HOW TO MAKE FEMINISM GREAT AGAIN...

Hilary Clinton's defeat is wreaking havoc in the sisterhood. Celebrity feminists are especially distraught. "Girls" star Lena Dunham developed hives and fled to Sedona for spiritual renewal. Katy Perry took to Twitter to declare "THE REVOLUTION IS COMING." For feminist icon Robin Morgan, the election is proof that "a diseased patriarchy is in a battle to the death with women."

But less excitable analysts are drawing more sober conclusions: Perhaps the women's movement is too elitist and out of touch with ordinary citizens, especially working-class women. That seems right, but I would go one step further. Today's feminism is not merely out of touch with everyday Americans; it's out of touch with reality. To survive, it's going to have to come back to planet Earth.

Today's women's movement also needs to reckon with the fact that men struggle just as much as women.

Feminism is drowning in myth-information. Advocates never tire of telling us that women are cheated out of nearly a quarter of their salary; that one in four college women is sexually assaulted, or that women are facing an epidemic of online abuse and violence.

Such claims are hugely distorted, but they have been repeated so often that they have taken on the aura of truth. Workplace discrimination, sexual assault and online threats are genuine problems, but to solve them women need sober analysis, not hype and spin. Exaggerated claims and crying wolf discredit good causes and send scarce resources in the wrong direction. 

Today's women's movement also needs to reckon with the fact that men struggle just as much as women. Modern life is a complicated mix of burdens and advantages for each sex. Too often, feminism focuses on gender inequities among elites: CEOs, MIT astrophysicists, U.S. senators. It is true that there are too few women in those positions, but we need to consider the entire workforce for context. Most backbreaking, lethally dangerous jobs — roofer, logger, roustabout and coal miner, to name a few — are done by men.

Women's activists are now planning a Women's March on Washington on Jan. 21. The organizers want to remind the new administration that women's rights are human rights and for the world to "HEAR OUR VOICE," in all caps. If I may offer some unsolicited advice: If that voice is calm and judicious rather than hyperbolic and harping, people just might listen.