More Decorum In Government
This time [via Waking Up On Planet X] it comes from the Legislative Assembly of the great province of Saskatchewan where the Opposition talks about horsewhipping women on the government side of the house.
Doesn’t that sort of thing just give ya warm fuzzy feelings of hope and promise for our political system?
And don’t all the comments that follow the post give you equally warm fuzzy feelings of hope that that sort of infantile behaviour in the various legislative branches of the multiple political jurisdictions will soon come to an end.
Gosh I’m proud of our politicians – aren’t you?
Sorry, but I don’t like whiners. I think the horsewhipping remark was assinine, but the reaction equally so. And the whole thing puts “paid” to the theory of “more women in politics = more decorum,” doesn’t it?
Whooee! I ain’t heard anybuddy argue that more gals’d make it more civilized but that ain’t an argument I’m on the lookout for. Gal MP’s is just as mean as fellers an’ there’s plenty of OTT gals like Cheryl Gallant an’ Carolyn Parrish but I reckon the publick don’t like seein’ that side o’ their lady MP’s.
Yeah, Candace, maybe yer right. Them battered women ain’t too attractive always whinin’ like that. I usually have a soft spot fer the pore ol’ beat up gals with their black eyes an’ all but yer sure as hell showin’ that gals can be tough an’ maybe us pansy-ass fellers oughta be more hard-hearted. If we don’t listen t’ their crybaby whinin’, maybe they’ll quit singin’ the blues all the time.
JimBobby
JimBobby: you just blew my mind.
Somewhere over the week-end I read an article about some Liberal in one provincial legislature or another being given the boot by the Speaker for crossing some vague line or another, it needs to happen more often IMO.
Candace, who said more women in politics would improve the level of discourse in any House? And do you have a different link to the event, the one on your site was light on details.
I confess I used to think that. Silly me.
“Women: as evil, stupid, and horny as men.” Not quite as catchy as “Pork: the other white meat”, but what can you do. Hire an ad agency, I suppose. How about: “Women of the World – Go your seperate ways!”
I have heard the women are inherently nicer argument, too; that we’ll save the planet by Florence Nighten-Momming it back to health. But it doesn’t hold up: more women in politics only means that there will be female politicians, and politicians are nahstay. Since no one would say that Woody Allen, The Rock, Stalin, and Einstien all are of a type, merely for their similarity of nutsack, it is my dearest hope that we can put paid to the idea of women being anything but human as well. Dr. Laura is a woman, as is Ann Coulter: and make no mannish jokes! I’m claiming them for team Female Nutbag! We’re obviously biologically capable of being nasty and brutish (as well as short).
On the other hand, women used to be socialized differently, such that competition was more Machiavellian and backstabbity and less George Bush and frontstabbity. Is open aggression better or worse? A little of both?
I’ll betcha that women not-of-current-political-culture (say, those likely react with tears), will be told to stuff it, grow up, not be a… girl? Oh no, that’s for throwing. Um, hey: Wussy? Yeah, something like that. We socialize both men and now women to “be a man” in the public sphere, where being a man has nothing to do with XY and more to do with a certain stoic outlook. Since we didn’t change the culture to demand less public stoicism and the aggressive flaming that comes with, I doubt a different mix of genitalia will change the dynamic: those that aspire to power will fit the culture to get there, and by the time they’ve gotten there, what do they remember of another way of doing things?
Unfortunately, that means feminism won’t Magical Woman the world back to the Garden. (There was sort of a Rousseau’s Noble Savage thing going on with some early gender essentialisms, I think. Angel in the House hangovers. Spike Lee’s magical negro. All that jazz.)
Good rantin’, Arwen.
I got a personal tidbit that just popped inta my noggin. Back in 1969, I was in Chicago visitin’ my university buddy, John. I asked John about his former girlfriend, Virginia. He replied that she was heavily involved in something called the “womens’ liberation movement.”
“Womens’ liberation” was a new one fer me. “What’s that?” I asked.
We talked about feminism without usin’ that word, since neither of us had probbly ever heard of it. After that, the womens’ lib movement was on my radar an’ I supported most of it with words an’ actions, as best I knew how.
Sometime in the past 10 years, or so, the young female so-called feminists that I know (mostly, my 20-something nieces) started lookin’ less an’ less liberated with their push-up bras, pierced sexy-bits an’ tattooed asses. Alls they’re fightin’ for now is the right to objectify themselves an’ they don’t even see it. Useta be, you could tell a feminist from a pornstar.
In case maybe yer thinkin’ my nieces is dirty-haired junkie white trash ho’s, they ain’t. My sexiest, most-tattooed, most pierced-parts niece has a masters degree in womens’ studies, works full-time at a womens’ shelter and ran for the federal NDP a couple of elections ago.
I reckon my 1949 birth year is showin’. My wifemate’s a old hippie-chick feminist who don’t wear any make-up an’ ain’t got any tattoos. Whenever we go somewheres where there’s a buncha gals, Ma’s the purtiest one an’ probbly the smartest an’ most successful one, too.
JB
I think your niece and others take for granted the turf that each successive generation of feminist won for them. Being able to vote, being able to leave (and charge) an abusive hubby, being able to work in pretty much any field they want, being able to choose to work or stay home and raise children…that’s the new normal.
It’s both amusing and annoying to hear these younger ones declare hotly that “they’re not feminists” from a platform of (relative) equality; it’s a real tribute to the ability of ideologues to demonize a word.