The Seventh Wave Feminist Manifesto:
Against the Erasure and Replacement of Women (AEROW)

The AEROW Manifesto

Every movement needs a manifesto of its principles. Lest there be any confusion, 7th Wave Feminism (7WFem) and the AEROW movement is avowedly feminist, but does not support all positions taken by those who self-identify as feminists. The AEROW movement is bipartisan, and sees both good and bad in the ideologies of the left and right. The AEROW movement is as much a male effort as it is a female effort, for men will never be free or happy until women are free and happy. The AEROW movement welcomes those of all faiths or of no faith who agree with its tenets, which are:

I. We assert that “women” exist in reality. “Woman” is not a conceptual category open for redefinition, but represents an eternal truth. Thus, while gender may be performance, sex is prior to, and thus not, performance.

I-A. We hold that biology is not bigotry unless we force it to become such. Sexual difference must never be made be a justification for the subordination of one sex to the other, or the erasure, exploitation, replacement, or harming of one sex. Rather, sexual difference is an occasion for humility in the face of our own personal incompleteness, and an occasion for joy when we learn of the possibility of partnership between the sexes.

I-B. The quest to eliminate sexual difference can never be the foundation of equality between the sexes. The post-sexual society is no friend to women.

I-C. Since gender performance is socially constructed, in contrast to sexual difference which is not socially constructed, any societal gender role that constrains the full development of the talents and abilities of a man or woman should be challenged. Women can be engineers, and men can be nurses, for choice of career does not affect sex role. Women can wear camouflage and men can wear pink, for what color you wear does not affect your sex roles. We assert, in keeping with I-A, that sexual roles do not by definition constrain the talents and abilities of a man or woman.

I-D. Since in this era of continuing male dominance the words “persons/people” and “individuals” tend to be defined male as the default sex, we of the AEROW movement use the substitute terms “men and women,” “sisters and brethren,” “ladies and gentlemen,” and so forth to ever bring to our consciousness that we do not define humanity in default male terms.

I-E. We reject any attempt, especially by men, to redefine “women.” Men do not have the right to tell women who women are; a male has no right to call himself a female. Men do not have the right to imperialize women’s right to self-definition, or to deny women the right to establish women-only spaces.

II. Sexual difference is to be valued and respected, and the difference in life experience wrought by sexual difference, such as experience of fatherhood and motherhood, must also be valued and respected. We should strive to build a society that does not privilege men over women.

II-A. One sex cannot be the template for the other’s manner of reproduction. If one sex experiences out-of-body reproduction, that is no ideal for the other sex that experiences in-body reproduction, for example.

II-B. Men cannot speak for women. Men cannot decide for women. That means that all councils of human decision-making, from the household to the nation and beyond, and from the executive to the legislative to the judiciary, from the secular to the sacred, must have their foundation in the parity of representation of the two halves of humanity, women and men. That might mean equal representation, or it might mean parallel institutions, such as a women’s congress and a men’s congress, both of which must agree before any law for the entire society is passed.

II-C. Women’s caring labor, currently invisible in measures such as GDP, must be made visible and valued in our system of national and international accounts, and the workplace and places of education made woman-friendly.

II-D. The structural inequality in our societies, where men hold preponderant political and economic power, must be dismantled for any true partnership between men and women to emerge. Political and economic power must be shared between the two halves of humanity.

III. The body as a basis for being in the world must be respected and valued. Any force attempting to impose an alienation of sex and love, of body and spirit, of man and woman, of parent and child, must be opposed. We thus oppose:

III-A. Prostitution, sex trafficking, sex with children, and any other form of exploitative sex, which is by definition loveless. We also oppose creating robots in the form of female bodies that were meant to be abused in similitude of practices such as prostitution.

III-B. Gestational surrogacy and egg/gamete donation

III-C. Forced marriage and marriage of children; forced conception and childbearing, forced abortion, forced sterilization, and any similar practices.

III-D. Reproduction by erasing or replacing human women

III-E. All the historical forms of harming women, such as rape, domestic abuse and violence, femicide, and the myriad other forms of harming women.

III-F. All means that destroy the gift women have given, including the quest for immortality, genetic engineering of humans, embodiment of human spirit in machine, creation of artificial life, cross-organism genetic engineering, cross-species gestation, and all the many variants of these things. We oppose the transhumanist H+ agenda.

IV. We call upon men to reject the siren call of male dominance over women and instead seek happiness, which can only come from an equal partnership with women.

IV-A. We call upon men to be humane, as we know they can be.

IV-A-1. We call upon men to include, rather than seek to exclude, women who desire to contribute their talents, skills, and insights to the joint venture of this world.

IV-A-2. We call upon men to value “siblinghood” over “fraternity.”

IV-A-3. We call upon men to refuse impunity for harms perpetrated against women by men, including the harm produced from a feeling of entitlement to uncommitted sexual relations, and to eschew the rationale that “boys will be boys.”

IV-A-4. We call upon men to give each other esteem for valuing women, rather than giving each other “points” for devaluing women. We call upon men to socialize boys to value and respect women.

