Courtesy of TPM:
A Friday memo by Jess McIntosh, the group's communication director, points to several off-the-wall statements made by Republican pols and candidates in the last two weeks that has "effectively re-opened the wound that caused the historic gender gap in 2012."
A number of conservatives raised eyebrows for claiming that female breadwinners are antithetical to nature, that women "don't want" equal pay, that working mothers ruined the American education system and that "hormone levels created by nature" drive sexual assaults in the military.
"It’s tempting to write these statements as outlier rhetoric, but this is what the current slate of Republican elected officials actually believe – and it’s backed up by the Republican Party’s priorities," notes McIntosh. "These aren’t just words, they’re a legislative agenda."
You know I may be classified as a traitor to my gender but I ALWAYS think it is a good idea to include women in traditional male dominated areas. And that includes getting more of them into Congress and the Senate.
I just feel that with more women involved we would be less likely to start unnecessary wars and spend our money on defense rather than social needs and education.
But I also think that having women around makes men less...what is the word I am looking for...stupid!
Now most of my employment history has been in occupations where women made up at least half if not the majority of my fellow employees, so I may see this somewhat differently than many of my male counterparts.
However I have worked in very male dominated workplaces as well, and I can tell you from experience that we are not at our best in that environment.
I once worked at a car dealership where business lunches were conducted at a local strip club and female customers were leered at as if they had jut walked into an all male penitentiary instead of a place of business. The jokes and remarks bandied about in that environment would have made any self respecting woman storm out of there in disgust.
To put it bluntly the men were pigs.
However as times changed, and the first female car salespeople were brought in, as well as female parts store employees, things changed. The men were far more civilized, their jokes far less misogynist, and their attitudes far less Cro-Magnon.
So while I don't believe that having more female representatives in Washington will solve ALL of our problems, I have to say that it will undoubtedly help when it comes to addressing things like inequality, human rights, and many social issues that men simply do not feel connected to.
"But I also think that having women around makes men less...what is the word I am looking for...stupid!"
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, my experience is that having women around only makes men more careful. Their opinions and attitudes are untouched, merely better camouflaged. Personally, I'd rather deal with the outright male chauvinist than the sneaking pig. At least the outright ones are honest!
The men I saw that truly changed attitude in my workplace (30 years in tech) were that ones that were able to comprehend that they had to compete with women for status by using their abilities.
Rest assured that there were many men that enthusiastically sought me out to work on projects because they knew what I could do and were indifferent to the packaging. There are lots of good guys out there. But sometimes they are not the loudest voices.
Early in our relationship, my wonderful husband pointed out that, "men are pigs. Don't ever forget that." and he has been proven right many times. A lot of those times are within the past few years. Sigh. I really do think that GOP men have taken it to us to a new level of pigs though. We are actually being disrespectful to pigs now.
ReplyDeleteI hope these four statements are repeated and repeated to voters by Republicans running for ANYTHING.
ReplyDeleteEither the Repub. will have to endorse these statements, or state that he/she doesn't agree, thus distancing them from their own party.
I can think of dozens and dozens of women of my own acquaintance, female Republicans, who are working to support themselves, or themselves and their children, or themselves, their husband and children who will disagree about every one of these statements.
The Republican solution to this problem with women: pay men so much, increase their incomes by so much, that their wives don't have to work. This is the 1950s/Mormon/Evangelical ideal. Keep the women penned up and reliant only on men to exist at all.
That leaves, of course, all the millions and millions of women who must work, who support their public schools, who want and need raises, and who think that rape, either in the military or by civilians, is a criminal act, not attributed to "hormones."
Oh, the humanity. Oh the insanity.
"These aren’t just words, they’re a legislative agenda."
ReplyDeleteThe GOP legislative agenda is to control women and minorities. Why? Because how else can GOP men feel like the gods they think they are.
If their own daughters were in the military and were raped, would they excuse the rapists as just suffering from "hormones"?
ReplyDeleteIf their own daughters needed to get a job to support herself, after college or after a divorce, or to help her family, would they object? Would they tell their daughters that it's fine that they're paid less than their male counterparts for the same work?
If their own daughters, college graduates, wanted to go on to become doctors, lawyers, engineers, social workers or what have you, would they tell them "no"? Just find a man to marry and procreate, like the Mormons do?
