I'm still not sure if my previous post was legit what-the-heck commentary or participating in what i was bemoaning. But fortunately, my friend dirt (whose blog is much more eloquent than mine, even if she doesn't have the privilege of drawing on kid-generated potty humor for content) blogged this article by Robin Morgan today.
As dirt says, she voices issues better than I ever could. Just go read it.
There's no candidate who shares all my views, but more and more I'm getting to like Hillary, and I'm ashamed to say I was surprised to like her. I'm more ashamed to say that the reason I was surprised was that I'd bought into the popular perception of her. You know: the ice queen. The politico who never could be as wifey or maternal as probably she should be. The bulldog.
Why I never saw this as the double-standard and sexism that it is is beyond me. Maybe because it's become the norm. (I was going to describe it as "thinly veiled sexism" in the previous sentence until I realized it isn't veiled at all. Just not looked at.) Maybe because on the few occasions I have brought up such attitudes, I'm quickly shot down with a response that says, you're basically being paranoid. We don't need the gender movement anymore. Does more harm than good. And besides, no one is being denied any on-paper rights, are they? How is it that anyone's being repressed? Aren't you being a little over-sensitive?
Maybe it's because I do indeed have a few views that are considered pretty conservative, pretty red-state. Maybe not most of my views, but I've been in a constant mental dialogue with myself trying to reconcile these few views with the subconscious recognition that this issue isn't settled.
A friend a while back asked me if I was a feminist. I proceeded to talk at extreme length (what, me? I know, shocking) about how of course I was a feminist, but not like you think, not like the raving, shrill voices you hear. How I'm fully justified being both a feminist and conservative in a small handful of issues, because really, as I see it, I'm being more philosophically consistent. (At this point I launched into an extremely long treatise on just why and how I was being philosophically consistent. Again, I know. Shocking.)
But really, I was just trying to justify it to myself. Am I a feminist?
Yeah, I guess I am. And I'm pretty shrill sometimes, even.
Seriously. Go read Robin Morgan's article.
Also, watch this video. It's a few years old, but ... wow. Just wow. If three guys younger than my brother can put words to the issue, I am put to much more shame than I realized.
(Back to our regularly scheduled poopy and pukey humor in the next post.)
6 comments:
Welcome to the blue side! Anyhow, when we start making dollar for dollar equal pay for equal work, then maybe we can stop talking about women's rights. It's also hard not to talk about here, in the land of Susan B Anthony. Come visit us soon, and you can go with Kristina and me to the Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls or Susan B.'s home in Rochester. Just because of her I have to vote every time I'm supposed. (and yes, I DID vote for Hillary).
Yes, you are correct and welcome from the Dark Side, Kim.
And I, too, voted for Hillary.
Thanks, guys. Nice to have some allies in the family. (As you know, I wasn't exactly raised a blue-stater.) And fear not, I hone and define my views best when I also have another view to bounce them off of, and my husband provides that in spades. Think my dad, but maybe not quite as loud. (Though he does that same infuriating, smug, thinks-he's-won-when-he-clearly-hasn't face.)
We do share some fundamental views, which is good, or we might not still both be among the living. Other folks find quiet, marriagey things to do with an evening together. Not us.
He'll come around. He's too smart not to.
After you guys moved, my father was the only Republican left, and I think Kevin, Mom and I all wore him down, and he was a registered Democrat to the end, so there is hope. Mike used to be an independent, but he too is a Democrat now. Of course Snugs also chose to be a Democat instead of a Republicat. What about Walker?
Oh, Walker is absolutely a Democrat; remember, he was a homeless dog rescued by Val. He helps Val and I with our committee work in our district.
Also, remember that on Val's side of the family, her mother Janice is the vice chair of the Amherst Democratic Committee, a member of the Erie County Democratic Executive Committee and was a presidential convention delegate for Jerry Brown and Bill Bradley. On the other hand, she ran as a delegate for Barack Obama this year, but lot.
Va;s sister Tricia is a Democratic committee person in Amherst, as is her husband, Brad.
That's "but lost" and "Val's sister," of course.
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