Tag Archives: patriarchy

The Patriarchy and the Love Bomb: A Play in One Speculative Act.

Posted on July 25, 2009 | Comments Off

She's Not a Feminist Either

(Note: As always, this play is born of nothing but observation, imagination and speculation. It is purely a work of fiction, although based on some actual events.)

THE SCENE: A conference room somewhere in America. It’s late 2008, and Barack Obama has just been elected. The mood is exuberant.

Sitting around the table are the charter members of the Christian Theocracy wing of the Patriarchy: all white males, of course. We don’t know many of them, but we might recognize JAMES DOBSON, DOUGLAS KMIEC and RICK WARREN among the crowd.

The conference room is decorated in Corporate Middle America, boasting an abundance of the latest in electronic wizardry. The remains of a profusion of fatty, sugary foodstuffs litters the table. The men are all talking idly, full, smug and self-congratulatory.)

DOBSON calls the meeting to order.)

DOBSON: Well, brothers, we did it! Our friend and ally, Barack Obama, has been installed in the White House and will soon be busily accomplishing our goals. The murdering of helpless babies through contraception, abortion and stem-cell research will go no further under the new President. Faith-based initiatives will be expanded, giving greater power and glory to our cause; and as for the Homosexual Agenda, you can forget all about it. Barack has promised he will not overturn DADT, DOMA or legalize same-sex marriage. In short, my friends, we are sitting pretty!

ALL: Amen!

WARREN: Yes, we are in a great position, brother Dobson; greater than we ever thought possible. Brother Obama has given us control of the Democratic Party as well as the Republican Party! Surely his reward in Heaven will be rich indeed. But I do see one small fly in our proverbial ointment: New Feminism.

DOBSON (outraged): New Feminism? What devilish business is this?

(ALL make the sign of the cross.)

WARREN: Well, our Online Astroturf Committee tells us that there is a big group of women out there who are very angry with all the sexism they saw this past year. Frankly, I think they’re just a bunch of hysterics, but in any case, they call themselves “PUMAs.”

PATRIARCH #4: “PUMAs?” More like cougars, I’ll bet. RRRRowr!!!

(ALL LAUGH. )

WARREN (pointedly): ANYWAY, these PUMAs started off as Clinton supporters who decided they were not going to vote for Barack Obama, for whatever reason. I don’t get what their problem is – we’ve always known the primaries were a sham, or our brother Huckabee would have been the Republican nominee this year! But somehow, the PUMAs thought the Democrats were different. Honest, or something.

KMIEC: Idiots! They should have known that after the past eight years, we wouldn’t let a godless heathen witch like that Clinton creature ascend to the halls of power!

WARREN: Indeed. Well, the OAC has pretty much taken over the PUMAs by this point. Most of their sites are full of our operatives, pushing the idea that Barack Obama is a Marxist who will tax them all to death, take their guns away, and abort their unborn children against their will.

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Posted in 2008 election, activism, Barack Obama, plays by madamab, PUMA

Tagged feminism, operation love bomb, patriarchy

Hey Guys: You’re Victims of the Patriarchy Too

Posted on May 9, 2009 | 1 comment

This man is a victim of the patriarchy

Okay, sisters, stop hyperventilating. I know this is a provocative title; but don’t worry, I’m not here to make a case that men should be pitied or excused for their patriarchal behavior.

Instead, I’m making a case that men should join with us to overthrow the patriarchy, which, I believe, is responsible for the current state of the global economy, the constant and escalating promotion of war throughout the world, and the rapidly increasing gap between rich and poor.

Let me explain how I see the patriarchy. After reading “The Chalice and The Blade,” I began to feel that human society is always in a struggle to balance the male principle (striving, domination, aggression) with the female principle (cooperation, nurturing, accepting). Now, and for thousands of years, the male principle has overbalanced the female principle, and this process has been accelerated over the last few decades since the development of nuclear weapons; thus, our culture values striving, domination and aggression to an extreme degree. Thus it is that women remain unable to crack that highest, hardest glass ceiling, and still make up a dismal 17% of the American government. And thus it is that even a standout woman like Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg reports experiencing unbelievable sexism during her time in that august body. The female principle has disappeared to such an extent that Justice Ginsburg literally could not be heard when she spoke her mind.

