A technically purer definition of Ann Romney

[SoCalDem]

Macmillan English Dictionary

lady of leisure

a woman who does not have to work, especially because her husband earns a lot of money

...............................................................................................................................................................................

Ladies of leisure may or may not have children..entirely their choice


The extreme wealth of the husband allows for all the help necessary ..again by choice

The word "leisure" does not mean that she reclines all day long , eating bon bons..it just means that she is AT leisure from the stresses of figuring out how long that package of bologna will last, or that the washer is broken AGAIN..or that they cannot afford to take a sick kid to the doctor.. or that the electric bill is $160, and the checkbook balance is $95 & payday's a week off... stuff like that.

Ladies of leisure have the opportunity to CHOOSE whether to be a hands-on Mom or one who supervises, but delegates care. Ann Romney won the husband lotto.

I'd be willing to bet money that most of the women pictured below would love to be able to CHOOSE to be a stay-ay-home Mom too..but they probably did not choose a rich man (or have a rich man choose them). I doubt that many (any?) of them chose to wake up a sleeping baby or a sick toddler so they could serve food to strangers or wait on cranky people, and then turn over a large portion of their paycheck to people who watch their kids. These women still have the stay-at-home-Mom chores to do when their paid-jobs are done for the day. They are NOT ladies of leisure.

[wendylaroux]

1. urban dictionary:

Ann---uppity

[murielm99]

2. My sister-in-law is one of those.

I have always called her an idle woman. She had no children, either.

The most she ever did was plan meals when they entertained. He is pretty down to earth, so entertaining was not that big a deal.

But she does not have to do anything.

[customerserviceguy]

3. Firstly, she's a Mormon wife

and she didn't have a choice about the children. Secondly, we need to fervently hope that the media stops mentioning her soon. She's been able to play the victim card quite well on this round, no sense in going "Groundhog Day" on this particular poker hand.

[flamingdem]

4. Exactly, she's all Mitt has

and she's working it big time! Did you notice how much better she looked today?

She fired her previous stylist and looked much more sexy and current.

[customerserviceguy]

5. They don't call her his secret weapon for nothing

She can work a crowd much better than he can, she's way more convincing that she's for real than he could ever hope to be. Now, she's like a placeholder running mate for him to have until she steps out of the way at the convention.

Mormon women of old (and the still polygamous offshoot sects) tolerated polygamy for one reason, their religion teaches that the higher a man gets up in their version of heaven, the higher they get, too. For the polygamous, that means the greater number of children a man sires, the higher up he goes. So that "sister wife" is not your competition, she's another dog pulling the sled.

In the century since the main LDS church officially repudiated polygamy, Mormon women have adapted that self-sacrifice to doing whatever it took to make sure their man succeeded at his job, especially if it was in business. Ann Romney knows that if she can use her talents to successfully fake victimhood, it propels her husband along his chosen path to the Presidency, and she gets to be the first Mormon First Lady if that happens.

Same frontier ideal, just a different expression of it.

[flamingdem]

8. Anne Romney a pitbull pulling the sled

Interesting!

[aquart]

6. Excellent reframe.

Most SAHMs wouldn't know leisure if it bit them.

[Tom Ripley]

7. Why doesn't Sister Ann even sit on charity boards like many other idle society wives?

I know the answer, but I want others to start asking that question.

[dynasaw]

9. I think you forgot these women

[lunatica]

10. Thank you SoCalDem. I've been both

I was a stay at home mother for 15 years until I got a divorce and I've been a working woman since then (for the last 15 years). I chose to stay home because I had that choice to make. I wanted to raise my son and for a while my nephew too, instead of having school and babysitters do it. It was hard work for many reasons. You don't get a day off and the job is 24/7. You also get no raises or merits, and if you do it for recognition or respect you're wasting your time. Most people think you sit around in curlers and watch soap operas and eat bon bons. And by most people I mean women too. Even women think of stay at home mothers as women of leisure and spoiled.

Raising children is hard to do no matter where you are in their lives. It's hard to be a teacher because if anyone thinks teachers don't have a hand in raise kids, they're kidding themselves. If anyone thinks being a day care center worker is easy they're wrong too. Being a nurse in the pediatric ward is also hard work and it takes much more than just dispensing medicine and giving injections. Hillary was right when she said it takes a village because that's exactly what it takes. Teachers, child care providers, doctors, and coaches ARE the village.

When the boys were old enough to take care of themselves I went to work part time while they were in school. I still came home and did everything I did as a stay at home mother, so even though it was harder to do both I at least had a small salary and that small salary was like having a little reward for the first time.

When I divorced I went back to school to learn how to use the computer and got a job as a temp at UC Berkeley which led to getting hired full time. Over the years I got other jobs there, each time raising a little in the ranks. The work is hard and the pay is not enough, but I pay my bills and make it through the month.

