Feminism these days..

So, feminism... is it over?  

Absolutely not.  The past couple days I came across some articles online that really got me furious.  The first was a bullshit article from askmen.com entitled "Why Women Can't Be Bosses."  It's amazing that shit like this can even get aired.  What's even more amazing is that according to the comments, this trash can get 44% approval.  It's mind-blowing.  The only thing I could think of was, "Wow, our patriarchal society is literally imploding before our eyes.  The 'dudes' are getting desperate."  I realized that this utter crap will soon be turned on me full force, when I enter the workplace as a dynamic female scientist with a PhD.  

And then I came across another gem, scans of a how-to book for anti-choice evangelists to bring the undecided over to their ban-abortion stance.  The thing that gets me is not their stance on abortion, because if you don't want one, that is 100% fine with me.  What's really disgusting is the constant reminders to fake concern for the woman, which implies that it's not natural for these dregs of humanity to consider the woman as a human being outside of her capacity to bear children.  Plus, there are gross scientific mistakes in it.  Eclampsia, for example.  Bedrest does NOT cure it.  If it's really severe, the only "cure" is an abortion.  

One good thing coming from this Dr. Tiller murder is that women are coming out of the woodwork and sharing their late-term abortion stories.  If it's a case of a detected anencephaly (the brain of a fetus failed to develop; see the wikipedia entry on it), conjoined twins, an infection due to leakage of water, thank goodness these women are speaking up.  My grandma told me that when Roe v. Wade passed, she felt an ineffable sense of relief despite being married with children.  For her, it meant that a huge burden was off the female population.  I believe that 100%.  

When I was 11 or 12, my mom told me that if I ever got pregnant, she would take me to have an abortion if I needed one.  It wasn't an invitation/permission to be wild and act irresponsibly (she made that very clear), but it was something that made me feel much more comfortable.  I had a backup, no matter what.  After that, my grandma told me that if I ever needed an abortion, I didn't even have to tell my mom or dad; she'd take me and wouldn't even tell my grandfather.  It was like huge, deep, soft pillows were always underneath me as I wobbled along growing into a sexually mature adult.  I didn't behave irresponsibly, but I always knew that no matter what, I always had a back way out.  I could always reclaim my life and walk away from a man, the same way men could walk away from an accidentally pregnant girlfriend pre-Roe v. Wade.  I would never be beholden to him.  I'd never be that person, as long as I took care of the being smart in school/productive in life thing.  I was on equal footing.  I could throw myself into the fray, and I was going to come up grinning no matter what because I was equipped to handle everything, even if I made a mistake.

It's just so... I don't know, improbably nauseating to think that there is a group of people who want to take that away from future generations of women.  Oh, and the anti-contraception argument?  I'm chalking that up to a crazy Puritanical I-must-suffer-life-is-a-veil-of-tears attitude that I can't for the life of me ever hope to identify with.

And I'm not sorry about that at all.

You stay classy, America!

Can I just say, I was very impressed with Obama's speech, comportment, and the whole thing.  He could have taken the snarky route (I would have expected that from John Kerry), but he didn't.  He gave the political version of coach-speak.

What do I mean by that?  I mean the usual, "We're going to give it 150%.  We're going to stick to the fundamentals, play our own game, and we're going to move the ball/puck down the court/field/arena.  The more goals/baskets we get, the better.  We'll play a tight defense, try not to let anything past us, and stick to what we know best, etc."  Kind of like that, just with politics.

Anyway, it was good.  Including everyone - Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and nonbelievers - was totally excellent.  Obviously, the whole thing is based in the Christian religion (perhaps another reason why we'll never live to see a Jewish president), but acknowledging that everyone of all faiths is responsible for the country was a very good touch.  Kind of a "this may not be what I personally believe, but that's no reason for me to disregard your contributions."  Spot on!  

Oh, and I particularly liked the bit about science.  It's definitely something to look forward to, this having a president who believes in science.  There are things of which I'm skeptical.  I do wonder how he'll handle things like Iraq, where an immediate sudden withdrawal of troops will absolutely not work, but having this uneducated view of the Iraqi people and refusing to learn about their cultural psychology, customs, or traditions has gotten absolutely ridiculous.  And the tax reform.  I wonder how he's going to do it, now that those upper tier tax brackets Obama wanted to tax the pants off of have been decimated by the financial crisis.  

