Ann Coulter is the perfect example of both the epitome of feminism and the hypocrisy within the modern feminist movement.  I know there are other examples like her, but I’ve chosen her for a bit of irony – considering she is so loathed by modern-day feminists.

If you don’t know who Ann Coulter is, you are truly missing out.  Here’s a synopsis: Coulter graduated with honors from Cornell University and received her J.D. from University of Michigan Law School, where she was an editor of The Michigan Law Review.
Coulter clerked for the Honorable Pasco Bowman II of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and was an attorney in the Department of Justice Honors Program for outstanding law school graduates.

Coulter practiced law for a private firm in New York City and worked for the Senate Judiciary Committee. From there, she became a litigator with the Center For Individual Rights in Washington, DC, a public interest law firm dedicated to the defense of individual rights with particular emphasis on freedom of speech, civil rights, and the free exercise of religion.

Coulter is the legal correspondent for Human Events and writes a popular syndicated column for Universal Press Syndicate. She is a frequent guest on many TV shows, including Hannity and Colmes, The O'Reilly Factor, (the late) Politically Incorrect, Larry King Live, American Morning With Paula Zahn, Crossfire, ABC’s “This Week,” Good Morning America, the Leeza Show, and has been profiled in TV Guide, the Washington Post, New York Magazine, Capital Style, National Journal,  and Harper’s Bazaar. She was named one of the top 100 Public Intellectuals by federal judge Richard Posner in 2001 and dubbed "One of the 20 Most Fascinating Women in Politics" by George magazine.
Coulter is also the author of the New York Times best sellers, High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton, Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right and Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism.
You may be wondering how this woman can be both an example of the epitome of feminism and the hypocrisy within the modern feminist movement.  To you I submit the following.

Feminism is defined as the belief in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes.  Right?  Right.  A feminist is defined as a person whose beliefs and behavior are based on feminism.  Right?  Right.  Ann Coulter believes in these values, therefore she is a feminist by definition.  But feminism has moved far from its definition. 

If modern-day feminists were consistent in their principles, they would acknowledge what Coulter has done for women.  Coulter has risen to the top of her career - - excuse me - - careers, and made great strides in the advancement of women in the social, political and economic realms.  A lawyer, a syndicated columnist, an empowered career woman, a media star, a coveted political pundit and best selling author of not one -- or even two -- but three books.  Her plethora of accomplishments speak for themselves.  Ann Coulter is the epitome of true feminism – I applaud her.

But ironically, guess who isn’t clapping with me.  You guessed it, modern “feminists.”  Why is this?  I offer you that modern “feminists” are not interested in the equal advancement of women.  They are only interested in the rapid advancement of hard left, liberal women.  A vast majority of modern feminists are left wing demagogues. 

My senior year of college wasn’t long ago and I remember sitting in “Cultural and Social Change,” my Sociology 426 class and the last of my minor in the subject.  My professor and I were debating, as usual, and she was trying to tell me that I was indeed a feminist myself with the views that I hold (i.e. the equality of women, etc.).  To an extent she was right.  Purely speaking, I hold traditional feminist values.  However, what I had to explain to her was how the modern feminist movement has mutated into an entirely different being – an entirely different monster if you will.  The modern feminist movement has no room for conservatives like myself, even with my pure feminist values.

Getting back to my main point.  This mutation is so perfectly illustrated through Ann Coulter.  With all that Coulter has succeeded in her life thus far, she should be a champion in the eyes of the feminist movement.  But alas, she is not.  She is loathed and considered the opposition to what feminism “stands for.”  Can you imagine NOW (the National Organization for Women) hiring Ann Coulter to be a voice for women nationwide?  Not going to happen.  Why not?  Simple: organizations such as NOW have been overrun with a liberal agenda.  Don’t believe me?  Am I just a paranoid conservative?  For the answer one needn’t look further than the front page of the organization’s web site.  Front page article titles include "Radical Anti-Abortion Doctor Takes Predictable Stand on RU-486" and "NOW Blasts Introduction of Federal Anti-Marriage Amendment."  NOW has assumed for all you women out there that abortion is okay and so is gay marriage (even though national statistics contradict this assumption).  One can easily see the liberal, anti-conservative agenda of organizations such as now, typical of the modern feminist movement. 

The sad fact is this: without pro-abortion, pro-taxation, anti-capitalistic, anti-gun, pro-homosexual marriage, anti-war and other liberal sentiments, no matter her accomplishments, Ann Coulter will always be considered a traitor in the minds of modern “feminists.”  This is precisely why Coulter is in fact a feminist icon.  True to herself, her beliefs and her values, Coulter is everything feminism should be, but is no longer. 

Mark Glesne is a Communication/Marketing Specialist for a software corporation in Camarillo, California and a United States Marine Corps reservist.