But unlike Ann Romney no one has ever put me on some pedestal as a hard worker, either as a mom or as a working woman. No one gave me accolades for my efforts as if I was anything special. I've never had anyone take the time to reward my efforts and I find the whole Ann Romney fuss to be the height of cynicism on the part of all those men singing her praises. And I find her the worst of all, because her sincerity is nil. She just knows how to work the crowd well and eagerly jumps in when it comes to supporting her husband who, if she was really sincere with herself she must know is a cruel man to other human beings. She seems smart but I wonder how she lives with the the knowledge of all the people he's thrown under the bus so she can have that choice of staying at home.

I have no antipathy for her, but I also have no undue or untoward respect for her. She married well, and good for her. Now please shut up because, Ann Romney, for real, you're just not that more special than the rest of us, and your not winning too many of us women over either. Your husband is still a prick who would fuck women over in a minute.

[SoCalDem]

13. I have been both too. Both are lots of work (when we do it ourselves)

When my 3 were young, my husband traveled a LOT, so from Monday morning until Friday mid-day, I was IT!. There were times when I about went bonkers being the one and only to 3 boys under 6...24/7..but it was just the way it was, so we all did it and we survived. We never lived closer to a Grandma or any family (I was the oldest anyway) than 300 miles, so there were no breaks for me .

It's odd, but the thing I think I liked most about being at home with them, was the fact that they could all wake up when they wanted to in the morning, and could nap when they wanted/needed to, and they all had lots of "garden time" when it was summertime. They ate home-cooked meals, and since most of the Moms in the neighborhood were similarly situated, we all had a close-knit group with lots of friends & confidants.

[seabeyond]

11. wow... by this definition, i am a lady of leisure...

fuck... whomever.

[Justice wanted]

12. A stay at home mom IS a job WHAT Ann Romney does is MODEL She PRETENDS to be a "stay at home mom"

while the house is cleaned by maids and housekeepers, The garden is tended by Gardner's, The errands are ran by assistants THE ONLY TYPE OF SHOPPING and PRICES this woman knows is the price of the LATEST Prada Purse or Michael Kors Dress. Woman like ANN may have given birth to a child BUT Those children are nothing more than accessories for Her like Pair uses Dogs. Ann Romney types have kids who are raised by Nannies.


We shouldn't be drawn into this argument. A real stay at home Mom HAS MANY Legit jobs What Ann Romney types like are Models

[Liquorice]

16. How do you know all that about her? I have no reason to believe

she is any of those things. She could be a very nice woman and a hard-working mom for all we know. We weren't in her home.

[SoCalDem]

17. No one is saying that she is not a pleasant, nice, friendly woman

The right wingers are pushing her out front as Mitten's liaison between him THE CANDIDATE, and the women on the US (as a "group".. He;s so uncomfortable that he is apparently delegating the chore to her because (in his and the party's minds) SHE is so sympatico by virtue of being the SAME, that she can understand exactly what we need, want, expect and deserve.

Republicans think that women are interchangeable and made up of all the same moving parts..just rearrange the bits & pieces a bit here and there......we are all the same..

We are NOT.

She is just his wife..his life-partner..his buddy/pal/sounding board.. She is NOT like "most" women..She has no special psychic/situational conduit to the women of the country.

She has physiological/anatomical likenesses to most women, but it ends there.

[Cleita]

14. Great OP, but Ann Romney not only won the husband lotto, but

she had many more tickets than those women pictured above who probably couldn't even afford one. Her own privileged background enabled her to be groomed to be the wife of a wealthy man. Her college education was not geared to entering the job market but to enable her to keep up with a man of an equally privileged economic and educational background. The horseback riding, tennis lessons and all those pursuits gave her the debutante credentials to marry well. How do I know? I got a scholarship to a college that specialized in turning out women that would be proper wives for rich heirs. The scion and heir of a very wealthy, money in the family for several generations, family might date the waitress from the diner while sowing his wild oats, but he seldom will marry her. He will marry a woman with Ann Romney's background and education though, one whom his family approves. You think this doesn't exist anymore? It still does among the 1%.

[SoCalDem]

15. The more "modern" version of the Debutante Society , for sure

The "girls" study art, music, languages, literature, but they have NO intention to USE those skills to earn a living or to impart their knowledge to the younger ones who follow them.

They do it to become "well-rounded-intelligent" hostesses for their hoity-toity grown up lives.

Poor little Annie had to slog away at college while Mitt was away in Viet Nam...oh WAIT..he was in FRANCE for nearly THREE years.. Their couple-bio includes a time when she "cheated" on him with some other guy, and then Papa-George "took her under his wing" and soon afterward she converted to Mormonism and married the intrepid Mittens-home-from-the-war France , within weeks.. That was apparently her payoff for waiting like as good little blonde girl.