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G-L-O-R-I-A
The 81-year-old distinguished feminist, Gloria Steinem, has intimated the heterodox, blatantly sexist sentiment that young women develop an interest in boys before they develop an interest in politics.
In a recent interview with Bill Maher, Steinem was asked why more young women seem to be supporting Bernie Sanders instead of Hillary Clinton. Steinem replied that females typically don’t start taking politics seriously until they get older. She continued: “When you’re young, you’re thinking, ‘Where are the boys?’ The boys are with Bernie.”
What an arousing thought. Shades of Connie Francis! Wheeeere the booooys are…someone waits for me.
And naturally the young men are thinking: “where are the girls?” Answer: the girls are with Bernie!
The girls are with Bernie. The boys are with Bernie. They are making phone calls. They are canvassing door to door. They are standing out in the cold with Bernie signs. They sneak a little takeout Chinese as they work and plan into the night.
They’re packed in cars, they’re sleeping in borrowed apartments. Sure, they’ve got classes they’re missing and they’re racking up charges on the credit card. (Mom is going to have a cow!) But this is what education is all about, after all.
They’re working for the cause.
And then, late at night … elbows touch. Eyes meet for a flicker. Hearts beat faster. And then seriously, passionately, they say: we’ve just got to get Bernie elected!
Fade to black.
Now this, to me, is a delicious sentiment. You want to make it even more delicious? Let’s take that venerable feminist (who, at 81 doesn’t look half bad) and project her back about, oh, 50 years or so…at which time she looks like this:
Tell me, who exactly are we campaigning for? Oh, Bernie Sanders? Sure. Fine. Go Bernie.
My God. I’m gonna shout it all night…
But that is not how it went down.
When Gloria said those words above she was, as you can see, speaking on behalf of Hillary. And the girls of whom she spoke were supporting Bernie. And Gloria said that those girls are too young to perceive political reality through their raging hormones. They are not really committed to a substantive idea. They are just chasing boys.
The result of such disrespect was this “demand” (from a variety of the notable young women in the Sanders campaign):
This statement represents one of the worst pronouncements on gender we have seen from a notable person in this election season. It’s particularly significant because you are a feminist icon whose leadership continues to inspire, and because the statement was such a sweeping condemnation of young women. One of the hallmarks of a leader is the ability to admit mistakes. We hope that you are the kind of leader who can recognize when they make a mistake and correct it as soon as possible. As students of your own powerful model of feminist activism in the media, we demand that you admit your mistake and apologize.
As P.J. O’Rourke said, (I’m paraphrasing) one of the most hideous things about liberalism is that it is utterly sanctimonious. One can just imagine these humorless, neurotic fanatics waving their Little Red Books.
Now if Gloria Steinem were Donald Trump, she would have said: “are you kidding me?!” (or some such sentiment). Gloria is not Donald, however. So what Gloria said was this:
I misspoke on the Bill Maher show recently, and apologize for what’s been misinterpreted as implying young women aren’t serious in their politics.
Okay. So this is not humiliating on the scale of Paul Newman finally getting his head straight in Cool Hand Luke. This is 2016 and we just don’t expect everyday heroism anymore. But jeez, Gloria! You are an 81-year-old icon. And you have lived a life which has, even your critics will agree, woven feminism and sex appeal, righteousness and joie de vivre. It hurts to see you grovel.
So forgive me if I prefer to remember you otherwise.
G-L-O-R-I-A.
Published in Culture
Michael,
I suspect you’re a little young to be remembering. When Gloria was young she was the toy of some very rich and powerful men. Later as she used her corruptly acquired connections to become a powerful feminist icon she simply wrote off Bill Clinton’s sexual harassment & rape on the grounds that “he has a good voting record”.
In short, G L O R I A has always been full of C R A @.
Regards,
Jim
“Distinguished”? I might quibble a little (or a lot) with that adjective.
And speaking of preference …. I actually prefer feminist icon Susan Sarandon (talk about the lesser of two ‘evils’!) who is causing the one who shall not be named some serious heart bern ….
