Gender, Politics, and the Media

First of all, I’ve been a bad bad blogger, but I have an excuse.  A very very good excuse.  Now that I’m a newly minted bearer of a Master’s degree, I’ve been working over time to get a job–err, a career.  After all, that’s what I went to grad school for.  So, I’ve been sending out resumes and cover letters like it’s my job–an unpaid job.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, my excuse for being a 30 year-old single woman has been that I’m standing in solidarity with the gays and that I won’t get married until they can get married.  Now I need a more compelling excuse because Washington D.C. has just shown it’s heart by legalizing gay marriage and people were at the D.C. Courthouse today making it official.  I’m a fan of love and happiness, so I extend my warmest wishes to all the glowy couples.  Now if only the Westboro Baptist Church losers would find something else to do with their spare time, like saving their hatred for something genuinely hateful like racism or homophobia.

Yay!  Love! 

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Gawker is reporting that John Edwards has a sex tape.  I’m just wondering:  why make a visual chronicle of yourself having sex when you are a) famous b) running for president c) all of the above?  Is this something that lots of people do?  I’m thinking we need another Kinsey report sex survey because I’m worried that I’m the only person on the planet who hasn’t done this.  Get on it Indiana University!

Also, Gawker says that Edwards has a certain body part almost as big as his ego.  I’m asking for a moratorium on all politician sex scandals for at least 10 years.  The past decade has had enough.

Sources: John Edwards Has a Sex Tape – John Edwards – Gawker.

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Lucky for me I never watch the Super Bowl, so I won’t have to suffer through CBS’s decision to air an anti-choice Focus on the Family commercial starring Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow and his mom who talks about how her faith guided her choice to carry Tebow to term instead of the abortion she was advised to get.  USA is having a Law & Order SVU marathon that day, right?

Michael Rowe writes on the Huffington Post that beyond Focus on the Family’s message is the hypocrisy in CBS’s decision.  Back in 2004, CBS rejected United Church of Christ ads featuring a gay couple being denied entrance into a church with the tagline:  “Jesus didn’t turn people away.  Neither do we.”  CBS explained that they didn’t want advertising that advocates for an issue of public importance.

Even though I don’t think abortion should be a public issue (my uterus is not open for debate), abortion rights is a public issue like gay rights. Perhaps, 2004 was so long ago that CBS forgot their advertising policies?  Or as Rowe says:

Maybe it all comes down to who can cough up the biggest bucks to push their message on CBS and the other networks, the inclusive church whose message was, “Christ didn’t turn anyone away and neither do we” or the evangelical activist conglomerate whose message is, “We turn people away all the time. Please send money because the liberals and the feminists and the gays are ruining America.”

Yeah, I’m definitely holding out for the SVU marathon.

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Dear New York Times, did you actually read the Pew Research Center’s Women, Men, and the Economics of Marriage? I did and I find it funny how the lesson you took away from the report was that it’s so hard for successful women to find a man because men are so worried about feeling emasculated next to smarty-pants women, while I took away a more nuanced understanding of the economic climate, socio-economic class, marriage, and how women are beginning to close the wage and education gap (but they still have a long way to go).

The Times took anecdotal evidence to a whole new level with quotes from a young New York fashion stylist who broke up with her “blue-collar” boyfriend because he supposedly couldn’t handle her career success.

NYT explains:

An analysis of census data to be released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center found that she and countless women like her are victims of a role reversal that is profoundly affecting the pool of potential marriage partners.

Actually, the report didn’t really say anything about all the shitty fish in the sea.  Pew’s report seemed to show that while more women have higher levels of education than men and their wages have significantly increased since 1970, people end up marrying people with similar educational levels.  People with similar educational backgrounds marry and have higher incomes than people with lower levels of education.   I didn’t find any of this particular doomsday scenario:

 Ms. Zielinski, the fashion stylist, said her best friend, a man, told her once: “ ‘You are confident, have good credit, own your own business, travel around the world and are self-sufficient. What man is going to want you?’ He laughed, but I found that pretty depressing.”

The Washington Post did a much better job of synthesizing the study and explaining how things are changing, and that women haven’t completely surpassed men in earnings.  Although, reading this chestnut of a quote affirms my aversion to marriage:

“What’s radically changed is that marriage now is a better deal for men,” said Richard Fry, co-author of the report, published by the Pew Research Center. “Now when men marry, often their spouse works quite a bit. Often she is better-educated than the guy.”

I think it’s a bit nuts to crow about the “rise of the wives” or all these brand spankin’ new sugar mommas.  The fact remains, in the words of the Pew report that:

Sharper growth has enabled women to narrow, but not close, the earnings gap with men.  Median earnings of full-year female workers in 2007 were 71 % of earnings of comparable men, compared with 52 % in 1970.

And this:

It should be noted that men in all education categories still earn more than women.

So NYT, I’m still holding on to the belief that my boyfriend likes me because we share values and experiences and not because I make him feel like a man by earning less.

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So, I’m a bit torn on this:  Feministing had a post about the USO putting together care packages of pink camo makeup bags filled with Maybelline products, tampons, Lady Speed Sticks,  facial soap, and Cosmo magazines for women soldiers deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Jill Biden, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and beauty industry people gathered in photo-op splendor to fill the bags o’ tampons and other “lady” stuff.  Feministing had this to say about it:

It’s a whole wink-wink-nudge-nudge moment that tells people even though these women are in the military, they’re still feminine….we promise!

My initial reaction to this was:  What’s so wrong with pink, wearing makeup, and reading Cosmo for the sex secrets you’ve known since eigth grade?  As a self-described feminist who really loves spending her hard-earned money at Sephora, I’m slightly bothered by the implication that being feminine and strong must be mutually exclusive.   You know, I could totally deconstruct what I just said, but my second question was whether these items were practical items women really asked for and not just a way for Maybelline to create a class of veteran consumers.

The original story via the St. Petersburg Times’ website says that the items were packed along with gender neutral items such as toothbrushes, raisins, and beef jerky (really?).  USO spokeswoman Patrice Cameau said her organization was getting tons of requests from female service members for the personal products.

I liked this quote from Navy enlistee Rachel Clayton:

“When I put on makeup in the morning, it gives me some confidence,” she said. “I don’t need it to be a strong woman, but it gives me a boost. If that helps a servicewoman feel better about herself and gives her that extra kick in the rear, then she should be able to do it.”

I’m not sure if stressing the feminine in this sense is the real problem.  Maybe it’s as simple as showing some appreciation to brave women.  Feministing does make the good point that women servicemembers have serious issues to contend with beyond nice eyelashes like rape and sexual harassment.  I hope that Biden and Pelosi are working on ways to eradicate those problems.  In the meantime there are a bunch of organizations that fulfill servicemember requests.  Go to AnySoldier.com,  www.give2thetroops.org, or www.soldiersangels.com if you want to find out how you can put together a care package for a soldier, female or male.

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