Bobby’s words– Continued May 29, 2008
Posted by spacemom in : Current Affairs , 1 comment so farI realized that my time pressures on meetings and other items prevented me from fulling getting out my thoughts yesterday.
Here is the full paragraph from "Double Play" by Robert B. Parker
The culture presented premenopausal women to us as girls. In the movies married men and girls slept in separate beds. In the movies men would fight for these girls, die for their girls. In the movies girls would scream for their men, tremble for them dress their wounds, cry for them, wait for them. Love was everywhere, Passion was everywhere. Devotion was everywhere. Self0sacrifice abounded. Sex was nowhere. Except that the girls were sexy. And they were everywhere, on the radio, in the movies, in the magazines, in the ads. The songs. "To spend one night with you, in our own rendezvous." The lingerie ads, bathing suit ads, stocking ads, car ads, canned ham ads,beer ads, hair tonic ads, aftershave ads. All of them fresh and clean and sweet and perky and crucifyingly desirable.
You see, it’s not just that woman are called "girls". They are presented as girls. What does "girl" mean to you? To me? I see my children, my girls, young and free. Innocent. Needing guidance. They aren’t ready for the real world where people die in the blink of an eye. The world where the color of your skin, the name of your deity, the language you speak, the form of your genitals matter. They just see people. You treat a person the same no matter what. These girls still need protection, they need love. They need someone to take care of the boo-boos, the physical and the emotional. They need someone to help them explore their self confidence, to teach them that mistakes are okay and that we are all failures at times. And that it is okay.
A woman? To me this is an adult. A person who has learned about the blatant unfairness of life. A person who can care for herself. A Person who can navigate the world and make her own choices.
The issue is not just calling women "girls". The issue is treating women like girls.
Steve (hi Steve!) wrote:
think you’re over-analyzing this. Men are often referred to as ‘boys’ or ‘guys’ just as women are known as ‘girls’ or ‘gals’.
If there was that much of a problem with equality, Hilary Clinton
wouldn’t be neck and neck with Obama for the Democratic nomination.
Maybe I am over analyzing this. But I think I am not. I work in a field filled with men. A recent Sky and Telescope article discussed a wonderful discovery by a female scientist. She chose to leave the field. Her adviser, one of the great solar system scientists had made it clear to her that woman can not balance a family and science. Where do you get that attitude? Where? You suddenly have children and the science leaves your brain?
I hate to point out the obvious, but Hillary is not going to win the nomination. That is becoming clear. Why are people telling her to quit? Why has NO BODY asked Obama to drop out if this were equal? Why are there questions about Obama’s religion and background and then what Hillary is wearing tonight? Just like voting rights, we will put a minority first, females second.
We only passed Title IX in 1972! this is in my lifetime! This means women of my generation are really the first to truly believe that we have a chance to be considered equally as men for positions. And yet, when I first got hired in my first astronomical job out of college I had a PhD scientist say to me "I hear you got hired because you’re with Jay. I worked to get hired." My jaw dropped at this, especially since I was interviewed separate from Jay and my interviewer had no clue that Jay was coming here. The thoughts are still out there:
Girls aren’t as good as men in some fields
Girls need men to protect them
Girls should be careful to go out alone, it’s too dangerous
Girls can’t fight in combat.
Girls have "monthly problems" that prevent them from doing what a man can.
Think about these. They are out there. They are still out there.
And Parker is right, women as just as sexual creatures as men are. But that, my friends, is a whole other post.
