Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here

[georginasand]

"There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women" ~ Madeleine Albright

I'm big on betrayal. I hated Sirius Black, of Harry Potter fame, not because he was innocent or guilty, but because there was even the slightest chance he had betrayed his friends. I am loyal to a fault, so nothing makes me quite as mad as being betrayed. And my little crusade for the past year of so (hi partners in crime!) has been strong women, so it shouldn't be surprising when I say...

...that frankly I think that every person with two x chromosomes* in this country has been betrayed by the equality that we've been fighting for for so long. Sarah Palin was McCain's pick for a running mate. While we should probably be rejoicing at the number of women in the government these days, Jeannette Rankin is rolling her grave, and I am on the verge of proverbial tears.

This is not meant as a personal attack on Ms. Palin, she's been asked by her party to take the position of her dreams. More power to her, and I wish her the best of luck. But there is reality to the fact that her record does not adequately explain why she was chosen. She has been governor of Alaska for a year, before that she was mayor of a town of 9,000 my college is more than twice as big), before that she was a runner-up for Miss Alaska. Honestly, there is nothing wrong with her record, she's young (...okay, so Catherine Howard was young, but we've stopped beheading people for that), she has her whole career ahead of her; none of this is about her in particular. But why does the oldest man running for office (i.e. the one mostly likely to die in office), pick a young women from a working class family in Alaska. I'm not a political analyst, but my guess is because McCain knows that the votes of the young, some women, and a whole lot of working class families, are the ones he's not getting. Fair enough, that's good politics. As the unfortunate James Norrington might say, "Business as usual." But would it also have anything to do with the voters who so wholly supported Clinton that they swore they would vote for McCain before they saw Obama elected. Would it suggest that 50% of this population is so obsessed with seeing one of their own in heaven (and perhaps avoiding Madeleine Albright's special hell for women who don't help other women), that they (and consequently he) would put their countries interests, security and existence (and not because she's a Republican... I am NOT going for that... but because she is inexperienced), at stake to see one less Y chromosome in the capital. There are some people who would do that, but for McCain to make such a broad gesture as his running mate is insulting. It's insulting to me and my friends as women voting in a national election, it's insulting to the women who are staid Republicans, who frankly deserve better from their candidate male or female, and in it insulting to the women who have fought their way to the top of the government and the Republican party, not because they are a pretty face and ovaries, but because they are intelligent, strong, and good at what they do, regardless of their gender.

That entire paragraph could be miss read because, at least for this election, I am very much a Democrat, but I'm not finish.

I am not a fan of Hilary Clinton. I was at one point; however I am not thrilled with how she has run her campaign. But when my friends and I started our list of strong women (previously mentioned, I think) we agreed early on that strength had nothing to do with good vs. evil, right vs. wrong, or even success vs. failure, but involved filling a void outside yourself and that being a women was merely a fact of biology and culture, rather than an accomplishment in itself. We haven't yet decided to put Clinton on the list, but she certainly has many of those qualities. Qualities that have been suitably lauded at the Democratic Convention, but they have always stipulated her womanhood. They have said that it is remarkable for her, as a woman, to be making the speech she made last week about her campaign (but less remarkable for her, as a human, to be making the speech about a very hard campaign for anyone?) They have said that she is an inspiration to our daughters (but not to our sons?). She is not an innocent victim, entirely, her speech invoked her womanhood as its own qualification entirely too much.  But what gets to me is that after all the worry about how race was going to play out in this election, Obama has played the race card hardly once for every 20 times the woman card is played by Clinton or on her behalf. That is not to say that women should not be proud of the things that they do, and it must be acknowledged that the road to those accomplishments has been a little harder than it might have been had it not been for the original sin and all of that jazz, but while it is insulting for women's accomplishments to be praised by men as "remarkable for a woman" and an "inspiration to our daughters" it is almost inexcusable for us to do it to ourselves.

It is one thing to be betrayed, it is quite another to betray yourself, and more than women not helping women, that is what should get you in the special hell.

I remain,
Georgie

Comments

[merrycaepa.livejournal.com]

Marry me?
(This is not PEA talking)
More feedback later - gotta go - but: excellent.

[georginasand.livejournal.com]

yes of course, dear.

[merrycaepa.livejournal.com]

There were some people next door for a while: she's Turkish, he's Kiwi, but they live in NYC with their kids and were back in the Old Country visiting grandma. We wiki'd Paulin: I read the entry aloud while the mom gathered laundry. I got to the part about hunting moose and she cursed with gusto. It was pretty funny.

(Unfortunately they've gone back to the States. But they gave me American tampons - which you can't find here and I don't want to get into details, but applicators matter - and American magazines and took me out for ice cream. They were pretty awesome)