"And then it turned out she had worked for the CIA — well, okay, she’d been funded by them to go to student conferences, like they’d funded Rothko and the Boston Symphony. It turns out other people really are complex and nuanced and have a lot going on in their lives!"
Heh, actually saw a tankie post on a leftie FB page accusing Steinem of being a "CIA plant who created modern feminism as a means to divide the working class via identity politics!"
Right, because the old Soviet Bloc was so well known for its sexual equality. (No! A female cosmonaut and a couple of snipers and pilots in WWII don't count.)
Also, are you admitting that your precious proletariat are a bunch of sexist knuckle-draggers who'd rather suffer under capitalism than be equal with a woman?
This is a wonkette piece I might even be able to share with my 91 year old mom (who is VERY aware she is Steinem's contemporary, and a great admirer of Gloria), which is not so often true of wonkette pieces (mom's a bit of a prude in some ways).
Anyone else ever hear a younger woman say, “I’m not a feminist, but…” and then declare support for legal and social equality for women? And when someone explains that what they favor is feminism’s core principle, the woman insists that no, feminism is hatred of men, motherhood and family. Makes one want to use a screw jack to move back the Overton window.
All the time and sometimes they think their rights magically appeared instead of being fought hard by women who came before them. I just wanted to be treated as equally as a man and that's what feminism meant to me.
Resurgent German Nazis openly threatening Bauhaus School of Design if they achieve majority in lege. These cover bands doing Hitler's Greatest Hits medleys need their plugs pulled.
Reactionary conservative fascism never tires from the effort to make the world worse today than it was yesterday.
It does take a while to find one that will do what you want it to do. Ask anyone who has searched for a Les Paul that was worth the money they want for it. Not easy.
I'm lucky, though - I found two Gibsons that I treasure.
I had to part with the Fender Strat of my dreams in order to make the house payment on time a few years ago. I bawled like a baby sitting my my car in the music store parking lot after striking a deal with the proprietor and parting with my precious instrument. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.
Some of the comments appear to assume that “tradwife” means any married woman who doesn’t hold outside employment and who lives off the land. I had understood the term to mean a right-wing evangelical in that life who insists that all women are required to obey their husbands, who homeschools her unvaccinated kids to keep schools from turning them gay or trans. Mostly but not exclusively influencers who present a romanticized image of rural life.
I think your definition is the correct one. There are many married women who don't hold jobs outside the home but are NOT tradwives. I stopped working when we moved to the little burg we live in now. I did EVERYTHING in the home. The job I had wasn't worth driving over the hill for. My friend had the same experience when they had kids. He had the higher paying job and childcare is stupid expensive. People need to stop thinking that when a woman takes care of EVERTFUCKINGTHING in the home that its not work. its UNPAID work.
I totally get the thing about the tomatoes. You get maybe 1 or 2 tomatoes one day, and then you turn around and there are 50 tomatoes. My parents planted zucchinis, and it was the same story. Even with just a few plants, you can harvest 2 or 3 per day.
Same thing with the grapes. You go from having no grapes to having 10 pounds of grapes.
I am the oldest of five and have NO idea just how many times a parent or grandparent would go through all FIVE names at least once before settling on the moniker intended.
Both my mother and grandmother did that. More specifically, they just named the kids off until they got to the one they were talking to. One time my grandmother referred to my brother by starting with my uncles (her sons), then my name, and then my brother's.
Speaking things we take for granted - here is a piece of history from NYC.
“On June 3, 1975, New York State passed legislation preventing the introduction of a woman’s sexual activities during rape trials. The hope for the new law was to increase reporting and prosecution of rape, at the time considered the most under-reported of all major crimes. The conviction rate for rape was also an abysmal 1.8% in 1972 in New York City, the most recent year of data available in 1975.” The New York Times, Https://nyti.ms/1kbRcp2 Archives 1975 Rape Laws Undergoing Changes to Aid Victims. R.W. Apple Jr. June 4, 1975 Page 1
I wonder if Ms. Steinem ever met Alice Paul (1885-1977).......
"And then it turned out she had worked for the CIA — well, okay, she’d been funded by them to go to student conferences, like they’d funded Rothko and the Boston Symphony. It turns out other people really are complex and nuanced and have a lot going on in their lives!"
Heh, actually saw a tankie post on a leftie FB page accusing Steinem of being a "CIA plant who created modern feminism as a means to divide the working class via identity politics!"
Right, because the old Soviet Bloc was so well known for its sexual equality. (No! A female cosmonaut and a couple of snipers and pilots in WWII don't count.)
Also, are you admitting that your precious proletariat are a bunch of sexist knuckle-draggers who'd rather suffer under capitalism than be equal with a woman?
Thank-you, Brooke!
I just opened up my new Boudica t-shirt. Upon it it's printed, "I support women's rights. But most importantly I support women's RAGE".
This is going to be my favorite shirt for a while.
Excellent piece, Brooke, thank you so very much.
This is a wonkette piece I might even be able to share with my 91 year old mom (who is VERY aware she is Steinem's contemporary, and a great admirer of Gloria), which is not so often true of wonkette pieces (mom's a bit of a prude in some ways).
So has anyone found the cryogenic crypt holding Mitch?
I got my stake and sledge hammer on standby!
Hmm, long weekend at 6 Flags? Mebbe I should!
https://i.imgur.com/RcuyLqI.jpeg
OT: time to go get me a work branded cowbell!
