Can you truly call these female right-wing shills sisters? Can you truly embrace their older “siblings” like Phyllis Schlafly and Anita Bryant? They’re not my sisters; quite the opposite.

My apologies; allow me to clarify: when I said sisters, I meant ‘Sisters’, as in other Women Of Non-Traditional Origin, women of trans-experience, transwomen, etc. Very emphatically not right-wing hacks like those you (and the article above) mentioned. Sorry I was unclear.

As a progressive, female by birth, I understand entirely the challenge that specific female right-wing shills present; they use their femininity to promote what is essentially self-hatred and propaganda at the same time. It’s not unlike a number of gays who have supported the right on the matter of anti-gay marriage; it’s the self-hatred, not the gender that’s the issue. In spreading propaganda that demotes their gender, they are little more than proxies for misogynist men that prop them up.

Can you truly call these female right-wing shills sisters? Can you truly embrace their older “siblings” like Phyllis Schlafly and Anita Bryant? They’re not my sisters; quite the opposite.

Being a recovering Republican myself, and having had my epiphany roughly around the time Arianna apparently had hers, she’s been kind of a hero to me for a while. Although I was vaguely aware of her back in her Christopher Huffington days, she really came on my radar during the Shadow Conventions leading up to the 2000 election. Anybody remember those? They seemed remarkable to me at the time and all the moreso now – it seems like she and the other Shadow Convention organizers were already trying to do what the netroots is slowly-but-surely doing now, without the benefit of the internet tools now available.

And I seriously love the accent. Especially when I get to hear it kicking Matt Miller’s candy ass on Left, Right, and Center.

~~After he underwent a sex change nine years ago at the age of 42, Barres recalled, another scientist who was unaware of it was heard to say, “Ben Barres gave a great seminar today, but then his work is much better than his sister’s.” []

“By far,” Barres wrote, “the main difference I have noticed is that people who don’t know I am transgendered treat me with much more respect” than when he was a woman. “I can even complete a whole sentence without being interrupted by a man.”~~~

This story in the WaPo was very interesting about perceptions of women vs men in the sciences. Neurologist Ben, formerly Barbara, Barres’ experiences would seem to indicate that it’s the gender, not the patterns.

Ha! Found the reference!

HotFlash- thanks much for mentioning that article. I was going to get into all of that, but just didn’t have the energy, because the reality of that has been draining.

Turns out that I read the WaPo article when it first came out- in Maine for a much needed vacation. Someone emailed me the link and I read it immediately- and almost cried. I was feeling particularly beaten down at that point, and just a little crazy. And then I read the article. Geez, I thought, I am NOT MAKING UP THIS SHIT! Ironic of course, that it suddenly became much more believeable to some I talked with, after a MAN said it.

I love reading Arianna, Taylor, Christie and you. I love you exactly for your passion, your direct speech, your uncompromising sense of what is right and fair.

Don’t pull any punches on this man’s account. I love you all because of them, not in spite of them.

Jake

American culture makes it easier to dismiss or objectify women. Just take a look at the ads in the New York Times Magazine any Sunday. I think it is easier to objectify women than men. One reason may be that there is a much lower social sanction for objectifying women. Another possible reason is that men grow up being urged to resist bullies with physical force, and frequently do. So, when they get older, they are ready to resist with violence, or at least a socially acceptable form of violence. I know that when I think of some of the crap the current administration has done, I have to work to remind myself that politics is the replacement civilized people use instead of physical violence.

But these are just guesses at causes, and there is no real reason to think about causes. We all have to change to deal with these people, men and women.

Lately I have been thinking that as a nation, we did not fight off these people, and because we didn’t, they are running things. Who would believe that the flower child generation would be led by bullies when we got old?