They would not. It's only other people's daughters who have to live by the Republicans' rules.
I'm not sure about that. My GOP MIL was convinced that nither her daughters nor her DIL needed college. She has one entire set of grandsons who didn;t go to college either. So all four kids and their spouses did eventually get a college degree, but her youngest relied on mom to raise her kids after a divorce forced her to go back to school. And that one, who should know better, has the kids without degrees. The girl married a doctor, and quit school after two years, but the boys are self-employed as builders. They are all rich, but basically self-educated, as grandma made sure they attended 'Christian' schools. Interestingly, the boys who are married chose divorced women with kids. Who work. The GOP is truly messed up, and their attitudes toward women are even moreso.
DeleteAmen brother! (From another brother.) Seriously - can we have two terms of Hillary and then two terms of Michelle Obama, please??? It would change this country for for the better for generations.
ReplyDeleteMichelle has already said she isn't interested. I'll settle for two terms of Elizabeth Warren. How about you?
DeleteI'd rather have Elizabeth Warren but time is running out. Neither she nor Hillary are getting any younger.
DeleteWell Gryphen, here's your hero!
ReplyDeleteEdward Snowden: The Whistleblower Behind Revelations Of NSA Surveillance
The 29-year-old source behind the biggest intelligence leak in the NSA’s history explains his motives, his uncertain future and why he never intended on hiding in the shadows
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2013/06/edward-snowden-the-whistleblower-behind-revelations-of-nsa-surveillance.php?ref=fpa
Gryphen,
ReplyDeletePerhaps you should re-word or clarify your statement:
"... female parts store employees,..." A female parts store? WTF kind of store is that?
ROFLMAO
The guys have had more than two centuries to run the US. Time to give women a chance to show their governing skills. – BTW, Philip Wylie wrote an interesting book "The Disappearance" (1951) – (Wikipedia - An unexplained cosmic "blink" splits humanity along gender lines into two divergent timelines: from the men's perspective, all the women disappear and from the women's, all men vanish. The novel explores issues of gender role and sexual identity. It depicts an empowered condition for liberated women and a dystopia of an all male world...) Worth a read!
ReplyDeleteI immediately went to the three library websites I have card access to, and not a single one of them had anything by him or by that name. It sounds like a great read. I'll keep searching.
DeleteI've worked in an environment that was male dominated and infested with "pigs", and for the most part, I learned to navigate my way. The ones that I couldn't stand were the ones who didn't speak out against it, but showed a different face when no one else was around.
ReplyDeleteThe company was bought by a woman, believe me, the "macho" mindset evaporated quickly and the rats jumped ship because their egos couldn't take having a female in power.
Here's another under the radar war that is going on...public schools are being disappeared all together, stealthily and insideously, the GOP are destroying public education.
ReplyDeleteOver the past Month State Level Republicans Have Taken Steps To Privatize Schools
There is nothing as terrifying, and threatening, to fascists as an educated populace that is unlikely to fall victim to lies and misinformation meant to sway an ignorant population’s opinion that being set upon by tyrants is in their best interest. One tactic to control a population is prohibiting education for the masses by either restricting access to education altogether, or devising a means of controlling curriculum and instruction through private and religious institutions paid for with public funds that, in America, has long been a goal of conservative-movement fascists and actively pursued by corporate Republicans and their legislative arm the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Over the past month, while Republicans have kept stupid Americans mesmerized with phony scandals and outrage that the African American President is somehow imposing on their freedoms, state-level Republicans have quietly and with little exposure taken steps to privatize school systems, restrict education to white wealthy children, and ensure that education is steeped in religious and conservative propaganda.
Last year during the general election campaign, Rick Santorum opined that “smart people will never vote for Republicans” and it may be the first true utterance from the religious sycophant’s mouth. It also informed just one of the reasons Republicans are ramping up efforts to privatize America’s public education system, shutter schools in poorer neighborhoods, and shifting public school funding to charter schools owned and operated by conservative and religious crusaders. There were three specific stories that went unnoticed by the public at large that portend Americans’ tax dollars are being funneled to private education, the prison system, and into wealthy neighborhoods while poorer communities’ schools are closed and sold to corporate-controlled private charter schools.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/06/10/month-state-level-republicans-steps-privatize-schools.html