oldnslo (206 posts)
Sun Jun-14-09 11:19 AM
Response to Original message

3. I would like to see Letterman nip, gouge and gore Palin every

damned night for the rest of the year…..what a lousy, rotten, hypocritical bitch she is.

Alert Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top

“Respectfully, I think that perhaps Hillary Clinton should just take the so-called sexism and not say anything. I have managed my career without paying attention to the NEANDERTHALS who just couldn’t see a woman…”

Of course, events have taught Palin that you can’t avoid sexism and sexist neanderthals when you’re running for V-P. And that you cannot ignore sexism as it does not go away. She’s younger than Hillary and Sarah’s new understanding will be very important in tackling important issues for women when she gets the political prize–which can’t be too long in the horizon given Obummer’s ineptness, etc.

What amazed me throughout the primaries is the great respectfulness between Gov. Palin and (then)Senator Hillary Clinton. In fact, Palin praised Hillary when she was nominated (in full stage) for “cracking the top ceiling and letting 18 million lights shine in…”
By the same token HIllary praised the Republican Party for having the guts to give the V-P spot to a Woman….

Live and learn…The Hillary-Sarah epiphanies are multiplying and our daughters will be the direct beneficiaries. And one fine day Anti-Hatred Crime is what “sexism” will be called and it will be legislated agains, just like we punish racist commentary with social disgust….Obama was the beneficiary of a more enlightened attitude. Hillary and Sarah’s time will come once Obamyopia is cured–which won’t take too long. Hell, even that misogynist Maher is starting to see the light…yet no word about “Hillary was right about Obummer…”

I want them to know what they do not know and I want to listen to better understand the rights they have taken for granted and the way their roles have burdened them with responsibility most women never experience. We have been so entrenched in a structure which has not been valid since women were relieved, by modern conveniences, of the physically exhausting and time consuming labors of the past, there is resistance.

Just as changes so long ago allowed men the leisure time to engage in artistic and scientific endeavors which led to the Renaissance, women have the opportunity to renew themselves and explore the limits of their capabilities, with one difference. There must be an acknowledgment of those rights in order to take advantage of the opportunity. And those rights will never be won by timidly asking for equality thereby reinforcing the stereotypical weaker role we are trying to escape.

Why is being feminine and being a feminist an oxymoron? Because, for the most part, this division of identity has been created by those who are afraid of a change in roles. It isn’t necessarily malevolent but can be and the proof is in the increased number of incidents of domestic violence (reported) since the 1970s. The greater the struggle, the stronger the resistance.

http://pumapac.org/2009/06/14/brand-nightmares/

(Takes only a few minutes!)

And oh by the way aren’t they cool because they have a handy appliance that they can use to stand up and pee.

As a man gets older and older and his aim becomes a bit uncertain, sitting actually becomes a less macho but much neater option. It’s more relaxing, too. And it leaves both hands free to hold the magazine. And it invites longer periods of quiet time in the sanctuary of refuge.

I agree with just about everything you say. But we Women have to claim our equal rights for ourselves. We have the power. We are educated, employed, and hold & control money and wealth like no time in history. We are over 50 % of the population - with voting rights. The question is - have we reached the point were we want full and complete equal rights more then we fear full and complete equal responsibilities? Because if we do, we already hold the power to make it happen.

But first we have to stop blaming men and face our selves first.

Here’s were I disagree with you -

I have the greatest respect for Steve in KC, but reducing the difference between the sexes, as he does on another thread, to a penis or standing vs sitting is equivalent to comparing an apple and orange based only on the color of the fruit.

My take and my take alone on Steve’s humor piece (and it’s not a defense, because he doesn’t need one from me )- is that he was being a guy. Poking a stick in a hornets nest to proclaim he’s a guy. Thereby reminding us that there are guys on this blog. And oh by the way aren’t they cool because they have a handy appliance that they can use to stand up and pee.

Which pretty much makes the case for our side, wouldn’t you say?

We have seen at least three major battle-lines twisting, breaking, and becoming confused:

the struggle for women’s rights;
the struggle for racial equality;
the class war between elite sophisticates and “just plain folks.”

And, I’m sure there are several other battle lines that have shifted and become intermingled and perplexed. In fact, the “battle lines” are no longer “lines.” With such disoriented combatants, former allies sometimes look like enemies, and vice versa. I’m afraid this will be a very confused socio-political war, and No Quarter is in the midst of the struggles.

