What's the point of this website?
A fair question. Two quick answers:
1. Those of us lucky enough to live in the most progressive parts of the world tend to focus on how good we have it, and yet we still haven’t achieved true gender equality.
2. I’m over trying to pitch women’s magazines. I find that if the story isn’t about slimmer thighs for summer, they’re just not interested.
This stuff is important, I’ll try not to make it too dry.
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I don’t read articles about the “progress” women are making and get excited. I read them and feel discouraged that things are not moving faster. I read them and think, if this topic is still newsworthy it’s too early to celebrate. When reading Newsweek’s, “Women Will Rule the World,” I didn’t take it at face value. I read between the lines and did some research.
Here are a few points of clarification:
- “American women are responsible for 83 percent of all consumer purchases.”
According to she-conomy.com, 91% of women say that advertisers don’t understand them.
- “Of the 15 job categories expected to grow the most in the next decade, all but two are filled primarily by women.”
The two that aren’t, which Newsweek fails to mention, are janitor and computer engineer, and there might be more growth in computer engineering in the next decade than in all other 14 fields combined.
- “The debate over women in the workforce is still fresh and exciting in the developing world.”
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Nancy Bauer wrote a piece for the New York Times Opinionator section this week called “Lady Power,” in which she argues that the state of feminism today is embodied by Lady Gaga.
The comments were more interesting than the piece itself, and touched on artifice, morality and hook up culture. One in particular by a Transgender man (he was born a woman and became a man) really got me thinking about the difference between men’s and women’s experiences in our society.
This is his comment:
“As a Transgender man I have one recommendation to every woman who believes she is somehow ‘empowering’ herself by getting on her knees to service a man: Go live as a man for one week. See how radically different it feels to really be respected and empowered in this society.
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@DCdebbie Happy Father’s Day— especially to all the gay dads who had to fight hard for their children and for acceptance. #lgbt
@KushielsMoon RT @Mama_JuJuBee Hubby just woke up. I said “Happy Father’s day” & handed him the baby. That’s a good gift,right? | LOL perfect gift!
@estystein Interesting how each holiday brings up different conversations about gender norms and expectations in the USA.
@NurtureGirl Dear fathers… happy father’s day. (I am blessed - I have two dads to enjoy today.) #gratitude
@QueenofSpain I though it only appropriate I give @aaronvesta verrrrrry nice bottle of scotch for Father’s Day. Since the kids and I drive him to drink
@IAmDrTiller Happy Father’s Day, especially to all who helped raise feminists, whether they meant to or not
@womanistmusings Happy fathers day to all the wonderful dads out there. May your day be wonderful peaceful and full of love
At 92Y Tribeca the other day, I heard Susan Shapiro Barash, author of Tripping the Prom Queen: The Truth About Women and Rivalry, talk about the ways in which women hold each other down instead of raising each other up. Following are three:
1. The “Not Enough Pie Syndrome”
Women seem to be under the impression that there are a finite amount of good things that can happen to us, so if a good thing happens to one of us there’s less pie left for the rest of us. An example of this is the Sex and the City episode where Charlotte finds out that Miranda is pregnant and cries, “That should be my baby!” This idea of “limited goods” or “magical theft” makes us feel like something is being taken away from us just because it’s happening to someone else.
The flip side of this theory, I imagine, is that if something bad happens to someone else we’re relieved because that means it’s less likely to happen to us.
Solution: Introspection. The more we define and focus on our own goals the less we focus on what other women have that we don’t.
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