"There is difference and there is power. And who holds the power decides the meaning of the difference." --June Jordan

Friday, July 18, 2008

Friday Feminist Fun



(H/T RH Reality Check)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was so pumped to see her on that show. I don't get "cougar" as a derogatory term, though; I'm not sure I've ever heard anyone use it except in an admirable, I-hope-I'm-doing-that-when-I'm-her-age way.

Tracey said...

I haven't heard many people use the term at all, but I can imagine how hearing men use it a lot would sound annoyingly demeaning. Almost as if it's an attempt to take an assertive woman and put her in her place by likening her to a feisty animal.

I just enjoyed the whole Redenbacher thing a little too much.

Anonymous said...

How does being likened to an animal put me in my place? Especially if I'm an older woman, considered to well past my cat-like reflexes years. I don't know; I mean, I get that the predatory thing is supposed to be negative, but if anyone's paying ANY kind of attention to me past age 50, I'm welcoming it.

Tracey said...

Yeah, it's one of those things I have a hard time getting too worked up about. It seemed the most dehumanizing to me when she started growling and doing the claws thing. I always hate it when womens' aggressiveness or anger is dismissed by likening them to cats (like when people call a fight between two women a "catfight").