I don’t think SP is the issue. When any woman–especially one who is accomplished–is reduced to the sum of her body parts, that is sexism and that I oppose. I fault my sisters on the Left for their lack of awareness and their lack of compassion. Their views are self-serving and narrow-minded. They hurt all women, but especially themselves, because they have exposed themselves for being selfish and pandering.

I’ve never read anything definitive on the effects of emancipation on freed slaves after the Civil War, but I have an idea it was frightening to suddenly find themselves responsible for the food on their families table, knowing the decisions they made were theirs alone as well as the consequences.

For women, there has been no moment of truth. When the message is defined by a group of people who have no idea what our experience in life has been, but it is to their advantage to maintain their dominate role, it takes more courage to effect a change. Feminists have been re-defined as those women who are ball breakers, bitches, feminazis and man haters. In one generation, the perception has evolved in such a way to make it undesirable to fight for Women’s Rights and, as a result, sexism is acceptable. We can’t miss what we have never had and, out of fear of disapproval or confronting those who have assigned to us our place in society, we don’t fight.

How many people in our country recognize the nature of sexism? Women know, but they will laugh at Letterman’s joke or ignore the attacks hoping to deflect the same attitude by boyfriends, husbands, bosses and friends directed at them.

I know some of my comments have angered people, but I stand by what I have said in the past. The most important lesson women of all races and economic classes should take away from the 2008 election is the need to educate others and ourselves on respect and self respect. That won’t be accomplished by placating or timidity. I have the greatest respect for Steve in KC, but reducing the difference between the sexes, as he does on another thread, to a penis or standing vs sitting is equivalent to comparing an apple and orange based only on the color of the fruit.

I’m not trying to diminish the role of men, of any race, or the history of heavy responsibility they have born as bread winners. All I ask/demand in return is to be respected for my abilities and who I am, which is first a woman. Both my son and my husband open doors for me and I’m not insulted because they know and I know, I’m perfectly capable of opening the doors for myself. But there is a wall which can’t be breached ( or a glass ceiling which can’t be broken ) until more people realize reproductive roles or lack of physical strength relegate half of the population to an inferior or subservient position.

If we focus only on the crude and vulgar, we miss the more subtle, but still damaging characterizations which demean: insipid, simpering, whining, cackling and VAPID. No one is angrier with or more disappointed than I by the lack pro-active involvement by womens organizations in fighting the misogyny in the last year. They haven’t tried to unite women in opposition, but to be fair, they have listened to three decades of being called “ball-breakers” and didn’t have the courage to fight the inevitable accusations of racism.

All anyone can ever do is look at life from their own experiences and since our sex and race is determined at birth, it is impossible to fully understand what it means to be the opposite. I have made these arguments all of my adult life with male friends and lovers and I accept they will never comprehend all, but I have a right to respect and that is non-negotiable.

It was specifically about all women, even those like the Eagle Forum members who vociferously opposed it. Hell, it was even inclusive of Phyliss Schafly, who is one the most vile women I have ever encountered.

Though it did not pass, and only piece-meal measures have been put into place to this day, none granting full equality, I still believe equality applies to all women, period!

Side-note: I was executive director of a large Southern civil-rights organization throughout the 70s and into the 80s. The fight, and loss, re the ERA were totally devasting to me and my very dedicated and activist wife.

We had won every battle we fought, both in the public arena and courts, re civil rights, yet suffered an unbelievable, totally nonsensical defeat regarding a straight forward, uncomplicated, amendment grantng simple equality to over half of the population of this country.

Just as with the 2008 election, I will never forget it, nor get over it!

When people make fun of Palin, it angers me because she reminds me of the many, many hard-working, common sense, family-oriented women in my family: cousins, sisters, aunts. To me, it is as if these “feminists” are making fun of my family members. I have had enough of feminists who claim women like the ones in my family are not “liberated.”

Thank you, Diana. I feel the same way about the long line of pragmatic Great Plains matriarchs in my own family. Though I am fairly certain none of them ever heard of Judith Butler or Sandra Gilbert or any of the other voices of feminism, they were and are women of accomplishment in their own realms. They took pride in Hillary and Sarah as though they were their own daughters or sisters. It’s very disappointing that Gloria Steinem and friends are not nearly as supportive of women as they once professed to be. Nonetheless, I applaud the women they mock.