Oh, and the benediction?  I chuckled at the rhymed ending, didn't really get it, but then I read this excellent and explanatory posting about the origins of the verse.  And I thought, ok, different generation, different perspective, and it made sense why Rev. Lowery said what he said.  Racist?  No, not really.  Grinding into the dirt a nasty rhyme from a different time?  Yeah, much more likely.  

And just so everyone knows, the Chief Justice messed up the oath of office - or as Senator Diane Feinstein said, the "oaf" of office - in his placement of the word "faithfully."  Not Obama's fault.  You can check me on that.  Props to Obama for waiting for the CJ to get it right and smiling.

You know, speaking of verbal gaffs, everyone hates Bush now.  I think he'll be remembered in history as having a bit more going for him.  People have seemed to forget he is responsible for the lack of any follow-up attacks by any terrorist organizations, likely helped in part by this ruling stating that wiretapping by gov't is indeed legal in cases where people are suspected spies.  Anyway, read the article.  Of course there are openings for abuse by those in power, but I have a feeling it's done more good than harm, given the absence of new 9/11's.  

Ok, that's the end of the political stuff for now.  

On to fashion!  First of all, can I just say that I LOVED Aretha-Queen-of-Soul Franklin's hat?  So old school, so badass, and so glamorously classy.  And has anyone else besides me notice that no matter what the new first lady is wearing, HER SHOES NEVER MAKE HER TALLER THAN OBAMA??!?!  Hahahahahah!!!  I'm about the same height as Mrs. Obama (techinically a fraction of an inch taller), and check out her footwear!  Never more than 2-inch heals so she's never taller than her man!  I know that game... But she looks sharp.  I like her style.  Very Washington, DC acceptable, but excellent choice in colors and designers.  Seriously, unless you have some tint to your skin, that dress color will make you look like hell.  Mrs. Obama, if you ever manage to work ONE Roberto Cavalli piece into some public ensemble, I will be so impressed.  

In the meantime, if anyone spots her in higher heels, please alert me.  I will eat it up.

MLK, Inauguration

These next two days are seriously Black Power days.  Today is MLK day, and my university is more closed than it's been due to winter break.  Tomorrow is the inauguration, and I will be damned if I am going anywhere by car or public transportation.  

Aside from America being supposedly "done" with outwards racism (which we know is total bullshit), and our decades-long period of collective white guilt being over, its an excuse for DC to throw a party.  You know, I never felt guilty about being white for several reasons.  Number one, my people weren't deemed "white" enough for the Nazis or the KKK.  Number two, more than 50% of my relatives were trying to evade people who actively were trying to exterminate then in Poland and Russia during slavery and the decades after.  Number three, over 75% of my family was killed off during the Holocaust for being Jews.  At least the slaves were deemed more useful alive than dead.  Number four, many of my family members were turned away from universities because of the "Jew quota."  The universities decided there were too many Jews graduating.  Despite this, several of them got in anyway because they were just THAT badass.  Then there were the kids in the playground who I beat the shit out of for calling me a dirty Jew or a kike.  

Long story short - too late - I never felt guilty for being white or privileged because we've worked our asses off for every stupid little thing we've ever wanted - like that whole staying alive thing.  But the upshot to it all is that I really get why American blacks are so tickled by Obama's presidency.  He's one of their own.  And they should be as happy as they are because it's essentially a guarantee that the man in charge will not do anything to specifically hurt them.  For a group that's been persecuted and held down for no reason other than their skins' melanin content, they absolutely should be celebrating.  

That being said, the Jews have been in the US longer than African Americans, and we haven't had a Jewish president.  I'm not sure if that's because of the constant anti-Semitic buzz that's emitted worldwide from any number of countries - developed, developing, or otherwise - or because the Jews are smart enough to say, "Oh, hells no.  Why would I bother with that shitty job?"  

