found me at the polls where yes, GIRLS, oh yes, yes, yes, I did in fact vote and vote for Obama.
I felt as near to that sickeningly-simplistic concept of "patriotism" as I have ever felt. Proud to be there. Proud to be in bright, reasonable, considerate and gracious company. Proud of the young woman--seventeen y.o.--who was voting on a provisional ballot as her birthday was not until May. And maybe she was a Hilary supporter or worse...and maybe she will grow up to tell all of her women friends whether or not they are or are not feminists, but for now her motivation, will and momentum exemplify a good citizen if not a good feminist--not for me to say. As an Obama supporter, I feel it in keeping with the spirit of his campaign that I set out to do what I need to do and what is within my power to change and complete. I do not throw stones and I do not resort to every low trick in the book when I am not getting my way. But it has been a bit exasperating Gyrrrrllllssss, a bit wearisome really, the insults, the assumption that me and mine are all lipsticked and oblivious. I have completed all of my artistic goals, I have done so at great personal expense and instead of talking my "feminism" through a critique of other women and how they look or act or love, I have lived alone a long time and have w ith no traditional outs or ups. Having one's own mind means defending it even in the face of other overbearing and self-righteous WOMEN as well as men. It means knowing you are and what you love no matter who questions it.
Give me a bitch I can back, Tina Fey.
1 comment:
It's really unfortunate that women have been made to feel like they're either traitors to their gender or somehow anti-feminist if they don't support Hillary. Several feminist groups have proudly endorsed Obama and have given specific reasons for why, as women (and feminists), they've chosen to do so. One group even went as far as to say that supporting Hillary is inherently anti-feminist.
What fascinates me is that some people fail to realize the feminist movement, at its core, was supposed to be about giving women choices. While this election process has freaked me out tremendously in a lot of ways (specifically in the way it's exposed the unapologetic sexist mainstream media coverage of our first viable female presidential candidate), in the end, it's completely AWESOME that we've been given this historic CHOICE to make. And whatever idiots suggest women who don't support Hillary can't possibly be feminists are really just deluded.
That said, Tina Fey has given me a bitch I can most certainly back. ;-) And I like Robin Morgan's argument, too:
"Me? I support Hillary Rodham because she’s the best qualified of all candidates running in both parties. I support her because her progressive politics are as strong as her proven ability to withstand what will be a massive right-wing assault in the general election. I support her because she knows how to get us out of Iraq. I support her because she’s refreshingly thoughtful, and I’m bloodied from eight years of a jolly “uniter” with ejaculatory politics. I needn’t agree with her on every point. I agree with the 97 percent of her positions that are identical with Obama’s—and the few where hers are both more practical and to the left of his (like health care). I support her because she’s already smashed the first-lady stereotype and made history as a fine senator, because I believe she will continue to make history not only as the first US woman president, but as a great US president.
As for the “woman thing”?
Me, I’m voting for Hillary not because she’s a woman—but because I am."
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