The Good Fight's alt-reality season premiere took a hammer to corporate feminism

Vulture

"What is corporate feminism? It is the belief that women vaulting themselves to the same echelons as white men is radical progress," says Angelica Jade Bastién of the Season 4 premiere that imagined a Hillary Clinton presidency. "It is Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg saying, 'We would be a lot better off if half of all countries and companies were run by women and half of all homes were run by men, and we shouldn’t be satisfied until we reach that goal.' It is Hillary Clinton, in her recent Hulu docuseries, insisting she’s not a part of the establishment as a means to bolster her legacy, with little regard to the women she has failed as a politician. Corporate feminism isn’t so much feminism but a shield that women of privilege use to hold on to the power they’ve garnered — even if it means undermining other women’s concerns and tragedies to retain that power. As Diane says after wincing through Lucca defending Weinstein in court, 'Justice is an equation. Justice equals the law times the zeitgeist. The law on its own doesn’t stand up.' The zeitgeist in this universe works against the righteous anger Diane has grown into. The insidiousness of corporate feminism takes an especially potent form as Diane learns just how much Weinstein has benefited under the Clinton presidency. He remains a powerful Hollywood producer, sending his minions to squash any sexual assault allegations that rear their head by using sexist language about 'bitter actresses' with a 'limited shelf life.' He’s garnered the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Much as he did in our world before Me Too, he is able to thrive in part because he uses feminism as a shield, echoed through his friendship with Clinton as well his donations to splashy liberal causes like Women Unite for Change, a charity that Diane discovers she co-founded in the wake of Clinton’s win. Here, The Good Fight reveals the interlocking factors of a specific brand of spineless liberalism — the women who become oppressors as they rise to positions of power, the emptiness of Hillary Clinton’s messaging, and the willingness of the powerful to maintain a destructive status quo — and how it ultimately protects men like Weinstein."