The XX Factor: What women really think.

Chelsea's Take?

There's an e-mail making the rounds this week that looks like it originates with Nicole Davison, a friend of Chelsea Clinton's, with the subject line "A must read...send to every woman you know..." In the version I got, it looks as if Chelsea forwarded it along. (I called the Clinton campaign to check on this. Waiting to hear back.) The essay is by Robin Morgan, of 1960s and '70s radical feminist fame. In those days, she wrote the movement manifesto "Goodbye To All That." The new essay is here and it's called (fittingly) "Goodbye To All That (#2)." Its hellbent in its support of Hillary. You really have to read it to get the full effect, but it's like the roar of second-wave feminism roasting everything in its wake--women who aren't avid Hillary supporters ("goodbye to some women letting history pass by while wringing their hands"); Barack Obama ("how dare anyone unilaterally decide when to turn the page on history, papering over real inquities and suffering constitutiences in the promise of a feel-good campaign?"); and, of course, sexist men guilty of "sociopathic woman-hating."

In the version I got, it looks as if Chelsea forwarded Davison's email with Morgan's essay, and added this note: "I echo Nickie though would also add to please forward this to all the men you know too--voting in the election tomorrow, voting next week, already voted. I don't agree with all the points Robin Morgan makes but I do believe her thesis is important for us all to confront--I confess that I didn't entirely get 'it' until not only guys stood up and shouted 'iron my shirts' but the media reacted with amusement, not outrage..."

Which is extremely interesting, if only because it's more than I think I've ever heard straight from Chelsea. If this is her writing, she seems pretty astute. So, is she right? Even if we don't agree with all of what Morgan has to say, either because we just don't or because we're not of her generation, should the reception to Hillary's candidacy radicalize us? Or is this just all too unhinged? The group of women on my e-mail list were split.