Just today, October 3, 2014 Obama came out as hating women. Saying that his wife, of twenty-two years today, had to "be very patient with him," because men just "[aren't] as smart." Obviously he thinks that he's superior to her. The way he "supports" her in her claims about sexism. Obviously his sole goal, as he systematically destroys America is to perpetuate stereotypes about women in the home. He started by supporting his wife in her efforts to help America be healthier. Then sealed the deal by signing a federal mandate requiring equal pay for women on April third of this year. By allowing women to become equal to men he's just trying to highlight the fact that they aren't equal yet and that men should take advantage of that while they still can. Because simply complimenting, and honoring your wife on your anniversary? Ha, nice try Obama, you're not gonna pull this over on me. I still want to see your birth certificate!
This was my bad attempt at satire. Let me know what you think and how I can improve in the future! My point is Obama has actually done so much for women. He mandated, not asked mandated, that women be paid equal to men. And if you think someone who's been married to a woman who has advocated and fought for women's rights almost eight years doesn't think that women are equal in every way shape and form is kidding themselves. Could you see Obama's words as perpetuating the stereotypes of society. Yes, you could if you refused to look at the context and decided only to see Obama telling a woman she has to do something. I think this ties in with my article about over-sensitivity in media really well. I'm not perfect with sexism. I love to joke, and sometimes, many times I don't understand anything. My sister has actually physically beaten me over it, and I'm learning. One could say, "it's not her job to teach you. It's your job to learn." Yeah, and I try. I generally get it wrong, but I try. People who know me know that I believe that women are equal to men, even my sister who said I was a misogynist for thinking Kristen Stewart is a bad actress(she has zero emotion). If one took even a milli-second to see. He's not trying to offend anyone. He has fought as hard, if not harder for women, than Kennedy for signing the equal pay act, , and he was a complete womanizer who said he needed to have sex three times a day to avoid headaches from not having sex. Obama has no such problem that I, or anyone is aware of. I think that while not everything should be said; in no way do I believe that, but I think it is important to see that President Barack Obama isn't assigning another job that women have to perform as their duty as a woman, but being lighthearted with a bride about to go through the biggest change of her life. Leave your comments below. I'm not perfect please let me know where my argument falls short, and how it should be.
4 comments:
I agree that this is just another classic example of people being oversensitive. It was a harmless joke and should be treated as such. Besides, he wasn't implying that it was the women's job to teach a man to do the housework, he was saying that it's a lot of work to fix/change all of his quirks into something agreeable. Vox has a reputation for speculative analysis for the sake of sensationalism, and should be taken as seriously as Obama's joke should have been.
Antony is definitely correct on this one. Being oversensitive is what the main issue around this is. Interpreting things as misogyny is an issue of subjectivity in my opinion. I'm not saying misogyny is something trivial, but what it is defined as is often sort of twisted. People might take a light joke, like Obama's totally out of context, spinning it in a light that paints him as a misogynist. Such an issue is an exercise in logical thinking, and must be approached so. We can't just be forming arbitrary judgments about such a serious topic from such a small things.
Antony and Christian have made important points; the President made a joke, and it was funny. But though I agree that Vox seems to have blown this small comment way out of proportion, I wouldn't be so quick as to completely discredit their claims. These common beliefs and small day-to-day actions are the best indicator of the normative framework (shout out to junior English) we live in. I definitely don't think the President is a misogynist---quite the opposite. But I also think it wouldn't be difficult for us to both appreciate his humor and realize that it's a bit problematic once you really think about it. It may be a bit "oversensitive," but I think extra sensitivity to these issues doesn't hurt, as long as you realize it's a waste of effort to get frustrated over things that happen all the time.
I do find myself in agreement with the aforementioned opinions above that the President's remark was a joke, and should not be treated as something to be taken completely seriously. Many Presidents have devoted much time and effort to what many people deem their "pet projects" such as LBJ and his "war on poverty," etc. While it may be stretch to call President Obama's progressive reforms toward gender a full on project, I believe it would be hard to argue that he has made little progress for women, with his track record of the famous equal pay mandate, as well as nominating not one, but two females to serve on the Supreme court.
Additionally I also concur with Valerie that the fact that he can joke like that at all means that we have seen progress, it also means that (like everything else) there is, of course, room for improvement-not concerning solely President Obama but our society as a whole. However, change does not come within a decade, or even five, as can be seen with the stigmas that are still present concerning issues such as homosexuality or race, and the fight to eliminate those continues even today.
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