I avoid Fox news like the plague as a general rule. Watching Fox is like listening to Rush Limbaugh- it just makes me feel dirty and hopeless.
Fox News online is the same deal, I don't seek out their "news" and the only reason I came across the opinion piece I am sharing with you today is because the absurdity of said article has become plastered all over Facebook.
Suzanne Venker is an author who writes about why women shouldn't have careers. You might even say it is her career to tell women that they need to stay home and be subservient and avoid having a career. Confusing, I know.
The article in question is called The War on Men.
Take a look at it if you are so inclined. I'll give you a (still painful but shorter) summary.
Venker claims that her years of research and conversations with both men and women have led her to "accidentally stumble" upon a large group of men who state that they will never get married because "women aren't women anymore." She blames the sexual revolution for changing the way women and men interact. Venker makes statement after statement about the reasons women can't find a good or "marriageable" men. Oh, and it's all their own fault because Feminists have brainwashed them into thinking that men are the enemy which means women are denying men their true nature: " The fact is, women need men’s linear career goals – they need men to pick up the slack at the office – in order to live the balanced life they seek".
According to Venker, women want to get married but men don't because women are too competitive and blame men for everything. Men can live with and sleep with their girlfriends with no resposnibillity- so why should they want to get married?
But they do, says Venker, women have just ruined it for them. She states "Men want to love women, not compete with them. They want to provide for and protect their families – it’s in their DNA. But modern women won’t let them."
DNA? Well, in that case...
No, Venker is not a scientist. She opens her article citing a study by the Pew Research Center. Here is the actual study.
Venker deducts from this study that men don't want to get married- yes, the study shows that less men say that marriage is "one of the most important things in their lives." But if you look at the graph above that it shows that women and men value marriage and parenthood at nearly the same percentage, women 84% and men 83%. So while fewer men are saying that marriage is one of the most important things is their lives a large number of men still find marriage and parenthood very important.
What I find to be the most frustrating part of Venker's article is her obvious hatred of Feminism. She doesn't find women's empowerment charming or feminine enough. Modern women (i.e. women who have jobs and children)are selfish and crazy to think that they can do anything that men can do. Damn, it's as if shes negating anything that she says because shes just a silly women thinking she can have a family and be an author. She herself is a divorced mother with a CAREER who is deeply concerned with the state of marriage in our society.
She ends the article with this:
"So if men today are slackers, and if they’re retreating from marriage en masse, women should look in the mirror and ask themselves what role they’ve played to bring about this transformation.
Fortunately, there is good news: women have the power to turn everything around. All they have to do is surrender to their nature – their femininity – and let men surrender to theirs.
If they do, marriageable men will come out of the woodwork."
Wow, that's not hypocritical at all.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Catholic Country Let's Woman Die
A women who sought an abortion at a hospital in Ireland while suffering a miscarriage has died. Savita Halappanavar, 31 years old and 17 weeks pregnant, presented with back pain at Ireland's University Hospital Galway on October 21st- they discovered that she was in the process of miscarrying.
Even though Halappanavar, a Hindu, was emphatic that she was neither Irish nor Catholic, and even though she developed shakes and shivering and was vomiting, the hospital said there was nothing to be done because there was still a fetal heartbeat. She was told that "this is a catholic country."
Boston.com reports that Ireland’s constitution officially bans abortion, but a 1992 Supreme Court ruling found the procedure should be legalized for situations when the woman’s life is at risk. Five governments since have refused to pass a law resolving the confusion, leaving Irish hospitals reluctant to terminate pregnancies even when possibly endangering the life of the mother.
The delay in enacting this law in Ireland has cost Halappanavar her life. While some women in Ireland have the option to travel the relatively short distance to England for a legal abortion- it is extremely difficult for women in poor health to do the same.
This article from the Guardian examines the troubled history of abortion in Ireland:
"The first breach in the wall of silence around abortion came about in 1992 when a 14-year-old rape victim attempted to travel to England to terminate her pregnancy. The Irish government, on the advice of the attorney general, sought initially to prevent her from travelling out of the country. The prospect of a modern European republic seeking to deny a child from leaving the country, and in turn forcing her to endure pregnancy brought on by rape, produced one of the most famous images of the early 1990s."
