Once upon a time I called myself a feminist. Of course I was also of the “crunchy” crowd sans the pot smoking until I started my first coop as a State Senate intern in the winter of 2003.
Seriously though, full fledge – cords, pseudo-birks, wife beaters, emo glasses listening to the heart wrenching tunes of Dashboard Confessional and other not so well heard emo bands. I ate tofu, called myself a vegetarian and religiously touted the fact that I was a bleeding heart liberal from Vermont. I had everything except the dreds and the desire to go protest the war in Washington, DC. It was then that I was on the verge of calling myself a women’s studies minor – I would have had the minor but I was a class or two short, as was the case with my sociology minor.
But my feminista rage has been reenacted lately, not nearly to the same extent but coming from a family where my father had an affair which resulted in my parents divorce and a tumultuous adolescence that consisted of not fitting in and constantly blaming myself for my messed up life, I know how it feels.
So I’m a little pissed that we have yet to see a woman get pissed off. I get it, you’re in the public life but seriously, if your husbands career is over anyhow, then you might as well just put the nail in the coffin in his fucked up life and tell him to get the hell out and take him for all he’s worth.
The press needs it, the young women of America – future wifes of politicians, they need it. Let’s face it, this is just showing men that we’ll stand by them. Boyfriend sent me an interesting article the other day that said we need more Carrie Underwood’s and less Tammy Wynette’s. I for one couldn’t agree more.
And now, after seeing the rollercoaster relationship between the Clinton’s, and now with the former First Lady’s schedule being released and find out she was in the building the day of the blue dress incident – that’s just another punch in the gut for the first lady. I mean, what does it say when the entire American public knows/believes that you’re just in this marriage for the sake of her political career. Personally, I’d think more highly of her if she just once didn’t defend him and said “yes his flirtatious, womanizing ways piss me the fuck off.”
I would commend her even.
However, Silda Spitzer takes the cake. I mean $85,000 is no small chunk of change. And to see your husband’s career go down the shitter while that whore bag of a 20 something is “making millions” and getting covers on Us Weekly, hell I’d be pissed off and wouldn’t stand by his side while he apologized for his ethical wrong doings.
I personally don’t care what you did Governor Spitzer, your philandering didn’t affect me but having seen my own family go through a similar experience, I do care about your children as well as your wife. Granted there is a lot we the public don’t see, but regardless, I’d like to see a little more than some speech some 20 something communications/press staffer wrote up on a whim saying “I’m sorry.” I’d like to see some real remorse. And damnit, I want to see a woman stand up for herself and her emotional well-being.
As boyfriend and I were talking about this all post shower, I reminded him that I would totally be the Carrie Underwood of political wives if he were elected to office and did something like that to me. Fortunately, I have a lot more faith in him to keep it in his pants than I do of other elected officials but thats mostly due to my own luck.
But just think about it for a minute, wouldn’t it be nice to see a woman stand up for herself when finding out of her star husband’s infidelity? Would it just for once be nice to see a Silda Spitzer or Hillary Clinton say something realistic instead of holding this perfect family image for the media?
I do still have feministic like values. I do think women should empower themselves, that they should do what they want to do – whether thats have a career, never have kids and retire at the age of fifty as a millionaire or be the stay at home mother of six. If it makes you happy? Then go for it! Thats what really feminism is about to me. But standing back and playing supportive wife as if you’re June Cleaver, that my friend is not so much.
thoughts? Comments? rants?
