Ah, here we are! Yet another Thorsday is upon us, and the Odinson is going to try something new. This column will be about one of The Prince of Asgard’s favorite (and mostly non-political) subjects.
Women. In particular, strong women.
Verily, of the two most amusing things thou cans’t see in Asgard, one is a Valkyrie who doth think they art being marginalized, the other of course is Volstagg at the all-you-can-eat buffet. So frequently it doth puzzle Surly Thor that a fair segment of Midgard seems terrified of a strong, confident woman.
So, let us speak of some generalities and some specific examples o’er just the past week.
On last Wodinsday’s Lou Dobbs Tonight there was much fuss made o’er a recent study that did proclaim that in roughly forty percent of American homes, the woman was the bread winner and how this heralded the “downfall of America.” One guest e’en dared go so far as to suggest this concept was against nature, and women were designed in a “supportive” role.
Once one gets away from the baffling concept of a Republican using science (wrongly, but Odinson will at least applaud the attempt instead of closing his mouth when the science choo-choo tries to bring him dinner, for all things on Asgard are naught but magical in nature) instead of yelling o’er it, the picking apart of the issue in and of itself doth commence.
Here is the chart the information is based off.
Do you find nothing odd? Dost thou notice how the concept is not e’en remotely new? Notice how between 1980 and 2000, a period e’en Republicans will herald as a period of great economic growth and success, the number rose from roughly twenty percent to roughly thirty-three percent; Odinson remembers naught of society collapsing in onto itself then.
It almost seems at times like there art those who would want to both admire their cake and eat it at the same time. The ones who do protest most loudly about welfare queens art the same ones now complaining that women on their own art trying to better their situation. To nitpick further on this non-issue, the determination for bread winner is simply who makes more money rather than indictment of men becoming lazy. So a married couple who both work forty hours a week, but she brings home more, considers the woman the breadwinner, or a single mother who gets child support but in an amount less than her check is still considered the bread winner.
The lesson here isn’t that strong women art usurping the culture of America by doing nothing more than wanting to do everything they can to take care of the family they love, the lesson here is how far the middle class hath fallen since the good old days you see on late night classic television. Thou knows’t the shows: the white picket fences, the 2.5 children the 1.3 dogs, and the husband who works a job that these days would barely keep the lights on. Better yet, next time someone suggests we’d be better off with women returning to a more “traditional” role remind them that before June Clever there was Rosie the Riveter. Strange it is that women helping with the economy during time of war by wearing the mantles of both mother and worker was considered patriotic, but today tis seen by some people as an aberration that must be cut out.
Let us speak no more of this, lest mighty Mjolnir find a mind of its own. Bad things tend to happen.
Instead, let us speak of how Surly Thor hath noticed another vile way in which fiends try to put down an empowered woman: through the arcane arts of “slut shaming.” This brings up two interesting double standards. The first is the obvious and well trodden one that Starfox and Stark can exchange stories of how many women they took home o’er the weekend and tis fine, no one bats an eyelash, just boys being boys. But Odin forbid that a lady be open about her sexuality in such a manner, for t’would clearly name her a slut and unravel the very fabric of society e’ery time she enjoys herself.
The only difference between that woman and Stark is a few billion dollars (and an ego the size of a Jotun’s hindquarters); both art mortals confident in their appetites, but one is degraded for them whilst the other is either accepted as normal or congratulated. This brings us back to the double standard we spoke of earlier when applied to Midgard. Rush Limbaugh decries Sandra Fluke a slut for wanting to make sure insurance companies had to cover birth control. Now let’s follow the bouncing Mjolnir of logic. What art two things Rush can’t stand? Abortion and government assistance. What two things decrease if a woman hath access to birth control…abortion and government assistance. So here is a woman with balls larger than Rush’s advocating for something that diminishes some of the problems Rush hath with society, yet because she’s a woman confident in her own skin she’s a slut. Surly Thor doth wonder if part of the angst is those people like Limbaugh knowing there art adventurous women out there, and he’s unable to acquire one.
Howe’er not all is lost. For e’ery pundit who doth think that society will collapse when a woman takes home more pay than her husband there art dozens of men happy to have the extra cash to enjoy time with the light of their life. For all those who want a Carol Brady there art those of us who desire a Sarah Conner, Ellen Ripley, or a Buffy Summers. Thou just can’t have Lady Sif—Odinson hath called dibs.
Until next week, be well, warriors.
ST
Filed under: COLUMNS, THORSDAY THUNDERBOLT