OT US added a fair number of jobs in August. Decent. May be revised up or down later.
Of course for Wall St. "Good news is bad news" and sold off. Everything down. Even oil down 2+%. Yes, Virginia, Wall St. hates jobs.
https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/article/us-added-162000-jobs-in-august-smashing-expectations-jobs-report-175614216.html
I call bullshit. That number will be revised.
Anyone else ever hear a younger woman say, “I’m not a feminist, but…” and then declare support for legal and social equality for women? And when someone explains that what they favor is feminism’s core principle, the woman insists that no, feminism is hatred of men, motherhood and family. Makes one want to use a screw jack to move back the Overton window.
And what's wrong with hating "motherhood and family?"
All the time and sometimes they think their rights magically appeared instead of being fought hard by women who came before them. I just wanted to be treated as equally as a man and that's what feminism meant to me.
Only slightly OT
Resurgent German Nazis openly threatening Bauhaus School of Design if they achieve majority in lege. These cover bands doing Hitler's Greatest Hits medleys need their plugs pulled.
Reactionary conservative fascism never tires from the effort to make the world worse today than it was yesterday.
I grow weary of these asshats
I'd like to shove a Gibson double neck up a Nazi's fat ass sideways.
Gawd dammit but I DEPISE those racist pricks.
Why do you hate Gibson guitars?
Meh; they aren't all they're cracked up to be.
It does take a while to find one that will do what you want it to do. Ask anyone who has searched for a Les Paul that was worth the money they want for it. Not easy.
I'm lucky, though - I found two Gibsons that I treasure.
I had to part with the Fender Strat of my dreams in order to make the house payment on time a few years ago. I bawled like a baby sitting my my car in the music store parking lot after striking a deal with the proprietor and parting with my precious instrument. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.
Fender and Ibanez issued a preemptive restraining order.
OT job report. Don't get gaslit.
162k jobs is barely enough to keep up with the labor market. If that. Typically you need 200k to keep the jobless rate stable.
Every report is revised downwards in a few months
A somewhat related essay:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/9/1/800092672/community/there-are-no-old-tradwives/
Some of the comments appear to assume that “tradwife” means any married woman who doesn’t hold outside employment and who lives off the land. I had understood the term to mean a right-wing evangelical in that life who insists that all women are required to obey their husbands, who homeschools her unvaccinated kids to keep schools from turning them gay or trans. Mostly but not exclusively influencers who present a romanticized image of rural life.
I think your definition is the correct one. There are many married women who don't hold jobs outside the home but are NOT tradwives. I stopped working when we moved to the little burg we live in now. I did EVERYTHING in the home. The job I had wasn't worth driving over the hill for. My friend had the same experience when they had kids. He had the higher paying job and childcare is stupid expensive. People need to stop thinking that when a woman takes care of EVERTFUCKINGTHING in the home that its not work. its UNPAID work.
I totally get the thing about the tomatoes. You get maybe 1 or 2 tomatoes one day, and then you turn around and there are 50 tomatoes. My parents planted zucchinis, and it was the same story. Even with just a few plants, you can harvest 2 or 3 per day.
Same thing with the grapes. You go from having no grapes to having 10 pounds of grapes.
Them farming tradwives need to plant some marijuana and create greater demand for fresh veggies.
Sorta like when you're a trad wife and you go from having one or two kids to ten and you can't remember all of their names.
Roman Catholics have been doing that for years.
Ev'ry Sperm is Sacred.........
Sometimes my mom would go through two or three of my sisters names before she got to mine. 🤣
I am the oldest of five and have NO idea just how many times a parent or grandparent would go through all FIVE names at least once before settling on the moniker intended.
Both my mother and grandmother did that. More specifically, they just named the kids off until they got to the one they were talking to. One time my grandmother referred to my brother by starting with my uncles (her sons), then my name, and then my brother's.
OT:
cnn:
"Trump says ‘nobody will’ build monuments for him once he’s gone"
God damned right! He knows it, that's why he's building them now. No matter, they will be torn down. I hope he lives to see that!
Easy fix.
He hires a cheap taxidermist to stuff him and then gets nailed high up on a cross on the mall.
If Congress opens a concession stand selling rotten produce and eggs nearby the national debt will disappear in short order.
I make a monument to him every morning. Then I flush the toilet.
Oh, I imagine some wag working at the White House in a few years will add a little plaque to one of the Toilets.
"The Donald J Trump Memorial Shitter."
"His second favorite place to take a moment. Right after the Oval Office."
Yeah, it's because you don't fucking deserve any, Donnie. And on some level, you know it.
And we will knock them down when he’s gone, if mother nature doesn’t get there first.
Even the fucking CIA understood the power of soft power, which is now, uh, completely absent from American diplomacy.
The return on investment with soft power far outweighs the ROI of hard power.
Plus we are, uh, apparently running out of hard power.
Gloria Steinem was one of a kind.
Speaking things we take for granted - here is a piece of history from NYC.
“On June 3, 1975, New York State passed legislation preventing the introduction of a woman’s sexual activities during rape trials. The hope for the new law was to increase reporting and prosecution of rape, at the time considered the most under-reported of all major crimes. The conviction rate for rape was also an abysmal 1.8% in 1972 in New York City, the most recent year of data available in 1975.” The New York Times, Https://nyti.ms/1kbRcp2 Archives 1975 Rape Laws Undergoing Changes to Aid Victims. R.W. Apple Jr. June 4, 1975 Page 1