I am a woman, albeit not a whole woman or real woman in the perception of many men and probably most men of my own generation; I’m sure there are many women out there who would agree but I’m stymied as to how they can buy into this belief. Reason one to disqualify me from womanhood is that I am missing the shopping gene, I truly get no pleasure from shopping of any kind, ever. Reason two is that I have completed menopause and, therefore, am of no use to that large proportion of our society that considers women are on this earth for only one purpose. Reason three of my disqualification is that I have always believed that the gender differences defined in this nation are amazingly wrong and unfair. This belief was not at all fostered by my mother although my father, who was a full blooded Italian man which created much conflict for him about my independence, always told me that I could do anything I set my mind to. My poor mother, on the other hand, did not think a female could do anything other than improve herself enough so that some man would come along to take care of her.
There is a reason three-A which puts the stamp of disapproval on my immortal soul by the Catholic Church and a plethora of men who perceive this as the most dangerous thought of all: I believe that there is definitely a sex difference between men and women which is quite obvious to the naked eye but libidos are, on the average, damned equal. Some women are as hot-blooded as the asshole from “Two and A Half Men”; some men are as unmoved by desire as a castrato in an auditorium full of tone deaf people trying to sing along to the Hallelujah Chorus.
Yet, our society has put a great deal of effort into enforcing the gender code onto little boys and girls. Despite the momentary lapse of insanity during the late 1960s, early 1970s wherein both parents began to take an active role in raising children and children were not restricted to toys for boys and toys for girls and baby girls learning to crawl were not choked with each step because they were forced to wear the impractical but adorable pink, frilly dress that Aunt Ethel bought them – despite all that, we are still a society, as a whole, that wants to put people into definable slots. Little boys are pushed to play pee-wee football and baseball; little girls are taken to dance lessons and baby beauty pageants – whether they like it or not.
And grown women are relegated to the kitchen to make the turkey and trimmings while the men sit around the television set, drinking their beer and rooting for one team or the other to win a football game that those men might not even care about any other day of the year.
Now, some of you – particular the younger some of you – might be saying to yourselves, “This is not me! I will never ____________.” Fill in the blank. Go ahead, fill it in and write it down because chances are you will so. You’ll worry if your sons would rather play house than football, you’ll panic if your daughters would rather read, play football or office than pretend to be the mother of their dolls. If this doesn’t happen to you, then good on you and probably you’re voting Democrat in this election, right?
Because, if you elect the people now running for the Republican ticket, you will be – among other things – sealing the fate of your daughters. Sure, the white boys who grow up to be old white men will have a leg up on everything but the girls who become women will be left in the dust; rather, left barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen else shelved away in a convent. Oh, that’s extreme you might say – I just want less government spending and a lower deficit, I’m looking for the future of my children to be bright and sunny. Okay – look at the records then. Which party actually spent more every time they said they would spend less? Which party got the deficit turned around to a surplus? Which party promised never to raise taxes then did? Which party got ELECTED by telling us we were in a mess and we would all have to chip in to get out of that mess?
So, I’m not going to make a chart with numbers (although I encourage Andy the brilliant to do so) I’m just going my years of experience with broken promises from old, white men. I don’t even expect them to change, I don’t expect one well-to-do white man to have compassion for any of us who have been dealt the bad luck of being born female or minority in this country. If he’s out there, my love for him abounds. But, I do expect that any woman, no matter her age, would say that’s enough of this, boys – we’re not letting you do this to our daughters, granddaughters and great granddaughters. But nooo – there are still enough women who support this archaic attempt to pull Roe v Wade and enforce an economic ban on access to birth control that these people could actually pull this election off.
I can’t quite fathom what these women are thinking. Could it be, well I never had an opportunity to have sex without consequence so why should you? Could it be, I really believe that a woman’s only role should be to support her husband and be a good mother to her children? Could it be, sex was never very enjoyable for me so why should you be able to practice enough to enjoy it? I’m lost – I would welcome any young woman who actually supports these efforts to strip this semblance of equality we hang onto by a thread to explain to me exactly why. My only caveat is that you leave god or God out of the equation. Please remember that our country was founded by people who wanted religion to be a choice so you can still have your god or God and his rules without having to enforce those rules on those of us who might have a different belief.