IV-B. In particular, we assert male bodies should be re-visibilized and held accountable for the harm and alienation they are allowed to create with impunity in all too many cultures.

IV-B-1. The political conversation about abortion should foreground the fact that sperm is the ultimate cause of abortion.

IV-B-2. The question of how it is possible that men are entitled to purchase the exploitation of the bodies of women must be asked and asked again until all concede that men are not entitled to do so.

IV-B-3. Domestic violence must be treated as the top law enforcement priority in the nation, bar none.

V. We call upon women to reject the many forms of alienation being peddled to them, as described in this manifesto, and to rise in the power of a re-envisioned womanhood.

V-A. We call upon women to reject subordinative gender constructs, and to stop valuing relationships with men who desire to dominate them or who call such domination “love.”

V-B. We call upon women to fulfill the measure of their creation, and contribute their talents, skills, and insights to the world they jointly create with men, and which their children will inhabit.

V-C. We call upon women to embrace the power of embodied reproduction they possess, and value it.

V-D. We call upon women to develop a language and a vision of the meaning and value of their sex that does not view maleness as the ideal type for both sexes or considers the male gaze to be central to that meaning and value.

V-E. We call upon women to refuse to collude in their own exploitation or the exploitation of other women, and to teach their daughters to refuse as well, enabling a solidarity among women that has been missing from the world for too long.

VI. We argue for a re-understanding of heterosexual marriage, which was meant to be the sacrament of peace between the two halves of humankind who together are responsible for bringing forth its future—our children.

VI-A. We argue such marriage must be based on the equality of the husband and the wife, or love cannot exist.

VI-B. We assert that all decisionmaking in the home must be equally shared by the husband and the wife.

VI-C. We put forward that no violence or threat thereof must ever be employed within the marital relationship, and that all sexual relations must be consensual and respectful.

VI-D. We assert that sexual intercourse between husband and wife must be reconceptualized by both parties so that it is not seen as an act of eroticized dominance between a superior and inferior, but rather as an act of mutual giving that maintains and does not subvert equality between the spouses.

VI-E. We assert that perfect fidelity, including sexual fidelity, must be a guiding principle for both husband and wife.

VI-F. We assert that conception within such a marriage is owed every child so that all children may inherit peace and joy because they have seen it lived by their own parents.

VII. In taking our stand, we are prepared to stand against any, whether of the right or the left, whether male or female, of whatever ethnicity or whatever religion, that would wink at or support/facilitate the erasure, replacement, and alienation of women:

VII-A. We oppose certain liberal stances, such as those that elevate gender performance as being more important than sex, or imply that sex is not real, or those who advocate a post-sex society, or those who would do away with women-only places of safety and retreat, or any who make common cause with those seeking to erase, replace, or alienate women.

VII-B. We oppose certain conservative stances, such as those who would ban abortion regardless of circumstances such as rape or incest, or who would advocate a draft for women, such as former senator Jeff Sessions did, or who would legalize surrogacy or enforce surrogacy contracts.

VII-C. We oppose certain stances taken by some who call themselves feminists that endanger women or the advances women have made, such as those feminists who support the legalization of prostitution or celebrate pornography. We oppose any, even feminists, who collude with those who harm and alienate women in any of the ways discussed in this manifesto.

VII-D. We oppose men who feel entitled to treat women as they themselves would never want to be treated. We oppose men who look the other way when women are harmed. We oppose men who deflect accountability for the harm and alienation they cause, especially through their sense of entitlement to uncommitted sexual relations. We oppose men who think of women as their inferiors, or who value their sons more than their daughters. We oppose men who endeavor to exclude women through all of the infinite means available, including harassment and silencing. We oppose men who seek the unholy grail of reproduction without women.

VII-E. We oppose women who collude with men and male-centered systems that harm women, even when those men are their kinfolk or loved ones. We oppose the madams, the cutters, and the mothers-in-law so desperate for a grandson they would urge the killing of their granddaughters. We ask women who have acquiesced to the systems of erasure and alienation to re-think what their acquiescence does to all women, and make a different choice based on that reflection.

VIII. We believe we must raise our voices in the public square and articulate the AEROW position so that those who feel the same way are emboldened to raise their own voices.

VIII-A. We will endeavor to undo the erasure of women who lived before our time, and to chronicle their historical experiences and preserve their voices insofar as we are able, as well as exposing the means by which they were erased or subordinated.

VIII-B. We will fight against all current means of women’s erasure, replacement and alienation, by fighting for equitable family and personal status law, for the economic empowerment of women, for the abolition of practices that exploit the female body such as prostitution and surrogacy, for the eradication of all forms of violence against women, for the equal sharing of decisionmaking power at all levels of human activity, for the right of women and women alone to define “woman,” and for all other positions consonant with the spirit of AEROW as articulated in this manifesto.

VIII-C. We will stand fast against all new and emerging forms of women’s erasure, replacement and alienation, calling these out for what they are. We will also stand fast against any practice that seeks to nullify or mutilate embodiment, that great gift of women.

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