Print This Post Print This Post

Jul

15

Cartoonist portrays female U.S. Senator wide-mouthed w/hands pushing “gags” “socks” “corks” at her

Filed Under Culture, Ethics, Gender, Media, Parenting, Politics, senate, Sexism, Social Issues, Women | 4 Comments

Attribution is to the New York Daily News (you can see the original here):

bramhallgillibrand

Isn’t that just lovely?  Didn’t I just last night, barely 12 hours ago, post an entry on BlogHer called, “How Much Do We Have To Put Up With?”

Gawd.  Here’s the address for writing a letter to the editor of the New York Daily News: voicers@nydailynews.com.

UPDATE:

There is an online-only poll that asks whether visitors to the blog think the cartoon above is sexist.  I left the following comment:

The cartoon is sexist, period. Show me the portrait of Bill Clinton going on too long at the DNC convention, or anyone else for that matter, and having “Gags” pushed toward his face. If you can show me that, I’ll back down. However, not all manners of showing certain sentiments with illustrations work the same on men as they do on women – to wit, the commenter who mentioned the “dickhead” arrow on Reagan’s head. We don’t call women “dickhead” for the most part, so that would not work on a woman.

Would the socks, corks and gags have worked as well with a man having his mouth shown wide open as Sen. Gillibrand’s is shown?

No. Why not? Because the stereotype is of a “loud-mouthed women” and bolsters the notion that women talk more than men, can’t stop talking, etc.

Again, show me some portraits in political and editorial cartoons that show loudmouthed men in elected office – and there are many who drone on (Mark Sanford – anyone do a corks, socks and gags one of him after his four hour chat with the AP?), and then I might back down.

Otherwise – yes, it’s sexist, no matter what rationalizations in fantasyland you come up with.

Bookmark and Share

By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:20 pm July 15th, 2009 in Culture, Ethics, Gender, Media, Parenting, Politics, senate, Sexism, Social Issues, Women | 4 Comments 

Print This Post Print This Post

Jul

15

Who among us are the real yentes, complaining about Obama-Jewish leaders meeting?

Filed Under Barack Obama, Foreign Affairs, George Bush, Government, Israel, Jewish, Judaism, leadership, Media, Politics, Religion | Comments Off

I’m on the board of the local chapter of the American Jewish Committee and a few weeks ago, I had a chance to listen to and speak in person with Jason Isaacson, the AJC Director of Government and International Affairs, who just so happened to have been one of the participants at the Roosevelt Room conference held earlier this week with President Barack Obama.

Here’s what AJC has written about the event and, although this blog and this post are 100% my work and my thoughts and are not those of the AJC, local or national, I completely support and trust what Isaacson reflects:

“The President could not have been clearer that his primary motivation in seeking to re-energize an Israeli-Palestinian peace process is Israel’s long-term security,” said Jason Isaacson, AJC director of government and international affairs, who participated in the Roosevelt Room session. “Nor could he have been clearer in the priority he assigns to building international unity against Iran’s drive for nuclear weapons capability.”

AJC said Obama focused the bulk of his remarks on Israel’s security, emphasizing the right of Israel to defend itself, the close U.S.-Israel relationship, obligations of the Palestinian Authority and the Arab states, and his administration’s efforts to offer Iran an opportunity to engage – while at the same time preparing for further international sanctions should engagement prove fruitless. He also spoke of the administration’s economic agenda, its efforts to advance energy security, health care policy and the fight against hunger in the U.S. and abroad.

In today’s discussion, the President observed that news coverage of his expectations for Israeli action on settlements has overemphasized just one aspect of the messages his administration has been sending to Israeli, Palestinian and Arab state leaders, and may leave the impression that Washington exerts little pressure to combat anti-Israel incitement and urge regional normalization with Israel. He said his calls for action by the Palestinian Authority and Arab states have been firm and under-reported, and will continue.

“President Obama said he understood the difficulty Prime Minister Netanyahu faces on the issue of settlements, as well as on other policy questions that carry profound security and political implications,” Isaacson said. “His message today was that, while important action has been taken on checkpoints and on security cooperation, there are hard decisions that have been avoided for too long and must be taken – for what he sees as the future well-being of Israel – and that as the Israeli government takes the difficult steps he asks, the United States will stand beside it.

Isaacson pointed out that President Obama was urged to underline the obligations of Israel’s neighbors. “Many states and key institutions throughout the region consistently deny Israel’s legitimacy and pose the most fundamental obstacle to peace. That must be urgently addressed,” Isaacson said.

Yet there’s been lots of moaning about who was there, who wasn’t there, bla bla bla.  But even a Zionist website said bla bla bla to that.

Do people really not remember how completely hands-off Bush was during most of his time in office when it came to Israel, let alone inclusive of the full range of American-Jewish groups?

Let’s also not conflate “Jews” with “Israel.” This is one of the media’s favorite games to play – especially with a population that often is too lazy to remember or care about the range of observances, ethnicities and political ideologies embraced by the majority of Americans – of any religion.

So, who actually was at the meeting with Obama? From the Chicago Sun-Times:

The White House put out a list of who attended the meeting on Monday afternoon.

Participants

Alan Solow, Chairman, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
Lee Rosenberg, President-elect, AIPAC
David Victor, President, AIPAC
Malcolm Honlein, Executive Vice Chairman, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
Abraham Foxman, National Director, Anti-Defamation League
Jason Isaacson, Director of Government and International Affairs, American Jewish Committee
Nancy Ratzan, President, National Council of Jewish Women
Kathy Manning, Chair, Executive Committee, United Jewish Communities
Andrea Weinstein, Chair, Jewish Council for Public Affairs
Marla Gilson, Washington Director, Hadassah
Stephen Savitsky, President, Orthodox Union
Rabbi Steven Wernick, Executive Vice President and CEO, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President, Union for Reform Judaism
Ira Forman, Chief Executive Officer, National Jewish Democratic Council
Debra DeLee, President and CEO, Americans for Peace Now
Jeremy Ben Ami, Executive Director, J Street

Which means that no one else was. No one. Out of all the organizations that could have been. This is not surprising, but so easy to pick apart.

For those who get their kicks creating and deepening divides that don’t exist to the extent that it would serve their interests (when there are so many divides that do exist and get exploited already), you might want to familiarize yourself with the new group, Z Street.  It looks to be a great vehicle for channeling a desire to divide people- oh joy – but I will hold my opinion until I learn more about it and they do more.

Bookmark and Share

By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:08 pm July 15th, 2009 in Barack Obama, Foreign Affairs, George Bush, Government, Israel, Jewish, Judaism, leadership, Media, Politics, Religion | Comments Off 

"));