributed.

And just as much, the issue became wrapped up in women’s intense intrasexual competition so they began accusing adult men dating very much adult women of “pedophilia” if the woman in question were a second younger, skinnier or shorter than the accuser¹. No, it’s not “grooming” if a woman is fully adult and fully participating in the relationship, even if there is an age gap. Jesus Christ.

Solnit has always been kind of anti-sex, and that shows here too. She just hides it well behind a curtain of, “What about the children?” And much of what she writes about is disturbing, to be clear. I have no idea why adult men want to be with actual children. But insisting against all evidence that women have no accountability and no responsibility because they are children until 40+ doesn’t sound correct to most people. That’s because it’s fucking insane.

So most people reject it. As they should. And that’s one of the reasons feminism is failing.

1. Remember the woman who claimed that any man who dated a woman under 5’7″ was a pedophile? I do. And guess what? The woman claiming that was, wait for it, 5’7″. Shocker, I know. By the by, around 70% of US adult women are under that height.