This morning, someone posted this on Facebook:
I guess we were supposed to see it, and LOL, but my first reaction was, "OMG", then "WTF?". Guess I wasn't the target audience for the hilarity.
Quite frankly, I was offended. And saddened, because women have worked so hard to be taken seriously, judged on what they do, and here we are, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back to "Square One"--being judged on how we look.
But actually, it goes beyond that. Not only judged on how we look, but in many cases, how we are photoshopped ("Democrats") and airbrushed ("Republicans") to look.
But never judged on our achievements. Because if we were judged on our achievements, whoever made this up would be horrified at the thought of putting Sarah Palin or Carrie Prejean on the same page as Madeline Albright or Hillary Clinton.
Then I looked at the photos again. I don't even know who some of the "Democrats" were. And let me make it clear--I use "Democrats" in quotations, because I'm not sure that someone like Helen Thomas, award-winning journalist, would have declared a party affiliation. So, I "Googled" women I did not know.
I also want to make it clear that the information I gathered for each of the women came from Wikipedia, to make it fair and as "accurate as possible".
Lynne Stewart (they didn't even have the decency to spell her name correctly): Stewart is currently dying in prison--her breast cancer metastasized while she was in prison. Seems a pretty harsh sentence for her "crime". " "Lynne Irene Stewart (born October 8, 1939) is a former attorney who was known for representing controversial, poor, and often unpopular defendants. She was convicted on charges of conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists in 2005,[1] and sentenced to 28 months in prison. She was convicted of helping pass messages from her client, Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, an Egyptian cleric convicted of planning terror attacks, to his followers in al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, an organization designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States Secretary of State. She was re-sentenced on July 15, 2010, to 10 years in prison in light of her alleged perjury at her trial.[2] She is currently serving her sentence at FMC Carswell in Ft Worth, Texas.[3]"
Susan Estrich: "She is currently a law professor at the University of Southern California Law School and a political science professor at its affiliated undergraduate school. Before joining the USC faculty in 1989, she was Professor of Law at Harvard University, where she was the youngest woman to receive tenure.[7] ...She writes a nationally syndicated print column distributed through Creators Syndicate.[10]In several of her books, including Sex, Power and The Case for Hillary Clinton, Estrich discusses her experience as a survivor of rape. Her book Real Rape talks about the history of rape law in the United States. In 2004, Estrich challenged Los Angeles Times editorial page editor Michael Kinsley for under-representing women on the editorial page.[11][12] Estrich was very outspoken during the 2008 presidential race, particularly on the subject of women in politics in light of the candidacies of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin. Estrich supported Clinton in theDemocratic primaries,[13] but was strongly critical of Palin.[14]."
I know who Andrea Dworkin was, but some people do not, so here's a little bit about her: "Dworkin authored ten books of radical feminist theory and numerous speeches and articles, each designed to assert the presence of and denounce institutionalized and normalized harm against women. She became one of the most influential writers and spokeswomen of American radical feminism during the late 1970s and the 1980s.[34][88] She characterized pornography as an industry of damaging objectification and abuse, not merely a fantasy realm. She discussed prostitution as a system of exploitation, and intercourse as a key site of subordination in patriarchy. Her analysis and writing influenced and inspired the work of contemporary feminists." Oh yeah, and she's dead. I'm not sure how the dead are supposed to be in any way a threat, but clearly the guy making the image above thought Andrea still is. NOW THAT'S POWER!!!! Andrea would be so proud.
Debbie Schlussel: "a conservative blogger who focuses particularly on Islam and American Muslims, but also on anti-semitism among Christians and others she views as a threat to Jews and other Americans. Her writing frequently targets the largely Muslim population of the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, which she refers to as "Dearbornistan".[1] Schlussel's columns have been published in the New York Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, The Jerusalem Post, amongst others. Her film reviews are posted on Andrew Breitbart's Big Hollywood website. She hosted The Debbie Schlussel Show between 2002 and 2003. The main focus of Schlussel's journalism is targeting what she regards as negative elements of American Islamic society. In 1998, she reported undercover from the Islamic Center of America for The Detroit News. According to her account, invited speaker Louis Farrakhan made an incendiary and anti-American speech at the mosque and was greeted by 'frenzied applause and wild cheering'.[9] The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee criticized her work in its 2002 Hate Crime report, citing Schlussel's criticism of Darrell Issa after he met with Hezbollah in Syria.[10] Schlussel has also been cited by liberal media watchdog Media Matters for spreading misinformation."
Monica Crowley: "is an American conservative radio and television commentator, and author based in New York City. She has her own radio show and is a Fox News contributor, Washington Times columnist, and member of the Council on Foreign Relations.[1]Crowley began written correspondence with former President Richard Nixon but instead accepted a position as a research assistant for Nixon.[2] Nixon promoted her to Foreign Policy Assistant in 1990 because he appreciated her foreign policy opinions. She was an editorial adviser and consultant on his last two books, Seize the Moment (1992) and Beyond Peace (1994). She held the position until Nixon's death in 1994."
Hannah Giles--no information on Wikipedia (how odd) but here's what she's "famous" for: "Hannah Giles is the young journalist who originally conceived the idea for the ACORN video investigation, which she later executed in 2009, with fellow investigative journalist James O’Keefe." I think classifying her as a "journalist" or an "investigative journalist" is stretching it.
The longer I think about the image, and write about it, the angrier I get.
So, here's something to make me laugh a little:
REPUBLICAN DEMOCRAT
I guess we were supposed to see it, and LOL, but my first reaction was, "OMG", then "WTF?". Guess I wasn't the target audience for the hilarity.