Ginsburg, 76, a former women’s rights advocate whom President Bill Clinton named to the high court in 1993, recalled that as a young, female lawyer her voice often was ignored by male peers. “I don’t know how many meetings I attended in the ’60s and the ’70s, where I would say something, and I thought it was a pretty good idea. … Then somebody else would say exactly what I said. Then people would become alert to it, respond to it.”

Even after 16 years as a justice, she said, that still sometimes occurs. “It can happen even in the conferences in the court. When I will say something — and I don’t think I’m a confused speaker — and it isn’t until somebody else says it that everyone will focus on the point.”

Raise your hands, ladies, if you’ve experienced this phenomenon at work. (Mine is up, in case you’re wondering.)

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Posted in feminism

Tagged men, patriarchy, putting women first, women

Cartoon Change, Cartoon Sexism, Real Patriarchy

Posted on March 8, 2009 | Comments Off

When rabid sexism, like that demonstrated by the radio host (Peter Boyles, right) who called Representative Diana DeGette “Vagina DeGette,” is brought to our attention by the corporate media, I can’t help but wonder about what does not capture their attention — like, for example, female underrepresentation in government, or the fact that women are still not protected from discrimination according to the Constitution. Are most Americans even capable of seeing the more subtle, but far more damaging misogyny that pervades our society so thoroughly? Does the cartoonish and blatant help to illuminate the sophisticated and covert? Or does it serve as a way to cover up and discredit those of us who want to bring the hatred that dare not speak its name into the light?

Using a woman’s sexual organs to ridicule her is textbook sexism, reduced to its most basic level. On one level, I thank the ignorant and hateful people who do things like this, so that anyone can see that misogyny is still alive and thriving in America. It also gives feminists a great opportunity for activism and the ability to speak out about things we can all agree upon.

But in a larger sense, what harm does this type of sexism do? Is Diana DeGette’s career or reputation going to suffer because of this radio host’s idiocy? Is any woman going to be harmed because a 66-year-old adolescent seems to find her ladyparts funny?

On the other hand, the fact that women are underrepresented in government has done enormous harm to American women and men. As we see over and over again, when women make up 30% or more of a government, issues like violence against women, health care, child care for working women, and so many others, are suddenly on the table. Further, until women reach and maintain or exceed that percentage, those issues are not on the table. Logic would dictate that, knowing that these two things are true, a woman who cares about these issues should always vote for women, and only for women. Continue reading →

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Posted in activism

Tagged Barack Obama, cartoon sexism, feminism, patriarchy, the 30% solution

Winning the Equal Representation Argument

Posted on January 25, 2009 | 1 comment

You Are In Good Hands with Women In Charge

Be forewarned, ladies. If you dare to think you are entitled to equal representation in government, you are doing something called “femi-whining.”

Don Surber says so, and his post made the “best of the blogs” on RealClearPolitics, so he must have a point. Right?

Surber objects to an article by Anne Kornblut of The Washington Post, in which she mentioned – gasp – numbers! (We all know girls can’t do math, right, Larry Summers?) In any case, Ms. Kornblut uses the fact that only 16 (now 17 again) out of 100 Senators are women. His intelligent and informed response to this?

Boo hoo hoo.

Senators are elected. Before you are elected you have to run. It was pretty hard for Minnesota to elect a woman this year because both major candidates were men. But if Norma Coleman and Alice Franken had run… well, we still would not have a winner but I think my point is made.

Clinton was not elected president because she was not a woman? Well, of the 20 leading contenders last year, 18 men were denied the job as well.

But Kornblut lives in a world where women are entitled to 50 Senate seats without bothering to campaign for them (emphasis added).

Nonsense.