Two things are bugging me. First, the partisan complaint:
There is a part of me that feels so... ripped off at this moment. I really thought this was going to be the year the women really broke the glass ceiling, with its proverbial 18 million cracks. And, of course, I thought the Senator from New York would the the one causing all those shards of glass to rain down like a February snow in Buffalo. And... her limitations understood (which, for me, include a disconcerting tack to the right I've witnessed during the campaign, and the irrational hatred felt towards her by a significant minority of US citizens), she was just the right woman to do it. Smart, exquisitely educated, oodles and oodles of experience. An attorney with who fought for the rights of children and women. Someone who knows the ins and the outs of the health care system like I know the back of my hand. (Actually, once I confused the back of my hand with the back of my boyfriend's hand... perhaps a story for another day...) My friend G. said to me, as we walked along Peaks Island a couple of weeks ago, "Oh, clearly, she was head and shoulders above everyone else in the field. There was no question." There was no question.
So... now there's a woman on a major party ticket and it's not her. Not only is it the Republican nominee, but it's an anti-choice, anti-GLBT, anti-evolution, pro-gun, pro-big oil, pro-book censorship (for God's sake!!!) woman. Oh my heart. It just hurts. It rankles.
That's the partisan complaint. Now for the feminist one.
The way people are talking about this woman is making my blood boil. I have heard:
- She can't do the job of vice-president and be a good mother to five kids.
- She can't do the job of vice-president with a four month old baby with Down Syndrome.
- If she were really a Christian woman she'd be staying home with her family.
- She wears go-go boots (my honest reaction to this one? jealousy... I want some).
- She's too beautiful... how distracting.
- Do you think McCain picked her because he kind of wants to date her???
I sincerely hope this is my last post on the subject. I need to write a sermon.
7 comments:
I totally agree with you.
I just have trouble with the "superwoman" image they are projecting: kids, career, cleans her own house, etc. Maybe it just makes me feel: inadequate.
But the idea that someone is attractive, and that is cause for calling them "bimbo"?
Could we stick to issues?
Because there are enough of them.
Amen, sister. Yech.
I share the feelings of inadequacy. Maybe it's because I could barely stand three days after I had my last child...
yep. yep. yep. my thoughts exactly.
My heart hurts too. Hill, it so should have been you.
This dame from Alaska shouldn't be mentioned in the same newspaper as Clinton, let alone the same breath. She's bush league. I don't care WHAT she's wearing, she is not in any way equipped for the VP position. And the fact that the Elephants are now screeching in outrage about a media using the identical tactics that they applauded when used to bring Clinton down - can you spell hypocrisy?
As for feelings of inadequacy - nonsense. Those kids are looked after by SOMEONE when the parents aren't home, right? She's had plenty of help, I'm sure. And the "I'm just folks" crap is just that - she isn't hurting in the $$ department, I'm sure her family lives on a par with the Obamas or the Bidens. Middle America my ass, lady.
I hear you!
It's been a long week, hasn't it? I know that so much of what drives me crazy about the questions/observations you make is that the people who say/ask such things do so out of sheer ignorance. We're so accustomed to sexism as part of our daily lives, that they don't even realize that it might be offensive to ask such questions or make such assumptions.
What galls me most about the Palin pick is that she is the type of woman who gains admission to the old boys' network by being willing to oppress other women through anti-female/anti-family policies. It's just the kind of cynical pick we should expect the Republicans to make, I guess.
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