Women drive a midlife trend

[trumad]

I say good for them....



Diane Noel Dirienzo and her friend Sharon Fitzpatrick have a lot in common. They live on the same street in Milford, Conn. They are both mothers as well as busy professionals, and both found themselves unexpectedly single after many years of marriage. (Dirienzo was widowed; Fitzpatrick divorced.)

A few weeks ago they both even decided to deal with a sudden bout of midlife ennui in the same way.

"I said, 'Let's go shopping,' " recounts Dirienzo, a real estate agent. "Let's really go shopping." So they did: specifically for two Mercedes cars, one apiece. Both wanted a black one -- sexy, elegant.

Later that day, Dirienzo, who is 53, signed the contract for a convertible CLK350. Fitzpatrick, 52 and a nurse, opted for a sleek, nimble E320 sedan. For each, her car was a statement as much as a means of transportation.

For too many years, they say, they had let the roles of wife and mother define their purchases: minivans or stodgy family sedans.

"I'm just celebrating my life," says Fitzpatrick, the mother of three grown sons.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-livmidlifewomen061705jun17,0,6208653.story?coll=orl-dp-classifieds

[Finder]

1. Not sure if radical materialism is to be commended.

Hopefully they are doing something good for their communities as well.

After reading the article I felt proud of them for doing for themselves yet...the correlation with men's cliche of going through a mid-life crisis gave me pause.

[Hello_Kitty]

2. I'm sure they are doing things for their communities

As women so often do. I'm on quite a few committees now with my local Dems, because my job affords me a lot of days off during the week. I look around me and all I see are women. They tend to be in their 50s and older and usually they are retired or semi-retired. Where are the men?? I realize the party has a higher percentage of female voters but there are still plenty of Democratic men out there who need to get off the golf course and get involved if they don't want to lose this country to the neo-cons. (Although, the nice thing about having all or mostly women is that we can collaborate and get things done without some guy trying to take over.)

So I say kudos to them for buying those hot sportscars. Those women have devoted their entire adult lives to other people and they deserve to splurge on themselves.

[Vladimir]

3. Fair enough if it makes them happy,

but you have to wonder about living in a society where people need to buy Mercedes cars to feel happy about themselves. I find it quite sad really, which is not to say I haven't often indulged in 'retail therapy' of one sort or another.

[noamnety]

4. That was my thought as well

I'm not especially impressed by the thought process that makes men buy powerful expensive sports cars to validate themselves, and I'm not any more impressed when it's women having the same thought process. I'm more impressed by people who don't let marketing departments define what does or doesn't make them a successful person.

They didn't comment on the financial situation of the first two women, but the one woman who was "saving her pennies" to buy a sports car sounds like she's making a bad decision that she really can't afford.

It's not my place to pass judgment on what cars those particular women are driving, but the fluff piece itself does feminism a disservice by giving us one more bit of pressure to conform to advertising pressure in order to feel successful.

Buy this = feel empowered.