Parse The (Feminist) Details

There is a fascinating bit of back and forth in the NYTimes about politics, feminism and the manipulation of words in service to ideological slogging.

Since I've done a bit of work through the years on poverty issues, this bit grabbed me especially:

Gail Collins: Do you think the Mama Grizzlies really can be feminists? I don’t think you can throw a woman out of the club because she voted against the stimulus bill. But if feminism simply means supporting equal rights and equal opportunities for women, I don’t see how a feminist can be opposed to government programs that provide poor working mothers with quality child care.


Stacy Schiff: Exactly. The issue is no longer first-rate intellect, or first-rate temperament, but first-rate opportunity. Which is where the Mama Grizzly business really falls down.


What Mama Grizzly wouldn’t believe in school lunches, health insurance and quality childcare?


An actual grizzly mom is a single mom. She lends a whole new definition to full-time homemaker. If Dad shows up it’s probably to eat the kids. What Mama Grizzly wouldn’t believe in school lunches, health insurance and quality childcare? Who’s going to look after the kids while she’s off hunting? It’s really, really clever to put this powerful vocabulary — pit bulls and grizzlies — in the service of disempowering people. Kind of like death panels in reverse.  (emphasis mine)

Amen, sister.


Let us all say "thank you" to Frank Luntz and his cronies for our "up is down" moment of the day.  Again.  At some point, do you think the bulk of us will wake up and call bullshit on the manipulative farce that aspirants to elected office have foisted on us the past few years?

Honestly, the fact that people still buy anything that comes out of any Beltway mouth is shocking enough.  But that you think they actually mean what they say -- ever?  Color me cynical.  Shouldn't we all be more attuned to crapola, and realize that we are all in this together regardless of how some nincompoop on the ballot wants to use us for their personal gain?

Yeah, I'm not going to hold my breath, either.  But it is a nice sort of Howard Beale thought, isn't it?

In any case, what does it mean to be a feminist these days?  I consider myself one, not just for my sake but also for my daughter.  If I do a job, I expect to get equal pay for my work -- or more if I do better work than someone else.  If I apply for a job, I expect to be treated with respect and not be discounted because I have boobies.  As I mom, I know exactly how hard that job is and will continue to be -- and for single moms out there, I honestly do not know how any of you do it, day in and day out.

I vote, I raise my voice when I want it to be heard, and I refuse to cower under any circumstances.  My opinion is not worth less because of said boobies, either.

Having worked in industries and professions where men have traditionally dominated, I know exactly how it feels to have your role in the room reduced to half the people staring at your rack while the other half listens to what you say.  I'd like my daughter to not only have better than that, but to know exactly how to handle it if and when she has to do so.

But this isn't just an issue for women.  It is one for the men in our lives as well.  Mr. ReddHedd is keenly aware about being the father of a little girl who wants to grow up and dream big dreams.  And he is fiercely protective of her right to dream any dream she wants, and to achieve whatever she sets out to do without any "girl" obstacles whatsoever.

What does it mean to you?  What will it mean for our daughters?  Those are really interesting questions, aren't they?

The one answer I do know that is universal:  we are all in this together, and we rise and fall as we treat each other and raise each other upward...together.  Would that more people saw it that way, I suppose.


(Photo via Jose Tellez.  Love this shot.)