Ladies of the SouthCoast, It's Time to Fight Back [OPINION]

Not that long ago, it appeared that men were going extinct. The male was portrayed in movies and on television as weak, feeble, unnecessary even. The tough-guy image was fading fast. It was the wussification of men for public consumption, the demoralization of the male gender.

There is still a lot of that going on for sure. But today, it seems as though the war on women is in overdrive – and it is the same progressive movement advanced by the gentler sex that is waging that war. The transgender movement is at the forefront of the battle. Not only has that movement hijacked the gay rights agenda, but it appears hellbent on the destruction of women.

What is sad about all of this is that women are allowing it to happen. Where is the National Organization for Women? Where is Gloria Steinem? What happened to the soccer moms from across the SouthCoast and America who fought to shatter the glass ceiling? Has the Me Too movement faded?

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I grew up during the Women's Rights movement of the 1960s. I was a latchkey kid whose mother bucked the system and joined the workforce. This is tough to watch.

Males transitioning to females are kicking women out of high school and college athletics. Women fought hard for funding for those athletic programs when money went almost exclusively to athletic programs for males. Now they are told they must compete against biological males.

I support any person's right to transition if they choose to do so, and I'm not judging them for it. But I think people should not have a right to encroach upon other people's rights, and I think to some degree, that is what is happening here.

Males who identify as females are doing Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Edition and taking other traditionally female modeling jobs away. A transgender woman, Kataluna Enriquez, was just recently named Miss Nevada USA. Enriquez defeated 22 females for the title and will become the first openly trans Miss USA contestant.

Meanwhile, some women are still not being paid a fair wage when compared to men. Reporting indicates that some female employers are among the biggest offenders.

Women are being rubbed out and are fading without a whimper. Come on, SouthCoast ladies, your pals in the progressive movement are setting women's rights back a million years. Fight back!

Barry Richard is the host of The Barry Richard Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. Contact him at barry@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @BarryJRichard58. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

LOOK: Milestones in women's history from the year you were born

Women have left marks on everything from entertainment and music to space exploration, athletics, and technology. Each passing year and new milestone makes it clear both how recent this history-making is in relation to the rest of the country, as well as how far we still need to go. The resulting timeline shows that women are constantly making history worthy of best-selling biographies and classroom textbooks; someone just needs to write about them.

Scroll through to find out when women in the U.S. and around the world won rights, the names of women who shattered the glass ceiling, and which country's women banded together to end a civil war.