G-L-O-R-I-A

Anybody watch the HBO special "Gloria, In Her Own Words"?   It's a portrayal of Gloria Steinem as a feeling thinking woman who became the iconic public face of the Women's Movement.  The narration is hers.  It's intimate.  The details, in some of her stories, are ordinary and relatable.  For example, she developed her trademark hair coloring of streaky highlighted hair because she loved Audrey Hepburn's hair in "Breakfast at Tiffany's."  She said she identified with Holly Golightly.  (really?)

She believed her looks to be an advantage in the women's movement but she did not want them to get in the way of her seriousness.  Makes sense.  She was the antithesis of how women in the early days of the movement were portrayed in the press.   Many people, women included,  thought of womens' libbers as unattractive, man-hating, angry broads out to destroy the family unit and AMERICA.  Sound familiar?

The Woman's Movement was condemned for having an agenda.  It was a tall order.  Steinem, along with the foremost forward thinking women of her day rallied, marched and worked to ratify the  Equal Rights Amendment and Roe v Wade.  Roe v Wade passed in 1973.  The ERA still hasn't been ratified in all 50 states and it's been in play since 1923.

What particularly stood out in this memoir was the vitriol she faced; how maligned she was and still is.  There is video of a shrill, hateful exchange from a woman caller to "The Larry King Show".  There was an incident of public flogging when some pornographer had a graffiti like portrait of her painted on the wall of her office building.  She's naked, her labia exposed, with hairy penises surrounding her.  She is overwhelmed.  She cries.  She's vulnerable.

Her experiences informed her views, her journalistic talent led her to explore and test those views with her readers.  As founder of Ms. Magazine in 1972, she started the first women's magazine written and published by women for women.  Dismissed and discounted as a flash in the pan, Ms. Magazine is still going strong today.  As is Gloria.

We're Gonna Frickin' Lose this Thing

I took this headline off The Huffington Post today. It links to the article, written by Adam McKay, about Obama's vulnerability in the face of Republican tactics. The post title caught my eye because my husband has been saying the exact same thing since the RNC. I respond to him the same way McKay's wife does, "Stop saying that!" But in my heart of hearts, I am really scared.

I thought the country was smart enough not to fall for "four more years" of any Republican candidate. Now, I'm not so sure. As if the war, now five years and counting, isn't enough of a deterrent, the economy is in the toilet, the middle class is disappearing, inflation is escalating, unemployment is at a five year high and the dollar at a low.

The U.S. is the laughingstock of the world and we're gonna elect John McCain???? I can't take it. Neither can this country. Four more years of people like this, people who support war and invading other countries; people who give tax breaks to big oil, big pharmaceuticals & the top 1% of income earners; people who want to spy on their own countrymen through illegal wiretapping; people who believe in waterboarding and torture despite the Geneva convention; people who want to destroy the environment when no reliable scientific study supports further drilling; people who don't believe in global warming despite all evidence to the contrary; people who believe in no abortion at any cost, including rape and incest...these are the people the country is leaning towards?

Instead of "God bless America", we'd better start saying "God help America."

I Wish Tina Fey Was the Vice Presidential Pick

Tina Fey & John McCain
cover of Life Magazine September 2004
uploaded from thinkprogress

thinkprogress.org/2008/09/04/mccain-fey-life/

Brave New World or Same Old Same Old?

I'm underwhelmed by the choice of Sarah Palin for running mate to John McCain. She represents pretty much everything I detest: the NRA, anti-abortion for any reason (including rape & incest), drilling in Alaska...and Rush Limbaugh's been talking her up since Feb. 08, according to slate.com.

