Comments
by Scoper...
You Da Man!
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Surprised,
shocked and even disappointed, the "Ms" feminists of America struggled…to
come to terms with their high priestess, Gloria Steinem.
Yes, the founder of "Ms."
Magazine, one-time Playboy bunny and almost universally- acknowledged founder
of the "Women's Liberation Movement," is now a bride. And I say: Congratulations!
I'd send a gift, but surely you have a toaster by now.
I'm serious, Ms. Steinem
(or Mrs. Steinem-Bale or whatever you prefer.) I'm glad you "took the plunge,"
if that's what makes you happy. It does cause me to wonder, though, why
it took until age 66 for you to decide that such a union WOULD make you
happy. Have you run out of steam? Are you tired of being angry all the
time? Have you decided finally that those born with a "Y" chromosome aren't
necessarily evil and that some might be pleasant company?
These are not joking questions.
I remember the late 1960's (from a much younger perspective) and the days
when a woman who yearned for more than housewifely duties could become
a schoolteacher, nurse, secretary or telephone operator. Little else. (Those
who worked in that last category are sorely missed, by the way. They were
so much more pleasant than automation.)
Much has changed. Women are
now cops, not just meter maids. They hold high positions in the business
world; some are CEO's. Others are mayors, governors and members of Congress.
The building where I work houses three radio stations. The manager of all
three is a woman. She's the best there is. And I would be a sorry, little
man not to appreciate and applaud these gains that were so long overdue.
But this "movement" also
brought about a fair share of heartbreak for both genders. There was a
time when I was afraid to hold the door for a lady, even when I would do
so for another man. (It once came under the umbrella of "courtesy," but
for a while, that umbrella was ripped to shreds. More recently, I see signs
that the pendulum is swinging back toward the center.)
Another, seemingly more permanent
change is a bit more disturbing. The notion that, while a woman might need
a man to fertilize an egg, she does not need him for anything else. Maybe
she doesn't. But the CHILD DOES. Sorry, Madonna, THE CHILD DOES.
But that rubs up against
Steinem's famous edict: "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle."
And just as "truth is the
first casualty of war," it would seem that logic and reason are the first
casualty of a "societal revolution." In other words, when there's a "problem
to be solved," - wait, call it a "crisis," you cheapen the word but you
get more media coverage - nothing is off limits. So what if you create
a society of men who no longer know how a man is supposed to behave? Or
women who think they're being insulted when they're really being flattered?
Thirty years later, they can't even turn to their parents for answers.
I can't help but think the
backlash from all this must have given us today's professional wrestling.
Don't get me wrong: I don't
lay all this at the feet of Gloria Steinem. You can trace the phenomenon
back at least to Rosie the Riveter. The Allies could not have won the Second
World War without the contributions of the women, and everybody knew it,
even then. But by 1946, these same women were expected (by the men) to
have put their aprons back on and "resume normal activity." This involved
many, many dirty diapers. Absolutely, women were frustrated. No wonder
Betty Friedan wrote "The Feminine Mystique." And no wonder that my own
father, who was still living in a 1940's world in the 1970's, freaked when
my mother went back to school, then back to work, after her children were
grown.
But you know, for all his
"Archie Bunkerisms," I can still brag about old dad. When somebody asks:
"What kind of a father did you have?" I can answer: "a father who was around."
His presence, and the time he spent with me at critical moments in my childhood
made all the difference in my life. I've got no statistical evidence to
prove that the Women's Movement is the cause for so many fatherless boys
today and their wayward, rudderless behavior. But I can't be the only one
who thinks it had a hand in the deterioration.
And now - while presumably
long past her child-bearing years - Gloria Steinem has taken a husband.
Mr. Bale, if you're a real man, you'll do your best to make her happy.
Because on the whole, women are pretty special. And men need them, too.
Scoper
|
