One of the persistent facts that run through the history of space exploration has been the opposition of the political left to the concept. In times past, the phenomenon has featured leftist politicians who railed against money being spent on NASA that should instead, in their view, be spent on social programs.

However, the rise of commercial space entrepreneurs has been accompanied by the emergence of a new kind of leftist opposition, coming from the feminist left. These are not feminists who hold with the reasonable and straightforward view that women should be treated with dignity, respect, and equality.

The brand of feminism being expressed is an ugly one, then defines masculinity as something evil, to be repressed and opposed at every juncture. Space exploration and efforts to settle the high frontier are the results of patriarchal privilege that is evil and destructive, in their view.

One singular event that has triggered some of these feminazis, as Rush Limbaugh once aptly described them, has been the launch of the space car by SpaceX’s Elon Musk. They don’t like it, not even a little bit.

Planetary Society editor triggered by the mainly white men celebrating the car launch

Emily Lakdawalla is an editor for the Planetary Society, a space advocacy organization run by Bill Nye, the former science guy who was recently attacked by a group calling itself “400 Women Scientists” for consorting with a Republican congressman.

Lakdawalla usually writes accounts of space science, the missions of planetary probes and the scientific knowledge they have garnered. She even liked the Elon Musk’s space car until something set her off.

“It was a brief shot from the SpaceX launch broadcast of celebrating Tesla employees. Conspicuously, they were all male, and almost entirely light-skinned.

It was a punch in the gut to the white women and people of color feeling otherwise inspired by the launch.”

If the gentle reader has to read that passage twice, he or she would be forgiven. Lakdawalla enjoyed the launch of the space car until she found out that a bunch of primarily white guys also enjoyed it. She was also angered at the reaction that some of her friends got when they attacked the Elon Musk space car, being surprised no doubt that anyone may get upset as a result.

Space colonies are rape?

Lakdawalla’s reaction was positively mild compared to that of Marcie Bianco, Manager of the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University. She basically stated that the exploration of space and planting settlements on other worlds is the equivalent of what Donald Trump boasted about in the infamous Hollywood Access tape. “The desire to colonize — to have unquestioned, unchallenged and automatic access to something, to any type of body, and to use it at will — is a patriarchal one.” The sentiment might come as a surprise to Gwynne Shotwell, the president and chief operating officer of SpaceX.

Clayman’s article is an incoherent rant that combines half backed Freudian psychology with radical environmentalism and a twisted view of history that would have shocked Howard Zinn.

The one thing that frightens me about the sentiment is that Clayman is not a member of a lunatic feminist group but is in the employ of an institution of higher learning. Impressionable students are being exposed to this kind of insanity. Money is being expended by the university to develop and expound the male-bashing philosophy.

The real reason for colonization, then and now

Contrary to Clayman’s article, the real reasons for the colonization of the new world were complex and as varied as the people who set forth for distant lands across the ocean. Some were trying to get rich and were not picky about how they did so. But the vast majority of people who braved the Atlantic wanted to build new lives for themselves, free of the corruptions and oppression of the countries they were fleeing from.

Now, humanity is presented with a new frontier, one that resides across an airless ocean. New left rants about the oppression of native peoples by colonists do not apply here. No native Martians or Lunarians exist to be oppressed. The new lands across the gulf of space really are pristine, ready to be filled by the children of Earth.

To be sure, the high frontier of space is filled with riches ready for the taking, to be used by those with the wit and will to create new wealth. However, it seems that another reason exists to leave Earth and settle on the moon and Mars, to get away from angry scolds such as Emily Lakdawalla and Marcie Clayman. 100 million miles is barely enough distance to leave between space settlers and people like that.
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