By Gabriella CiuffetelliColumnist

“There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other.” These were the words uttered by former Secretary of State and feminist icon Madeleine Albright during the 2016 presidential election. Meant to drum up for support then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, this declaration sought to encompass the “all for one and one for all” mentality feminists have been trying to push for years.

But what happens when we actually begin to peel back this feel-good feminist rhetoric? With celebrities, media personalities and millenials all racing to prove their devotion to womankind, surely we must have mastered the elusive art of intersectionality by now.

Sadly, the truth is that most self-identifying feminists care more about proving how “woke” they are on social media than actually defending their fellow women. Just one look at the way Republicans are treated by their female peers proves that third wave feminism is rife with hypocrisy.

Among the core tenants of the modern feminist movement is the idea that strong, independent women are a force to be reckoned with, that any man who seeks to silence them is clearly doing so out of intimidation and must be met with public vitriol. So in peeling back this fallacy, let’s start with the superficial.

Feminists were quick to come to Clinton’s defense when she was met with attacks regarding her outward appearance. From jokes about the tone of her voice, to her fashion sense, to her hairstyle, practically all criticism of Clinton was met with verbose, self-righteous think pieces. For months it seemed as though there were hundreds of women eagerly waiting for an excuse to come to the aid of their newest figurehead, and flaunt their girl power for the world to see.

And yet, these women were suddenly nowhere to be found when people hurled the same insults at Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway or Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Perhaps even worse, there was not a single critique from the radical feminist left when Clinton herself made fun of her opponent’s hair.

I guess the reasoning here is either that only women can berate others for their appearances (because, after all, misandry totally doesn’t exist) or that, once again, Democrats get a free pass.

And it doesn’t stop there. To borrow from the feminist dictionary, Democratic Rep. Cedric Richmond “slut shamed” Conway when he made a joke about her being “familiar” on her knees. Yet he never felt the same white-hot rage conservative commentators are met with every day for making remarks that are much less obscene.

Watching thousands of Twitter accounts suddenly go mum was certainly an alarming sight. And yet it confirmed the unfortunate reality that feminism only protects women when they are aligned with the political left. Feminists are ready and willing to ostracize their fellow women the moment they affiliate with the Republican Party or expresses support for conservative ideologies.

Now, in addition to “slut shaming,” feminism has also taken on a crusade against “mansplaining.” The latter made-up word is meant to serve as a concise way to identify the condescending behavior women are apparently subjected to by men who think they are more knowledgeable than their female counterparts – particularly in a professional setting.

Microaggressions such as interrupting, co-opting ideas and eye-rolling are among some of the most common examples of mansplaining. And yet, when CNN anchor Anderson Cooper literally rolled his eyes at Conway on air, these “problematic” behaviors suddenly weren’t so offensive.

Now I must add a caveat here – while the move was both incredibly condescending and extraordinarily unprofessional, I wouldn’t go so far as to call it sexist.

However, the real issue isn’t whether or not it was sexist. Instead, the problem is that the same people who would have cried sexism had this happened to a Democrat failed to do so when it happened to a Republican.

In fact, one need not imagine the backlash a conservative media personality would face for doing something similar to a liberal female guest because there are plenty of examples of such misplaced outrage already. But once again, we see radio silence the moment the script is flipped.

I mean, where were all the feminists when former “The Blaze” host Tomi Lahren lost her job for what appeared to be her pro-choice ideology? Oh, they were too busy mocking Lahren and celebrating the decision – she’s still a Republican after all. So much for women supporting women!

It is increasingly clear that feminists only take issue with other women being silenced or ridiculed if it interferes with their ability to spread a liberal political agenda. For a group of people who speak so highly of unity and collective action, feminists still have a long way to go before anyone on the right believes their “movement” is anything other than a free platform for Democrats.

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