title:  SURPRISE: The People Behind ‘Fearless Girl’ Statue Were Cynical, Greedy, Anti-Feminist Men
text: There were a lot of arguments online after the  Fearless Girl  statue was erected in front of the Wall Street Bull. Many people thought it was a perfect representation of standing up to the male-dominated culture of the financial industry, while others felt like it was just another commercial effort to cash in on the popularity of public companies suddenly growing a conscience and adopting policies that appease  social justice warriors  (also known as decent human beings).Unfortunately, one of those arguments has been proven right.According to the New York Post, the firm behind the statue that went up ostensibly to  promote gender equality,  State Street Corp, was caught underpaying 300 female employees, along with 15 more who were black.After the company was audited by the Department of Labor s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, they promised they would come up with the money, but in the meantime, it just looks bad. The company settled for $5 million, an astounding amount, considering the relatively small number of affected employees.How far will this faux-minism set women back? None. Real feminists don t require icons or court confirmation of oppression.Twitter was similarly unimpressed:Modern feminism sometimes suffers from a lack of explicit examples of sexism. Not today:Harvey WeinsteinFearless Girlbirth control  Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) October 6, 2017Reminder that the only thing "Fearless Girl" represents are the corporate interests of State Street Corp, a multi billion dollar firm https://t.co/ADeiehQacB  TJ Welch (@tjwelchofficial) October 6, 2017The fact that @StateStreet who made the  Fearless Girl  statue is being sued for pay discrimination is so ironic it s hard to believe  Bud Fox (@bbardi14) October 6, 2017It seems systematic abuse of women can be overlooked so long as you posture an enlightened liberal feminist. https://t.co/aRuSJZwukG  Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) October 6, 2017Unfortunately, the garbage people who lurk around Twitter specifically to harangue feminists and  social justice warriors  (also known as decent human beings) went crazy with the news, painting all feminism with the same broad strokes that can now be applied to this multi-billion-dollar company. Noted misogynist and all-around piece of shit James Woods chimed in, of course, although to pick up his subtle dig at feminism requires reading the replies to his tweet   which he was fishing for. A full complement of alt-right Trump trolls joined the party, and anti-feminists everywhere saw the hypocrisy and cynicism of this one company as emblematic of the whole:The Fearless Girl statue is utterly moronic, but it exemplifies the feminist movement. A petulant child standing in the way of the market.  Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) October 6, 2017Yet another example of the culture that brought you Donald Trump and the brazen theft of women s labor by corporate oligarchs.Feminism will be just fine without  Fearless Girl,  and the company that made her would be nothing without women.Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images