
I've been rewatching Downton Abbey. It's soothing and the politics are simple and benign. Last night, however, I watched American Primeval on Netflix which was the opposite of soothing and makes Deadwood look like a comedy. It had a strong female lead in Betty Gilpin (GLOW/Nurse Jackie) and a solid, taciturn performance from Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights). The portrayal of the Native Americans was more fair than I've seen in a long time although I'm white so I'll leave the ultimate judgment of how they were depicted to them. It was compelling, hard to watch, dark and violent. There was one sexual assault but it was done off-screen and for that, as a woman, I was grateful which got me thinking about how I should not have to be happy that the violence against a woman wasn't explicit. I shouldn't be relieved. Rape is not a plot device and I'm so tired of it.
Biden declared the Equal Rights Amendment ratified and a part of the Constitution today. The ERA was originally introduced in 1972. It's been languishing in Congress for 52 years. That's almost my entire life. I didn't grow up thinking I was a second-class citizen and this country has been gaslighting us into thinking we were equal this entire time when, by law, we are not and never have been.
Yesterday, I was over on LinkedIn "networking" or whatever when I came across this post.

The comments did not pass the vibe check. The sheer amount of "What about men? Men take care of kids too!" sent me into another universe. I was LIVID. I'm still angry. The blatant sexism (coming from men and women) was shocking. LinkedIn has always been...you know...a necessary app and not a fun one - but it was usually professional. The fact that so many people feel comfortable expressing ideas like "women don't face hurdles men don't also face" on a PROFESSIONAL CAREER WEBSITE is BAD. It's the canary in a coal mine and I'm very worried. I shot back at a few people because I can't just leave that stuff unchecked and also did I mention I was LIVID?


Maddening. Tearing my hair out over here at the women boiling in their little pots of water and the men who love to dismiss us.
I don't know what's going to happen but enshrining the ERA was a necessary step in the right direction, for sure. To reverse course, Republicans are going to have to explicitly say "Women are not equal to men" which could go one of two ways: either they start a disinformation and smear campaign against women or they realize angering half of the nation is a bad idea. I have a feeling it's going to be the first one.
Kommentarer