Feminism and the cult of domesticity.

Sometimes I get really frustrated with feminism and the way in which it has shaped the way society views gender roles. Let me be clear, I think that the feminist movement was both imperative and necessary, and I wholeheartedly believe that both genders should be valued equally in society and should also have equal opportunities- be it in school, jobs, sports, or elsewhere. However, as I’m growing older I’m starting to get annoyed when I tell people that yes, though I have plans to attend Graduate school and pursue a career, I wouldn’t mind being stay at home mother to my children. It’s like it is something to be balked at, as in, “But surely just because you’re a woman you’re not going to just stay at home?! Has feminism taught you anything?!” 

Heres the thing: I want to raise my children to be surrounded by love and affection and I want them to learn new things every day and I want to ensure their safety and well-being. The only way I know thats going to happen is if I’m there with them every step of the way. Yes, men can do that as well, but I want to do it. Moreover, coming from personal experience, I hated day care as a kid. Hated it. And the thing is, is that I don’t want some other woman/man raising my children and instilling their values in them whether it is done so consciously or not. So please, next time somebody tells you they want to be a stay at home mother, try to remove all your notions about gender roles and feminism and equal rights and maybe think that it goes beyond the theories in the sociology books. I don’t need someone psychoanalyzing my decisions and I don’t need to conform to any particular lifestyles.

 

-B

Asylum for Battered Women

A piece appeared in the New York Times today discussing the possibility of a modification to US immigration law to allow women to seek asylum to escape abuse in their home countries.  The women would need to demonstrate the egregiousness of the abuse and that their home country has an attitude of tolerance towards violence against women that prevents the justice system from helping prevent further abuse.  While this proposed revision of immigration policy does not provide for asylum for women fleeing from genital mutilation, a glaring oversight and real tragedy, it nonetheless would represent a watershed in the fight to end the violence against women that seems to transcend cultures and societies.  

 

There is a film in theatres, based on the book of the same title, called The Stoning of Soraya M. which tells the true story of a woman who was stoned to death by a mob, including her father, after being convicted by a tribunal, on which her two eldest sons sat, for infidelity against her husband.  He charged her of infidelity when he fell in love with another woman after having spent years regularly patronizing prostitutes.  The townspeople lied to give him support, and Soraya died because in remote villages in the Islamic Republic of Iran women have no voice.  This potential change in immigration policy gives hope that fewer women need suffer and die for having been born ‘the lesser sex’.

 

– E

Amazon.com Hates Me

I have a summer project to read a book a week.  I just finished The Far Enemy by Fawaz Gerges, about trends in the jihad movement, and have moved on to Countdown by T.A. Heppenheimer, about the space race.  I thought I would start on a list of books I might want to get to this summer and went to amazon.com to browse their non-fiction section for ideas.  Then I noticed that almost every category under “political science” begins with Glenn Beck’s new book which, I gather, is an exercise in anti-intellectual, pro-whiteman self-pity.  Under the “Women’s Studies” category the first 3 books listed are What to Expect When You’re Expecting, Mommywood which is by Tori Spelling, and an audiobook about one night stands.  I have no idea what planet you must live on to consider these books ‘women’s studies’.  Also – under the “abortion and birth control” category, the top twelve books include 4 that are obviously anti-choice based on their titles (including a book called The Party of Death in reference to the Democrats and their love of abortions), and at least 2 on eugenics.  Delightful.

 

I think it’s disgusting that Amazon has arranged it’s website to look like Sarah Palin’s bookshelf (if she even owns enough books to fill a shelf).  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised after the story regarding Amazon’s purge of gay titles from it’s webpage, but I admit that this really disappoints.  

 

– E

Bon Iver

Need I say more?

Buy everything by Bon Iver and Justin Vernon off Itunes… Even better- If they are playing a concert near you- go see them. Best live performance ever.

Helmand

US Troops launched an offensive in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. I can just see these pictures in the history textbooks. (courtesy of denverpost.com mediacentre.)

loves it