| Dear Joanne |
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| Posted by Administrator | |
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Joanne Lipman, one of America’s top media professionals, a wife and mother, recently wrote a New York Times op-ed article, “The Mismeasure of Woman”. Ms. Lipman was the former deputy managing editor at The Wall Street Journal and founding editor-in-chief of Condč Nast Portfolio Magazine. Ms. Lipman's original article from the New York times is found here. You start by proposing, and then disproving, the hypothesis that “Finally! I hear we’re all living in a women’s world now... Women make up half the U.S. work force, and mothers are major breadwinners in 40 percent of families, but they’re not earning as much as men… The truth is, women haven’t come nearly as far as we would have predicted 25 years ago...” Being part of a post-feminist generation that assumed gender issues were not a social factor and accepted sexual harassment as a fact of life, you warn that the situation of women was in fact getting worse, and that 9/11 had partly to do with it? I thought long and hard at your line of reasoning. Are you saying that when the Twin Towers fell, American men somehow shrank their collective manhood? Is this why American male newscasters and bloggers unleashed their cruelty on poor women in media and politics who, just until the suicide planes hit, could (in your own words) out-curse and out-macho the men? Do you really believe the two lethal thrusts from Osama bin Laden crumbled the edifice of feminist triumph and unraveled in a little over eight years what took decades to build? Don’t you think it’s safer to assume that feminism’s fragile accomplishments are due to its mistaken and jejune foundations? Joanne, I think that like many western women, your mental fixation attaches too much meaning to the World Trade Center’s phallic symbolism. Typical of a woman to rant against and blame others, men mostly, instead of admitting you’ve been hoodwinked into fighting on equal terms with us men. No, Joanne. Women didn’t begin to lose ground when the Twin Towers fell. Women began to lose ground when you decided to climb “down” into the ring with us and engage in a brutally animal and childish battle royal. Women began to lose ground when you decided to “curse like truck drivers” and “dressed the part, out-machoing the men with truly tragic wardrobe choices -- boxy suits...shoulder pads...floppy bow ties.” Rather than earn our respect by making us see you’re better and different from us men, your feminist ancestors decided to make women equal to men. Huge mistake. Admit it. You succeeded when you acted like the real woman you are deep inside -- brilliant, determined, big-hearted, intuitive, and feminine. Of course, with a male boss, having nice legs is a plus. Don’t deny it, but I’m sure you used your legs to get where you are now, but if you were not good at your job, you wouldn’t have gone far. The real irony in this gender wars is not that women, after fighting to be equal to men for years, have accomplished little. Rather, it is this: by trying to be like the men, women have become their own worst enemy. You advise women to have confidence in themselves, but how can you be confident by undermining the real source of confidence? Women are different and, I dare say, better than men at being human. You also advise women to have a sense of humor. Don’t you realize women are a man’s fount of humor, and that without women, we degenerate into an immature bunch of mindless, fun-loving kids? You women complete us, and by throwing away the gender difference, feminists and post-feminists condemned generations of women to a life of insecurity, grasping at straws to compete with men, sinking deeper into the desperate morass of bestiality. In the end, you got it right. Your final suggestion -- don’t be afraid to be a girl -- is spot on! Women should have gotten this advice long ago. Yes, as you so clearly wrote, women’s culture is different, and the world’s better for it. I shudder to think what an asshole I would have turned out to be if not for my mother, my sisters, my wife and my daughters. If not for women, the world would be littered with creeping, slimy assholes. And yes, you’re right too that woman can define success and life in various ways. You can be mothers, you are stronger, and your beauty is mystical and inspiring. Women are different, and it’s this difference that teaches us about respect and that tells us why we men should respect women. Man and woman make a great team, but we expect you to pull us up to your level. If you don’t, we’ll drag you down to ours. Regards to your family! Manoling de Leon Senior Citizen Republic of the Philippines |
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| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 17 November 2009 ) |
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