The Nation on whole, geared up for the coming catharsis on RACE that Barack Obama was gong to bring us.. the next "free at last" moment. In one fell swoop of the Moose Antler the conversation has been switched to what appears to be gender. But, I do not think so, Sarah Palin's gender is not what is causing all the brew-ha-ha. Do you really think that if Senator McCain had picked Elizabeth Dole or Susan Collins or or if Senator Obama had gone with Clinton or Sebelis we would be having this discussion of Mother-hood verses Vice President ? Those women have answered the question " can a woman have it all" or at least they have all the pat answers down. Sure it's hard for them , but they know to make it look effortless.
It is not Governor Palin's gender that is the issue, it is the true third rail of any American discussion, political or otherwise : Class.
It is not the fact that she is a mother, its the fact she had FIVE children and ONE at the age of 44. That is what appears unseemly, to what we have come to know as the VERY buttoned down and matching pant suited Washington. She could not be anymore outside the Eastern Seaboard Establishment that runs things.
Yes, she is a woman, hear her roar, but she is a Bible beating , hunting, fishing woman who had big hair in the 80's and was in tacky little beauty pageants. She has a knocked up 17 yo daughter . Juno in Juneau.! The GOP talking heads even tout her " working class background". - ( Which if I am not mistaken, being in government is the whitest of white collar jobs.) - She is as far from the Smith/Wellesley/Vassar roots of Woman's rights as you can get, she is not of that mold. That is the issue. It is the fact that Roseanne Barr is running for Vice President,and not Mary Tyler Moore. ( well, Roseanne Conner and not Mary Richards) I think this election may take us places we are not prepared to go. Race , we at least have a language to use, and a history of discussing. We Americans, are not supposed to think that Class even exists......
I was somewhat of a coward tonight and did not watch every single moment of the Republicans like i did for MY PARTY ( but really, would anyone expect me to go to a GATOR pep rally?) I did watch some, and it was on in the back ground while I was doing stuff. I swear, every time I looked up or walked by, Martin Luther King, Jr, was one the BIG screen there in Minneapolis. Did not know he was a card carrying member! What I really wanted to do was skip over all the HOORAY Bush stuff, BUT from what I saw and read afterwards, I could have watched, he was only a blip! Much more about 41 than 43. Smart move from the McCain team.
Tomorrow Night is PALIN night at the convention, and since they only started seriously thinking of her as the VP six days ago, I am thinking it will be petty hastily put together, but that I will be watching.
5 comments:
Great point. Right or wrong, we associate babies too young, too old and too many with lack of education and . . . yes, class. (Though I don't think they can say "traishy" just right up yonder in the great white north.) Sense enough to manage families with birth control we associate with higher levels of educational attainment.
And you're absolutely right that this whole discussion is a distraction that has no place in presidential politics. Which is why I ask you to think about it apart from politics. Palin's place in life and work confronts us with some very interesting images of working mothers.
Because you're wrong about Dole, Clinton, etc. making it look effortless. Like most women of their generation who've succeeded in business or politics, they've mastered the art of making their fertility invisible so as not to create this distraction. Whereas Palin has spent the past three months showing up at work with a baby in a sling. This is an image people react strongly to one way or another. Personally, I'm loving it, and that she had cabinet meetings in her living room. (I would have advised her against the red flowers toward something a little more professional in her choice of fabrics for that sling.)
All this is worth talking about. Is the workplace ready for this? Should it be?
I gave up the dream of living in that MAD MEN world of children seen and not heard years ago. It is not my universe that I live in, but theirs.
1000% a snuggley DOES NOT belong in Cabinet. Nor do sick pets or sudoku books. Not, that they can not be many many other places. I dont care if they paint little Mickey Mouses all over the boardrooms of Exxon, IMB and Smith Barney and fill them with children Because when they are in those boardrooms they are doing the work for Exxon, IBM and Smith Barney...
BUT, when the President is doing his work, he is working for ME, and I dont wont him or anyone distracted. There is SHOULD BE a degree of self sacrifice involved in politics..
"making their fertility a distraction"..... which YES it is a big one.. ( this is hard to write about ...) BUT, which is the distraction, the job from the baby or the baby from the job?
And I know that is the balance that 21st century women have to deal with, but they are making MY choice as well. What if I dont choose to be around that baby?
I'm not advocating for babies in the boardroom or, god forbid, the oval office. Just asking you to be a little relativist here – to open your mind a bit and imagine workplaces that recognize that some women (not me, obviously) can manage motherhood and career. Places where it would be OK to be “out” with the fact that you’re a mother.
I have been refraining from doing this – it would be much better in conversation over several bottles of cheap red wine. But to say successful women make motherhood look effortless is like calling old southern gay men bachelors.
We know you want to look the other way, so we make it easy. We don’t talk about our kids at business lunches. We ignore snide comments when we come in late from honors day. We keep a change of clothes on hand for when a kid pukes on us on the way to work.
Distraction? I can hear straight men who are not secure in their manhood saying it’s a distraction for them to work with a gay man – having to rid their minds of those thoughts, you know, and watch their back all the time. And how about “What if I don’t choose to be around queers?”
Again, I’m not for bringing kids to work! But I can’t help but say, “You go, girl,” when I see Palin and the sling because it challenges the common assumptions and perceptions of mothers and the workplace.
I am not at all sure this is the space where we should be having this chat either ( and you know i quit drinking red wine after the great post Spondivites projectile vomit of 87) . For ANY late comers to this, Beth and I have been having this conversation for the last twenty five plus years, and , as a rule, agree on LOTS and LOTS of things.
I am FULLY 100% behind things like in house day care. bring that bundle of joy to work and drop him off down the hall, FULLY support things like job share and flex time. Hello! more liberal than liberal here.
" to say that successful women make motherhood look effortless is like calling old southern gay men bachelors" I was ONLY talking about those four women. REALLY.... and that is their job, to present themselves in that manor. I know its hard.... I have said many time to many female friend " YOU NEED A WIFE"...
and well.. I really like the old confirmed bachelor..." Senator Russell was a life long bachelor with a special friend" always liked the sound of that.
YOU are the rare one that does not talk about your kids at work etc, because YOU have always bent over backwards to NOT hurt anyones feelings , YOU are one of the most sympathetic people out there, You have always tried to see all sides of an issue and go to extremes to not offend. YOU are rare.... two words: wrapping paper and girl scout cookies.
I said this was hard to write about, I prefaced things with an apology, my question about the "distraction" was more of a chicken or egg question, " which is the distraction for the woman, the job or the baby"
One thing you are leaving out of the "Palin and the Sling " [ the less popular follow up to James and the Giant Peach] She is the boss, she is the head of the state. So, yes, it can change the perceptions that once you are the boss you can do what ever she damn wants too...
Just because do not like children does not mean I am ANTI Children, and just because for the most part I am pretty darn misogynistic, I am far far from anti woman, or motherhood.... really. ( I do hate Sarah Palin though.... again, really)
Hey, want to buy some Sally Foster wrapping paper? Orders are due Monday . ..
Post a Comment