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Carol Costello - "Is Feminism Obsolete?"
Offered up as a question fully intended to create controversy, Carol Costello's Friday morning segment titled Just Sayin', asked the question, Is Feminism Obsolete?
It was actually a well meaning followup to the Palin - Letterman week that was. But listenning this morning I couldn't help but think that Costello completely missed the point. Yes we on the intertubes are having a heated debate about who and what is a feminist. Can you be "pro-life" and be a feminist? Can you be a goper and be a feminist? Can you call Obama the New Face of Feminism and be a feminist? (Costello didn't ask that one).
My real gripe. The recent Letterman - Palin event was not about Feminism, it was about Children and the protection of those children from predators and predatory attitudes. It was about anyone's children whether they be right, left, commie or nazi. Children are off limits.
You decide on where they went with the feminist discussion.
It seems every time the media spotlight shines on Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, there’s another debate about feminism. Some conservative women were upset feminists didn’t protest loudly when late night host David Letterman initially refused to apologize for his off-color joke about Palin’s daughter.
Is that because Sarah Palin isn’t a feminist? Can a conservative woman be a feminist these days?
Not really, says Republican Strategist and CNN Commentator Mary Matalin. “No conservative woman would choose to call herself a feminist as it’s described by liberals today,” she says.
And of course the view from out left.
Liberal women champion Hillary Clinton. Blogger Jessica Valenti, of feministing.com, says even a pro-life woman can be considered a feminist, however, “if a woman is actively fighting against legislation that allows for abortion and allows for access to birth control, than no, I don’t think she can be a feminist.”
So, if the word “feminist” is weighed down by such political baggage, why keep using it?
“The truth is,” Valenti says, “I think no matter what word we used, if it meant women’s rights it would end up being a bad word. It would end up being disparaged, so I think we have to stick with what we’ve got.”
I disagree with both of them but agree that due to poor leadership the word itself has lost power.
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I think feminism is like a lot of other things....it has different meanings for different people. As for the Palin/Letterman feud...you're right NH. Sarah was hopping mad, as any mother would or should be, because of the disgusting thing Letterman said about her daughter, period. She didn't even mention "the slutty fight attendant" comment he made about her.
I wish we could just support all women's right to express themselves, no matter who they are or what their personal beliefs are. Women shouldn't have to worry that they will be "stomped into the ground" for expressing their opinion or talking about what they truly believe. I am sick and tired of the nasty, personal attacks on women these days. You may not agree with what a woman says, but Damn Sam, she has the right to "speak her piece", as we say down here in the South and not be attacked for it!
I agree that the debate over Letterman "joke" about Palin's daughter is a debate about children, not feminism. But I do think the hideous "slutty flight attendant" remark was about feminism. When is the last time a man was called "slutty"? In fact, what "slutty" cliche or caricature even is identifiable in popular culture as a male version of the "slutty flight attendant"
(Although frankly, I had never really visualized this idea of a "slutty flight attendant" the way Dave and his crew apparently had. Was that a new concept to anyone else here? News to me! I always just thought those were tough people with tough jobs. The only negative description I've ever had for a flight attendant might be "careless flight attendant who blocked the bathroom door with her cart that one time, thereby locking me in for 20 minutes!")
but better to be locked in than out when you gotta go.
Dave's humor is left over from the old days when I must confess I too called them Stews. It seems so long ago that a Stewardess was always a tall, thin blond in a tight short skirt.
Civil Discourse - ERA - A Mother President - Women's Rights - Primary Reform
if it ever had any. But a big mistake is made when we allow someone else to tarnish our issues by trying to tarnish the words that describe them.
Look what liberals have allowed to happen to them. They allowed the Republicans to tarnish their "label" until there are few that will admit to being a liberal. Once you lose the fight over the "name game" you lose a whole lot.
I "am" a feminist. I always have been and I always will be. I believe that women should have the same rights, the same pay, the same protection under the law as men. Girl children should be protected from sexual predators, verbal as well as physical. As should Boy children.
I believe in choice and believe in another woman's right to be pro-life so long as she doesn't try to inflict her belief on me.
Women should help and support each other. And women that do not, women who attack another woman for what she "is" not who she is are not feminists under my designation.
Can a conservative woman be a feminist? Of course she can. And a liberal woman who attacks, demeans and lies about another woman because of her political party isn't.
A feminist cares about women and women's issues. A partisan cares about their parties issues. Thus someone who is so partisan that they attack another women simply for the crime of belonging to the "other" evil party is not and cannot be a feminist.
And a woman who makes excuses for a foul-mouthed old fart like Letterman making sexual remarks about "any-one's" teenage children is not and never was a feminist.
Any woman who let's a foul-mouthed old fart like Letterman make sexual remarks about her daughters without fighting back may or may not be a feminist. What she is, is one really sad excuse for a mother.
The daughters of such a woman should wonder why Mom didn't find them worth fighting for. Oh right, she's not supposed to fight for her children cause it could/might be politically damaging. What utter drivel!
A Dishonest/Biased Media Is A Crime Against Democracy!