It would be interesting to have a Jewish president.  Not in terms of religious solidarity, but more in terms of philosophy.  The reason I say this is that Judaism is possibly one of only two religions that does not condone dying in the name of religion - there are no Jewish martyrs - or killing others again in the name of religion - there is no jihad or any loopholes for a "crusade."  Also, it dictates that if you can save your own life and/or the lives of your family by pretending to not be Jewish, you should do so.  There's an incredibly high value placed on human life, more so than any other religion out there.  The fallback Jewish toast is l'chaim, or "to life."  Also, it holds questioning even the most erudite of Jewish scholars by the most uneducated person as perfectly acceptable.  Funny story about this; there are strict sects of Judaism that do not allow women to become rabbis, but the Reform movement is more accepting.  When they first allowed a woman to become a rabbi, the leaders of the more strict sects said a woman belongs in that job like an orange belongs on a Passover Seder plate.   (There's no orange on a Seder plate.)  So people started putting oranges on Seder plates to thumb their noses at the establishment.  My point is along with a very high value on life, there's also a very high value on thinking, questioning, and arguing.  To achieve the end of built-in curiosity, there's ritualized questioning in the Passover celebration, to be done traditionally by the youngest member of the family.  The last point I want to make is it's the only Judeo-Christian religion that sees sex as an unequivocally good thing.  There is even a small by-the-way that states that even sex out of wedlock is ok in the presence of true love.  I've always been impressed by that, personally.  There are more reasons why I think it would be healthy for the nation to have a leader that identifies with Jewish philosophy, but those are my personal top three: high value on life, learning, and humanity.

Judging by the way the reporting for the most recent Arab-Israeli conflict is panning out, I tend to believe the lack of a Jewish president or VP is a result of anti-Semitism.  Why have so few Israeli civilians been killed?  Because the government encourages building bomb shelters and making sure every civilian has a gas mask. I have pictures of my aunt, grandfather, and cousins sitting in their bomb shelter in their pajamas all wearing gas masks because the air raid sirens went off in the middle of the night.  The Israeli army doesn't set up missile/mortar launching sites adjacent to hospitals or schools, which is unfortunately what Hamas does.  It's really quite awful.  If you're a reporter, are you going to report a functional government taking care of its people in the face of explosives falling from the sky?  Of course not.  You're going to go to the wretched masses moaning in the streets, whose government uses them as pawns to achieve their end of destroying Israel.  The human-interest stories sell.

And it kills me, reading these articles that focus on "What's wrong with the Israelis?  Only eight missiles fell today!  Why don't they stop shooting?  They're so belligerent."  I love it.  Only eight.  Can you imagine the US' reaction if even one missile made its way from Canada and landed in NYC?  Never mind our government, how would you react if even one missile hit your town?  Would you want the government to sit by passively, or would you want them to step up, fight back, and make it stop?  

It's funny.  The Arabs and the Jews were totally cool with each other before England came in and fucked it up.  The Brits promised the world to both groups, couldn't deliver, washed their hands of it all, and left, leaving the dirty brown desert people to fight it out amongst themselves.  And so it rages on.  I think the world is scared of Israel.  It's populated primarily by one of the most hated-on groups in the world (the Jews) who have been the victims of attempted genocide since the beginning of their existence.  Everyone's ok with it, everyone likes the Jews, as long as they're the short, scrawny, glasses-wearing kid with the big nose, who the all-American nice guy can protect to score points with the hot chicks in the schoolyard in return for the answers to last night's algebra homework.  

But while no one was looking, the Israelis got stronger.  They ordered fighter jets from the US, sure, but they requested them with their own modifications, and pretty soon the US was buying from the Israelis.  You know that kid?  The really nice little one who was stuffed into the lockers freshman year in high school?  Over the summer he got bigger and stronger, and the same bully tried the same shit.  The bully had his teeth knocked out and his nose broken first day of school.  Ultimately, I think this is why people are afraid of/hate Israel.  They know schoolyard politics, which is the same as world politics just with suits.  But I get the feeling we're not so keen as a nation on Israel anymore because the country is getting too strong, too smart, and too adept at handling its own self-defense.  Hence, we have to hate someone, and seeing as hating melanin-rich people is out, anti-Semitism is - literally and figuratively - the new black.

Well, there's going to be a hell of a time in DC tomorrow.  And I hope African Americans really party it up because they should.  Obama as a leader... well, truth be told I don't think he's as awful as the right says, and I don't think he's as great as the left says.  I don't agree with his socialist leanings and I'm not looking forward to getting swamped with taxes once I get a real job, but I think it's time we had someone other than a good ol' boy who doesn't believe in science as president.  Time will tell.