In 2009, three Irish women sued the government saying that the impossibility of having an legal abortion in Ireland made the procedure unnecessarily traumatic and expensive. The court agreed with the women and ordered legislation be passed for abortion to be legal in certain circumstances.
With the death of Savita Halappanavar, Ireland is at the forefront of a tragedy that underlines the need for reform in this Catholic country.
Human dignity and women's lives are at stake.
Even though Halappanavar, a Hindu, was emphatic that she was neither Irish nor Catholic, and even though she developed shakes and shivering and was vomiting, the hospital said there was nothing to be done because there was still a fetal heartbeat. She was told that "this is a catholic country."
Boston.com reports that Ireland’s constitution officially bans abortion, but a 1992 Supreme Court ruling found the procedure should be legalized for situations when the woman’s life is at risk. Five governments since have refused to pass a law resolving the confusion, leaving Irish hospitals reluctant to terminate pregnancies even when possibly endangering the life of the mother.
The delay in enacting this law in Ireland has cost Halappanavar her life. While some women in Ireland have the option to travel the relatively short distance to England for a legal abortion- it is extremely difficult for women in poor health to do the same.
This article from the Guardian examines the troubled history of abortion in Ireland:
"The first breach in the wall of silence around abortion came about in 1992 when a 14-year-old rape victim attempted to travel to England to terminate her pregnancy. The Irish government, on the advice of the attorney general, sought initially to prevent her from travelling out of the country. The prospect of a modern European republic seeking to deny a child from leaving the country, and in turn forcing her to endure pregnancy brought on by rape, produced one of the most famous images of the early 1990s."
In 2009, three Irish women sued the government saying that the impossibility of having an legal abortion in Ireland made the procedure unnecessarily traumatic and expensive. The court agreed with the women and ordered legislation be passed for abortion to be legal in certain circumstances.
With the death of Savita Halappanavar, Ireland is at the forefront of a tragedy that underlines the need for reform in this Catholic country.
Human dignity and women's lives are at stake.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Glass Ceiling 20%
Women now make up a whopping 1/5th of the legislative body that is the Senate. Tuesday's election saw five women win senate seats- the most since the land mark "Year of the Women" in 1992.
Elizabeth Warren beat incombent Scott Brown becoming the first female senator in Massachusetts history. Republican Deb Fischer emerged victorious over Democrat Bob Kerrey and will be the first full-term female senator from Nebraska.
Todd Akin was "legitmately" beaten leaving Claire Macaskill to keep her seat in Missouri.The Onion tells it here. Democrat Heidi Heitkamp, of North Dakota won a Senate seat in her state, while Hawaii Democrat Mazie Hirono became the first Asian-American woman elected to the Senate.
Tammy Baldwin won her race which will make her the first openly gay senator. She is representing Wisconsin.
It serves to reason that legislation which negetively impacts women will be more difficult to pass. What's even more encouraging is that there were 13 Republican senators that opposed abortion even in the case of rape, on Tuesday-10 of those senators lost.
Elizabeth Warren beat incombent Scott Brown becoming the first female senator in Massachusetts history. Republican Deb Fischer emerged victorious over Democrat Bob Kerrey and will be the first full-term female senator from Nebraska.
Todd Akin was "legitmately" beaten leaving Claire Macaskill to keep her seat in Missouri.The Onion tells it here. Democrat Heidi Heitkamp, of North Dakota won a Senate seat in her state, while Hawaii Democrat Mazie Hirono became the first Asian-American woman elected to the Senate.
Tammy Baldwin won her race which will make her the first openly gay senator. She is representing Wisconsin.
It serves to reason that legislation which negetively impacts women will be more difficult to pass. What's even more encouraging is that there were 13 Republican senators that opposed abortion even in the case of rape, on Tuesday-10 of those senators lost.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
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