‘Common sense, common-law wife, but huge appetite for ill-gotten wealth and trucker of nepotism. Beware the White Witch of Narnia, fry the Hellish Harpy from the Deep South.’
WOULD it not be a tragedy for our hardworking citizens to capitulate to the female trapos or to the bourgeois feminists who make a show of “fighting for more access to the capitalist cake for the middle-class” like those antipathetic deans or narcissistic chancellors? [Lynn Beaton, “International Women’s Day and working-class history,” The Workers Press, 08 March 1986]
It has been explained as well that the #Girlboss (a trope of empowerment) is fundamentally at odds with true feminism. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-djKLsxiwc] That the egomaniacal bureaucrat-capitalists (female or male) do not share your COVID-19 pain. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6aK0VjUndU] That the professional-managerial cult (female or male) manipulates the idea of empathy to control you, to exploit you, to insult you. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbWEijSyENg] Gird Your Loins because The Devil Wears Prada! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2f2Kqt_KcE]
“F__ all the people who believed that Miranda’s behavior was justified because she could pair a talented photographer with some expensive clothes and walk away with some pretty magazine pages. F__ her for even thinking that I was anything like her. And most of all, f__ her for being right. What the hell was I standing here for, getting abused and belittled and humiliated by this joyless she-devil? So maybe, just maybe, I, too, could be sitting at this very same event thirty years from now, accompanied only by an assistant who loathes me, surrounded by armies of people who pretend they like me because they have to.” [Lauren Weisberger, The Devil Wears Prada]
Yes, The Devil Wears Prada. But. Everyone Wants to Be Us: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qdHE9-8spU
Indeed: “Let’s look at me now–I’m casual but fabulous. My linen Ralph Lauren Capri pants are pressed to perfection, and my simple Egyptian cotton V-neck is from Saks. My resplendent gold-and-silver twisted cable David Yurman bracelets are stacked up each of my arms, and their tourmaline, citrine, and amethyst stones glint in the sunlight, thus blinding those not clever enough to wear Oliver Peoples sunglasses…Anyway, what a lousy bunch of suck-ups most of the folks here are. All those losers were hanging on my every word! Now I’m trying to head to the ladies’ room and even that’s a task.” [Jen Lancaster, Bitter is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office]
Objections? Back to basics then. Listen to Alexandra Kollontai: “Women’s Day or Working Women’s Day is a day of international solidarity, and a day for reviewing the strength and organization of proletarian women. But this is not a special day for women alone. The 8th of March is a historic and memorable day for the workers and peasants, for all the Russian workers and for the workers of the whole world. In 1917, on this day, the great February revolution broke out. It was the working women of Petersburg who began this revolution; it was they who first decided to raise the banner of opposition to the Tsar and his associates. And so, working women’s day is a double celebration for us.” [Mezhdunarodnyi den’ rabotnitz, Moscow 1920]
Heroines? Roll call:
1. Isidora Dolores Ibárruri Gómez (la Pasionaria): “Women, heroic women of the people! Remember the heroism of the Asturian women! And you, too, fight side by side with your menfolk, together with them defend the bread and tranquility of your children whose lives are in danger!” [Radio Broadcast, Madrid, July 19, 1936] “Our women have maintained our glorious traditions with honor, and have fought with supreme fearlessness. You have all performed your duty with honor. You must now learn to utilize your victory. Let your discipline and vigilance be as great as your heroism!” [Radio Broadcast, Madrid, July 29, 1936]
2. Lena Morrow Lewis (“The Sex and Woman Questions”): “The control of the sex power of woman, the disposition on the part of society to regulate the maternal functions, had its origin in the instinctive desire to preserve the institution of private property…The ethics of capitalism will disappear with the passing of the institution of private property. The Co-operative Commonwealth will give us a new and a higher standard of morality.” [The Masses, December, 1911]
3. Germaine Greer: “The organized liberationists are a well-publicized minority; the same faces appear every time a feminist issue is discussed. Inevitably they are presented as the leaders of a movement which is essentially leaderless. They are not much nearer to providing a revolutionary strategy than they ever were; demonstrating, compiling reading lists and sitting on committees are not themselves liberated behavior, especially when they are still embedded in a context of housework and feminine wiles. As means of educating the people who must take action to liberate themselves, their effectiveness is limited. The concept of liberty implied by such liberation is vacuous.” [The Female Eunuch, Paladin, 1970, pp. 11-22]
Given the catastrophe triggered by the Wuhan Outbreak and the COA findings on Duque’s DOH plus the predilections of narcissistic chancellors, this may be Priority Alpha among our urgent tasks: “Professionalism in medicine is nothing more than the institutionalization of a male upper class monopoly. We must never confuse professionalism with expertise.
Expertise is something to work for and to share; professionalism is — by definition — elitist and exclusive, sexist, racist and classist. In the American past, women who sought formal medical training were too ready to accept the professionalism that went with it. They made their gains in status — but only on the backs of their less privileged sisters — midwives, nurses and lay healers. Our goal today should never be to open up the exclusive medical profession to women, but to open up medicine — to all women.” [Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English, “Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers,” The Memory Hole, The Feminist Press at CUNY, 1973]
You have elections? Check both the candidates and their other halves: “First Ladies have professional roles and often aid in policy development…A First Lady’s temperament, family situation, character, and even relationship with the president determines all of that. First Ladies with big political ambitions can use their office as a stepping stone to future offices.” [Marcus A. Stadelmann PhD, First Ladies For Dummies]
Or even wield power behind the throne like Jiang Qing (Mrs. Mao of the Gang of Four).
Common sense, common-law wife, but huge appetite for ill-gotten wealth and trucker of nepotism. Beware the White Witch of Narnia, fry the Hellish Harpy from the Deep South.
