The New Macho: Feminism

[Scout]

I just love Barbara Ehrenreich!! great article

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/29/opinion/29ehre.html?ex=1092100609&ei=1&en=60b39db79e25a193


The New Macho: Feminism
July 29, 2004
By BARBARA EHRENREICH

The Dems couldn't be more butch if they took to wearing
codpieces. Every daily convention theme contains the words
"strength" or "strong," and even Hillary has been relegated
to the role of wife. The idea, according to the pundits, is
that with more than half of the voters still favoring Bush
as the guy to beat bin Laden, Kerry needs to show that he's
macho enough to whup the terrorists. Of course, everyone
knows that the macho approach is notably less effective
than pixie dust - otherwise, we wouldn't be holding our
political conventions under total lockdowns.

Well, I've been reading bin Ladin - Carmen, that is, not
her brother-in-law Osama (she spells the last name with an
"i") - and I'd like to present a brand-new approach to
terrorism, one that turns out to be a lot more consistent
with traditional Democratic values. First, let's stop
calling the enemy "terrorism," which is like saying we're
fighting "bombings." Terrorism is only a method; the enemy
is an extremist Islamic insurgency whose appeal lies in its
claim to represent the Muslim masses against a bullying
superpower.

But as Carmen bin Ladin urgently reminds us in "Inside the
Kingdom," one glaring moral flaw in this insurgency, quite
apart from its methods, is that it aims to push one-half of
those masses down to a status only slightly above that of
domestic animals. While Osama was getting pumped up for
jihad, Carmen was getting up her nerve to walk across the
street in a residential neighborhood in Jeddah - fully
veiled but unescorted by a male, something that is illegal
for a woman in Saudi Arabia. Eventually she left the
kingdom and got a divorce because she didn't want her
daughters to grow up in a place where women are kept
"locked in and breeding."

So here in one word is my new counterterrorism strategy for
Kerry: feminism. Or, if that's too incendiary, try the
phrase "human rights for women." I don't mean just a few
opportunistic references to women, like those that
accompanied the war on the Taliban and were quietly dropped
by the Bush administration when that war was abandoned and
Afghan women were locked back into their burkas. I'm
talking about a sustained and serious effort.

<snipped>

[bleedingheart]

1. Agreed - We need to point out that Democratic Men walk side by side

with the Democratic Women.

I am sick of how women are pushed backwards even in our own country.

Heinz-Kerry's treatment in the press is proof.

Strong women are great allies.

[daveskilt]

2. great article - thanks. nt

[Scout]

4. my pleasure

I saw Barbara Ehrenreich speak about affordable housing, and about her book Nickel and Dimed ... very perceptive person, excellent speaker. I have several of her books.

[daveskilt]

5. hey I almost named my daughter jean louise !

last minute we went with kate louise but definitely going with scout next time.

[izzie]

3. I am getting a sick feeling Kerry will not do this at all.

This is starting to seem like Gore. Why not let Kerry be Kerry, I think he is anti-war, as most Dem. seem to be so why are they talking so in Boston? They sound like Bush. I am most un happy about this. We also can not just build up the army and mow down the terror. It is a tactic not war like we fought with Germany and Japan. I like him saying we need to get back with the rest of the world. Bush must be nuts to think we can hang out here alone. Who thinks for Bush or does he do his own thinking?