I'm not all that impressed that she's a working mother of five either. I no longer believe a working mother can really have it all. Something has to give. As the mother of two sons who had to work for most of their growing up, it wasn't easy, it wasn't fun and I had many days of doubt. I retreated from a management position and subsequent offer because it was too time-consuming. I was working way too many hours spending more and more time at the office and less and less with my children. They were being raised by a series of nannies and that, in itself, became a problem. My biggest saving grace was being in sales. I could go home during the day if I wanted to check on them. Most women can't do that. I remember wishing we could start a daycare in our office building. I pushed for job sharing in its infancy. I finally convinced my boss, a bachelor, to let me work part time instead of full time so I could be home with the boys in the afternoons. My sales didn't suffer. In fact, my productivity increased because I was so happy. That ended when his replacement, a woman, wanted me to break up my sales accounts because I "couldn't possibly carry a full list and do it justice." I quit.

At that point, I was lucky enough to stop working for four crucial years. They were 6 & 7 and they needed Mom around to help them with school projects, sports and homework. It was a wonderful time for the family and especially for me.

I understand Gov. Palin has a stay at home husband, to some extent, and he can parent them in her absence. That is a good thing for her children. I'm not a proponent of child bearing to the extent where we do more than duplicate ourselves. The planet is truly overflowing. Many of the problems we face are because there are just so many people competing for the same things and using all our natural resources.

This probably sounds like backward thinking from a woman who believes in the liberation of women. I may be way off base making these statements. Most women do what they can to provide for their families and make their way through the work place. I believe women are equal in the work place and certainly capable of achieving greatness in all things. But I also know we are the nurturers, the caregivers, the housekeepers, the cooks, the laundresses, the nose-wipers and the comforters. Somebody has to be there. Yes kids learn by example but they also need guidance to get the wisdom required to recognize the example. Should it always be the woman who gives in? Of course not. But somebody needs to parent the kids.

I don't really see the Republican party or their nominees as the answer to our diverging class system, our economic problems, our ability to protect and provide for our children. If they were the answer, we wouldn't be in the mess we are today, seven & one half years after the Democrats left office. We should be focused on feeding our chidren, helping the poor, solving our energy crises and providing reliable health care. We should get out of Iraq, bring our soldiers home and concentrate on our citizens, our needs, our challenges.

Contraception Illegal?

WOW! If the above items don't scare you, I guess you're a devout right-to-lifer or someone who does not believe in the freedom of choice.

As a woman who came of age in the seventies, I wholeheartedly believe in Roe vs Wade and the freedom of a woman to choose. When I was a teenager in the late sixties, abortion was illegal and contraceptives could only be secured with a parent's consent. As a consequence, most of my friends had illegal abortions. I was one of the lucky ones. I never became pregnant. When I did become pregnant with my third child, many years later, I was on a high risk drug and afraid to have the baby. I had to make the wrenching decision to abort the child and it was not easy to find a doctor who would perform the operation. This was the early nineties and many ob/gyns were already running scared from the right to life groups, the bombings of abortion clinics, what have you. Luckily, I miscarried and never had to make the emotional decision. I had carefully practiced birth control all my life and this was a total surprise; but it didn't make it any easier.

It's funny. When your beliefs are tested, you find out what you'll really do. I did not want to risk having a mentally disabled child. I just knew I wasn't cut out for that as a Mom. I still prayed to God to help me through the decision, however, and I truly admire(d) the courage it takes for women to reject something as fundamental as a pregnancy.

A recent article in the LA Times about Pope Paul's contribution to the schism in the Catholic Church referred to the rigidity of his beliefs against contraception. This article pointed out that many Catholics wanted the church's blessing to practice more than the old "rhythm method" and, when he didn't give it, the divisions began, resulting in people openly rejecting the teachings of the church; priests engaging in sexual molestation/misconduct and the falling away from the church as the center of the Catholic world. I don't know if this is true but I do believe if we, as a nation, sit silently by while more of our rights are decided by the state and federal government, we are one step closer to dictatorship and the loss of everything we hold dear, as Americans.

For more on these issues:

Letter to Secretary Mike Leavitt from Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and 26 other senators, July 23, 2008

Redefining abortion; Federal officials considering a rule allowing health care workers to refuse to provide contraceptives," Houston Chronicle, August 10, 2008

If you oppose this draft regulation, go to: http://pol.moveon.org/contraception/ and sign the petition.