“I don’t vote with my vagina. It’s so insulting to women to think that you would follow a candidate JUST because she’s a woman.”
I’m 3 years younger and I thought she was trash then and have not changed my opinion except to add evil to the trash.
Edited to add, they have air brushed all her wrinkles away for the the glamour photo. Kaylett even makes me look good.
For all her outer girl-next-door-prettiness, it masks a lot of inner ugliness. Old Leftists are not immune from being eaten by their ideological progeny.
Thanks at least for the compliment on my age, James! At least I *sound* like a young guy!
I’ll point out though that Steinem founded Ms. magazine in 1972 – twenty years before Clinton became President. You may regard her record on the Clinton adultery as particularly egregious hypocrisy but by that time she had a wide range of accomplishments and activities which would serve as a better point of criticism than a single position she took in her 60’s.
Michael,
Isn’t that a rather cavalier attitude to take. The women makes a career out of being a feminist leader. When a President of the United States is caught in multiple sexual harassments and having sex with a minor in the White House, she writes it off because he is following her leftist agenda.
That strikes me as maximally hypocritical. Also, an early career as a kept sex kitten doesn’t exactly make her protestations of feminism particularly believable. It adds up to a very savvy political opportunist and nothing more.
Regards,
Jim
My sister, who still claims to be a feminist, sent me a subscription to that filthy rag when she purchased hers. After reading a few of them tossed the rest into the trash. With my daughters in their teens she attempted to send them a subscription, and I cancelled it and burned those that actually made it to the house. My sister claims I always tried to keep my daughters suppressed. She got her hands on my older daughter for a time. But Kaylett is someone extraordinary. IMHO of course.
Just to be clear: I don’t want to get cornered into defending the whole career of Ms. Steinem. I just think when she says that the girls are off campaigning for Bernie because that’s where the boys are, it is just adorable candor from a woman who is not too much of a feminist curmudgeon (even at the age of 81) to appreciate the birds and the bees.
What I wonder is why Gloria had this particular thought. It is exactly the sort of thing she would have condemned if it came from anyone else, as Maher suggested. If she believes what she said, that is actually hopeful news that feminist dogma is not as deeply ingrained in women’s minds as it sometimes seems to be.
Michael,
Does it occur to you that while she’s entertaining you (something she has experience with) she is sending a message to the women that really serious women vote for Hillary and frivolous girls are voting for Bernie.
Of course, what she, especially at this age, should be saying to women is that voting for Bernie is a sign of insanity and voting for Hillary is a sign of criminality.
Regards,
Jim
I won’t say I didn’t feel a little sick seeing her picture. What a skeletal smile she has these days.
Funny how every now and then you see something that makes human mortality a comforting thought.
wellll, she is 81 after all.
I actually think the “boys” the “girls” would actually like are Republicans. Manly boys are more interesting, so I don’t think she is even right about any of it.
I remember when calling a woman a “girl” was very politically incorrect. I guess you forgot that didn’t you Gloria, doll?
These young women’s reasoning is an even baser instinct… Bernie offers to pay their bills, so they can remain children indefinitely.
#6: “…having sex with a minor in the White House…”
I think that Bill’s sexual escapades are appalling and some may have been illegal. I would never vote for his spouse even if I agreed with her politically, because her election would return Bill to the White House – the scene of the “crime”.
Notice that I put “crime” in scare quotes. Monica Lewinsky was not a minor in 1995. Now, if you want to talk about the more recent “Lolita Express” trips, that’s another story.
Re # 14
Yes, I’d like the Lolita Express trips more often discussed; also the 12 year old rape victim Hillary discredited when she defended that child’s rapist.
Is that photo of Gloria in the bathtub “objectifying” or “empowering”? It’s so hard to keep up with the feminists, sometimes.
For example, you might think that if the most powerful man in the world used a star struck 22-year-old intern as a masturbatory Kleenex and then tossed her away, that would be considered exploitative.
Oh, but you would be wrong.