To begin with, the reader wants to ask: What disappearance of female voices? What “bugle call” to “return to Betty Crocker domesticity?” Since 9/11, Hillary Rodham Clinton has become the leading Democratic contender in the race for the White House, with a good chance of becoming the first female president in history;

Katie Couric? Kakutani forgets what happens to women who go up against the nutwing machine these days. Katie Couric is hardly a model of female bravery. Cindy Sheehan, Code Pink, Dixie Chicks have the likes of Michelle Malkin and Bill O’reilly sicked on them. Plus not many pundits talk about presidential candidates in the obsessively salacious way that they do about Hillary, what with O’reilly openly writing about getting her alone in the “Spinzone” wearing her peach pantsuit, for starters. Not many of us are that brave. A lot of us get burned. So Kakutani does nothing contradict the substance of Susan Faludis’ argument that I can see. And in case, Kakutani hasn’t noticed Kate O’Beirne, surely she must have noticed the “baby boom” among popstars which reads like a defense mechanism /rant off.

The Queen Bee Syndrome,” is where women who have attained senior positions do not use their power to assist struggling young women or to change the system, tacitly validating it.

It seems to me that that isn’t really any different from what the men do. It’s the result of an attitude that basically says, the only people who deserve to win are the people who fight, and fight dirty, to win. The rest are losers, and who cares about losers?

It’s basically just hypocrisy: the system that holds you down is terrible, the system that holds you up is perfectly fine.

And they sure as hell didn’t fight for power in order to use it to help someone *else*.

Another analogy: wolf pack behavior…there are alpha males and alpha females. The alpha females are Queen Bees. Big on dominance.

Sharon @ 185

It’s what we in New Orleans call the Crabs in a Basket Syndrome. As soon as one crab crawls up to the rim to escape, the other crabs pull her back down.

Bit of a non sequitur. Sorry.

Let me explain. The Queen Bees remind me of Crabs in a Basket in this way: often those in the typing pool undermine the ambitions of other women as effectively as do the queen bees. I’ve had more experience with the crabs than with the bees because there are so many more of them. Pretty disappointing.

The Queen Bee Syndrome,” is where women who have attained senior positions do not use their power to assist struggling young women or to change the system, tacitly validating it.

It seems to me that that isn’t really any different from what the men do. It’s the result of an attitude that basically says, the only people who deserve to win are the people who fight, and fight dirty, to win. The rest are losers, and who cares about losers?

It’s basically just hypocrisy: the system that holds you down is terrible, the system that holds you up is perfectly fine.

And they sure as hell didn’t fight for power in order to use it to help someone *else*.

Au contraire. I doubt bush had to fight for a single damn thing in his life. Also, those old boy networks are extremely effective at helping the fellow men that they deem worthy of helping out (by whatever criteria)…

The Queen Bee Syndrome,” is where women who have attained senior positions do not use their power to assist struggling young women or to change the system, tacitly validating it.

It seems to me that that isn’t really any different from what the men do. It’s the result of an attitude that basically says, the only people who deserve to win are the people who fight, and fight dirty, to win. The rest are losers, and who cares about losers?

It’s basically just hypocrisy: the system that holds you down is terrible, the system that holds you up is perfectly fine.

And they sure as hell didn’t fight for power in order to use it to help someone *else*.

IN a society where the family relationship was the template for state hierarchy, and at a time when the political and religious establishment, looking for evidence of male effectiveness, was struggling to reinstate an image of womanly weakness, such female impudence would almost certainly have ensure a collision.

Was that the beginning of the twenty-first century in BushCheneyCo’s America, or the end of the seventeenth century in Salem? This sentence made me slap my forehead, v8 style.

Thanks for writing this wonderful book, and for joining us today to discuss it.

http://www.firedoglake.com/200…..itch-fest/

Got a question here …

How many sheeple do each of you know? Those Nascar types, American Idol watchers, the ones who always fall for “Look over here, shiny” distractions. Sometimes I feel this is a ‘divide and conquer’ ploy.

Of course, I live in Australia. Last time I was back in Florida, 2002, I met numerous people, most all ordinary folk like most of us. And yes, a few from the bottom end of the gene pool … even a couple of redneck cousins.

But I also think the declining poll numbers for Dubya reflect more of American society as a whole.

You’re right. I believe this Nascar thing is a bit of an urban legend. Does seem to me this is if not the dawning of the age of Aquarius at least the dawning of some awareness in the American people. I do have a faint glimmer of hope. Blogging helps.

trifecta @ 161

A queen bee (my translation) is a woman who has become successful, but then fears and loathes any other woman who might supplant her place at the top of the pecking order.

See MoDowd. It’s not about sisterhood, it’s all about I got mine.

It’s what we in New Orleans call the Crabs in a Basket Syndrome. As soon as one crab crawls up to the rim to escape, the other crabs pull her back down.

hmmm, that strikes me as being reactions on either end of the spectrum to a member of a marginalized group succedding. The ones “left behind” attempt to pull the successful one down; the successful one doesn’t try to help anyone up.

Crab theory comes up lots of times in different marginalized groups.