fun with generalizations

So Andi Buchanan was on BookTV the other day. Really! (Click the link to watch it. It cuts away briefly for an emergency senate session, but then comes back--just fast forward for a little bit and you'll catch it.)

Her post really tells the story, but I want to add my two cents here. My favorite part is the guy (maybe a plant?) who asks Andi's adversary if women don't actually have all the power in the world because they get to make decisions about when to have sex, have children, etc.

Umm, right.

Even Rhoads didn't buy that one, I have to acknowledge. It was a truly funny moment, though. And I know, there are certainly disempowered white men in the world, ones who have for one reason or another not benefited fully from their racial or gender privilege. Ones who aren't rapists or anti-abortion activists or Randall Terry, either. But to claim that women have all the power...well...it was really quite stunning.

OTOH, Andi looked great, kept her cool, and made some really good points. Of course she didn't bother to argue about the whole poop smell-diaper changing thing (after the senate break, and well worth waiting for).

Some other time I might post more about why female academics might be likelier than male academics to claim that they like the hands-on work of parenting. But, for the record, I want to say that I did not, always, like the hands-on work of early childhood parenting. I remember days and days of only saying things like "where's your pretty smile?" (in my best "parentese," of course) and really really wanting to talk to an adult about adult things. Even stupid adult things, like what was on TV that day. ANYTHING!