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Hear Her Roar

Apr 05, 2018
by Caroline Miller
Hillary Clinton interview in NY Times, Melissa Hortman, Mike Pence, Northern Arizona University, When Does Christian Virtue Become Sexism?
2 Comments

www.citypages.com: Melissa Hortman

An employee at my retirement center belongs to a religion that prohibits men and women from touching one another unless they are family members.  I was warned of the taboo through the grapevine not as official written policy.  Still, I have respected the stricture, though I  balk at the notion of being  “untouchable.” Virtue that survives by making someone else feel unclean is dubious, in my opinion.  That’s why I paused over a recent article entitled, “When does Christian virtue become sexism?” (“Controversy of the week,” The Week, April 14, 2017, pg. 6.)

According to the article, Vice President, Mike Pence, who calls his wife, “Mommy,” makes it a practice never to eat alone with a woman who is not his wife,  or work late at the office with an aide who is female, attesting to his self-confessed,  “lack of self-control in the presence of beautiful women.” (Ibid pg. 6.)  Apparently,  Pence sees females primarily as sex objects and for his flaw, women are barred from taking part in work that could further their careers.   His virtue becomes a passive weapon used to deny women equal rights.  Behavior like his is not only unfair but hypocritical.  Opportunities for infidelity  extend beyond the workplace, as any divorce court docket will attest.

A woman tempted to respect Pence for his conduct fails to understand he asks women to pay the price for his vulnerability.  The situation is similar in the Middle East. There, women wear black tents to prevent men from having lascivious thoughts, as if black tents could banish the fantasies of either sex.

An English professor at Northern Arizona University (NAU) made news, recently, for downgrading a young woman’s assignment when the student used the word “mankind” in her paper. The girl objected, insisting “mankind” referred to all people.  “Not all people,” the teacher snapped.  Then she invited her pupil to rethink her “preset” ideologies and resubmit the essay. (“Only in America,” The Week, April 14, 2017, pg. 6.)

Having served as a teaching assistant at NAU, I admit, “mankind” wouldn’t have raised my eyebrows.  But my blindness testifies to the degree sexism passes for the norm in our society, and how hard we women must work to escape cultural blindness.  (Blog 3/15/2017.) Hillary Clinton made a similar observation in an interview with the New York Times. (Click)  She spoke of the ways  women express sexual bias when they lead unexamined lives.

Melissa Hortman, state representative in Minnesota, isn’t one of them.  I honor her wisdom and grit. You will, too, if you take the next 30 seconds to hear this woman roar. (Click) 

(Originally published 4/24/17)

 

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2 Comments
  1. Fia Rose April 24, 2017 at 11:44 am Reply
    Great post. I completely agree that "Virtue that survives by making someone else feel unclean is dubious" at best. :) It's difficult to self-examine, because I know, at least in my life, I keep coming up with more and more internalized misogyny I didn't even know I had, despite being a proud feminist. But it's that kind of hard work we need to keep going if we want to evolve to be better, and through our own positive changes make the world a little bit better for the next generation.
    • Caroline Miller April 24, 2017 at 12:08 pm Reply
      I so agree. Self-examination is hard work, like freeing ourselves up from the Matrix.I, too, am amazed at how much I have accepted over the span of my life that should have been second guessed.

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Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

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