Quite frankly, I was offended. And saddened, because women have worked so hard to be taken seriously, judged on what they do, and here we are, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back to "Square One"--being judged on how we look.
But actually, it goes beyond that. Not only judged on how we look, but in many cases, how we are photoshopped ("Democrats") and airbrushed ("Republicans") to look.
But never judged on our achievements. Because if we were judged on our achievements, whoever made this up would be horrified at the thought of putting Sarah Palin or Carrie Prejean on the same page as Madeline Albright or Hillary Clinton.
Also, I counted the number of women in government positions--in my opinion, the position these women hold are perhaps of greater import, because they are actually accountable to someone for their actions. For the Republicans: 2 3/4 (Sarah Palin did not finish her term as Alaskan governor, and although Monica Crowley was in the Nixon administration, it's unclear how much influence or accountability she had). For the Democrats: 4.
Then I looked at the photos again. I don't even know who some of the "Democrats" were. And let me make it clear--I use "Democrats" in quotations, because I'm not sure that someone like Helen Thomas, award-winning journalist, would have declared a party affiliation. So, I "Googled" women I did not know.
I also want to make it clear that the information I gathered for each of the women came from Wikipedia, to make it fair and as "accurate as possible".
Lynne Stewart (they didn't even have the decency to spell her name correctly): Stewart is currently dying in prison--her breast cancer metastasized while she was in prison. Seems a pretty harsh sentence for her "crime". " "Lynne Irene Stewart (born October 8, 1939) is a former attorney who was known for representing controversial, poor, and often unpopular defendants. She was convicted on charges of conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists in 2005,[1] and sentenced to 28 months in prison. She was convicted of helping pass messages from her client, Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, an Egyptian cleric convicted of planning terror attacks, to his followers in al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, an organization designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States Secretary of State. She was re-sentenced on July 15, 2010, to 10 years in prison in light of her alleged perjury at her trial.[2] She is currently serving her sentence at FMC Carswell in Ft Worth, Texas.[3]"
Susan Estrich: "She is currently a law professor at the University of Southern California Law School and a political science professor at its affiliated undergraduate school. Before joining the USC faculty in 1989, she was Professor of Law at Harvard University, where she was the youngest woman to receive tenure.[7] ...She writes a nationally syndicated print column distributed through Creators Syndicate.[10]In several of her books, including Sex, Power and The Case for Hillary Clinton, Estrich discusses her experience as a survivor of rape. Her book Real Rape talks about the history of rape law in the United States. In 2004, Estrich challenged Los Angeles Times editorial page editor Michael Kinsley for under-representing women on the editorial page.[11][12] Estrich was very outspoken during the 2008 presidential race, particularly on the subject of women in politics in light of the candidacies of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin. Estrich supported Clinton in theDemocratic primaries,[13] but was strongly critical of Palin.[14]."
I know who Andrea Dworkin was, but some people do not, so here's a little bit about her: "Dworkin authored ten books of radical feminist theory and numerous speeches and articles, each designed to assert the presence of and denounce institutionalized and normalized harm against women. She became one of the most influential writers and spokeswomen of American radical feminism during the late 1970s and the 1980s.[34][88] She characterized pornography as an industry of damaging objectification and abuse, not merely a fantasy realm. She discussed prostitution as a system of exploitation, and intercourse as a key site of subordination in patriarchy. Her analysis and writing influenced and inspired the work of contemporary feminists." Oh yeah, and she's dead. I'm not sure how the dead are supposed to be in any way a threat, but clearly the guy making the image above thought Andrea still is. NOW THAT'S POWER!!!! Andrea would be so proud.
Debbie Schlussel: "a conservative blogger who focuses particularly on Islam and American Muslims, but also on anti-semitism among Christians and others she views as a threat to Jews and other Americans. Her writing frequently targets the largely Muslim population of the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, which she refers to as "Dearbornistan".[1] Schlussel's columns have been published in the New York Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, The Jerusalem Post, amongst others. Her film reviews are posted on Andrew Breitbart's Big Hollywood website. She hosted The Debbie Schlussel Show between 2002 and 2003. The main focus of Schlussel's journalism is targeting what she regards as negative elements of American Islamic society. In 1998, she reported undercover from the Islamic Center of America for The Detroit News. According to her account, invited speaker Louis Farrakhan made an incendiary and anti-American speech at the mosque and was greeted by 'frenzied applause and wild cheering'.[9] The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee criticized her work in its 2002 Hate Crime report, citing Schlussel's criticism of Darrell Issa after he met with Hezbollah in Syria.[10] Schlussel has also been cited by liberal media watchdog Media Matters for spreading misinformation."
Monica Crowley: "is an American conservative radio and television commentator, and author based in New York City. She has her own radio show and is a Fox News contributor, Washington Times columnist, and member of the Council on Foreign Relations.[1]Crowley began written correspondence with former President Richard Nixon but instead accepted a position as a research assistant for Nixon.[2] Nixon promoted her to Foreign Policy Assistant in 1990 because he appreciated her foreign policy opinions. She was an editorial adviser and consultant on his last two books, Seize the Moment (1992) and Beyond Peace (1994). She held the position until Nixon's death in 1994."
Hannah Giles--no information on Wikipedia (how odd) but here's what she's "famous" for: "Hannah Giles is the young journalist who originally conceived the idea for the ACORN video investigation, which she later executed in 2009, with fellow investigative journalist James O’Keefe." I think classifying her as a "journalist" or an "investigative journalist" is stretching it.
The longer I think about the image, and write about it, the angrier I get.
So, here's something to make me laugh a little:
REPUBLICAN DEMOCRAT
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