Katha Pollitt over at The Nation suveys the il-liberal patriarchal globe and finds some of the more recent instances of blaming women for all the ills of the world.
Examples include Australia's top Muslim cleric, Sheik Taj Aldin al-Hilali's assertion that if women would just keep their veils on and stay in their rooms, we wouldn't have to worry about pesky little things like the brutality of rape.
And Pastor Mark Discoll of Seattle's Mars Hill Church suggests that Ted Haggart strayed into gay sex and meth because his wife was not hot enough and not sexually available enough. If women would only apply their make-up correctly, and study those Girls Gone Wild tapes, there wouldn't be no homosexuality!
Other problems caused by wayward women include Iraq, illegal immigration, bad office morale, bad dogs, childhood obesity, and the ruin of the Democrats.
The solutions to these dreadful woman-caused problems? Other than wearing our veils and staying in our rooms while simultaneously looking hot and being sexy girls gone wild, women can solve the problems of the world if only we will:
Be good wives and give Bush better advice; Submit to forced maternity - no more abortions and forget about contraception too; Keep our mouths shut about workplace discrimination, just suck it up like a real man would; Forget the care and nurturance crap, be an authoritarian like a real man would; Give up our careers and stay home to care for and nurture all the children we bred when we gave up birth control and abortion; And if we really must go into politics, we should have a sex change operation, or just lead the country like a real man would!
via Feministing
Gender Politics News Feminism Katha Pollitt Oppression Double Bind Patriarchy