Feminism. Don't Roll your Eyes at Me!

I have not blogged much about Politics here on Blogger. I do occasionally repost things I find, but have tried to stay away from this for various reasons. But I am political and opinionated. And I am going to rant. And this is my opinion.....



I was raised by my Mother, who is a wonderful force to be reckoned with. She taught us we could do anything we wanted, and she supported us everystep of the way. My Mom has never wanted us to be limited by our gender. My sister and I were coming up in the world in the era of the "Riot Grrrl". Between that and MOM, there was little chance we'd take no for an answer very often.

Now I am going to do some ranting here. So dont roll your eyes at me. I am a feminist. These days, because a woman had the AUDACITY to run for president, Feminism is a bad word. In the Primaries, talking heads like Keith Olberman and Chris Matthews repeatedly made dispespectful, sexist remarks in regards to Senator Clinton, near daily. And this behavior seems to be ok, at least in the minds of most men. I dont think its okay to imply someone should take Senator Clinton into a room and beat her up till she concedes, okay Keith? If you even bring the subject up, the eye rolloing begins, as if sexism isnt a legitimate problem. Racism, yes. Sexism, no. I think they're both deplorable.

Now speaking as a woman, I take this dismissal of sexism very personally. Especially when its done by men, but it's infuriating when it's done by women. I don't want to totally make this about Hillary Clinton, because I am now 100 % behind Barack Obama. I had some issues with how Hillary's campaign was handled, and specifically with a douchebag named Mark Penn. But I have never in my life seen the tides change so quickly. During the primary season, if you were supporting Hillary, you had to do so quietly. Otherwise, you ran the risk of being ridiculed. Often, I was accused of voting for Hillary just because she was a woman. Well, speaking as a woman, that's offensive.

For the first time in my adult life ( I was in 1st grade when Ferraro was a Veep candidate) I had the opportunity to vote for a woman. I have ALWAYS casted my vote for the Democratic MALE candidate. Your damned right I was voting for the woman. Not to mention she was my senator, who had done a great job in my state for us working families and children, someone who had the skyrocketing cost of healthcare on her mind.....not to mention a past failure she wanted to right! It was unpopular to like Hillary. Everywhere you turned, bad things about Hillary. I proudly voted for Hillary in the primaries, with my daughter at my side.

Now Im not going to say that the women out there who arent going to vote, or that are going to vote McCain because of Hillary's primary defeat are helping matters. I dont hold Obama responsible for the mess. I think MSNBC, and the Huffington Post, Rolling Stone and Matt Taibbi had plenty to do with the anti Hillary bias. And I like all of those outlets. I just disagreed with them on throwing Senator Clinton under the bus, so to speak.

So to close out my rant Im going to end with this....I want to thank Hillary Clinton. The ceilings a bit closer now. There have been many times in my life where I have been doubted because of my gender. ( stupid fools!) There have been times I have been on the fast track and then passed over because I chose to add to my family. I have been ignored in business dealing because I was only "the wife". We live in a country where insurance companies covered VIAGRA before Birth Control! What does that say? And employers still don't nessecarily (sorry, bad spelling) have to cover maternity. Men still make more money than women on average for doing the same work. So Roll your eyes. But it's a whole new ballgame now guys. Were not going anywhere but to the top. Leave Hillary and Michelle alone. And to those women thinking of sitting this one out or voting McCain, I beg you to reconsider. Its not so long weve had this right to vote. I find it a crying shame to our sisters who fought so hard to secure that right for us. John McCain has said he want to appoint more conservative judges to the Supreme Court to overturn Roe V. Wade. Then we can be stripped of our reproductive rights. Senator Obama has two young daughters, he cares about our issues. This is no longer a mans world. Its Our World. All of ours. Men, Women, Black, White, Gay or Straight.......

So be good to each other. And vote Democratic for the love of America!!!

Peace!