The Feministing editors are getting over last night's festivities and I'm on my way to Ramapo College to speak, so things may be a little slow here this morning. So talk it up in comments in the meantime...how is everyone feeling?!
Also a reminder that the awesome event we plugged earlier this week, The Day After: A Feminist Town Forum, has switched locations for those of you attending in person in Boston. The new venue is:
LESLEY UNIVERSITY AMPITHEATER
1815 Mass. Ave in Cambridge
And of course, those of you who can't make it in person, check the Feministing homepage at 7pm EST tonight to follow the conversation virtually.
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ramapo! woot woot!
see you later jessica!
I am 19 years old and this was my first time voting. I voted for Obama, and when I found out he won I was overwhelmed with pride. This was truly the first time that I was proud of my country - I helped make history! I can't explain the joy that I am feeling and that I am sure many of you feel as well. I was proud to vote because I feel it is a a civic duty and also because I am a woman. I feel very hopeful for the future of America. Positive changes are in our future. I feel that we will gain the respect from the world that we may have lost. I feel that much will get accomplished for America. This is the road we need to be on, and I am so proud that I was able to be a part of it.
I cringed a bit when Obama mentioned Cooper's inability to vote. I'm glad Femisex caught this!
www.femisex.com on Ann Nixon Cooper:
Femisex reminds Mr. Obama that it was her sex, not race that prevented her vote, legally.
Femisex reminds Mr. Obama (a constitutional lawyer no less) that it was the 15th Amendment of 1870 that gave black men the right to vote.
FemiSex reminds Mr. Obama that is was on the back of white women’s fight for voting rights for BOTH blacks and women that won black men the right to vote in 1870. (Women were told to step aside and wait and wait and wait.) But....one came to get us.
so....
Femisex reminds Mr. Obama that Women had to wait—wait 50 years for their right to vote. Women had to fight for themselves, alone, to win their equality rights...
Already starting with this again? WHERE IS THE NUANCE IN INTELLECTUAL PROCESSES??????
::head explodes::
Anyway... My favorite professor from the undergrad days teaches at Ramapo as well as my alma mater. I will give her a heads up, although she probably knows you'll be there- she's the one who turned me into a feminist, and I think you would find her to be one badass lady. She's just about the best professor/woman/feminist/humanist/2nd mother to me you could ever want to meet. I hope she's there today. I've been babbling about Feministing to her for just about two years now. She's Dr. Ellen Dolgin (cuz I gotta shout her out!).
Sadie101, I know you have a lady-boner for Femisex, but try not to let that get in the way of critical thinking.
Blacks technically were granted the legal right to vote first, yes. However, due to Jim Crow laws, poll taxes, literacy tests, voter discrimination and the like, blacks continued to be disenfranchised well into the 20th century. That is why the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was necessary.
Obama is well aware of this history of racist disenfranchisement, so his statement was not incorrect. Hate to break it to you, but it seems that your beloved Femisex is not infallible.
Fatsweatybetty said: Sadie101, I know you have a lady-boner for Femisex, but try not to let that get in the way of critical thinking.
Blacks technically were granted the legal right to vote first, yes. However, due to Jim Crow laws, poll taxes, literacy tests, voter discrimination and the like, blacks continued to be disenfranchised well into the 20th century. That is why the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was necessary.
Sadie replies...what nasty nasty from Fatsweaty. NO Blacks, technically were NOT granted the legal right to vote first, just BLack MEN.
So, Bongo, nope Ms Fatsweaty.
I repeat. Not Blacks... just black men. Femisex wrote an excellent item that pointed out Obama's failure to mention that women have lagged behind men of both colors in the "Legal" right to vote. ( and Femisex did use the word legal..)
Yes, we are all aware of the voter intimidation and the such. Just like "true" feminists are aware of the media intimidation against a female run at the WH. Obama has benefited from sexism in this campaign in a way that makes one think of the Jim Crow days for blacks. White Bitch in the New York Times, Air American Clinton Whore. I was appalled that he could not even mention the fact that her sex was a Legal barrier to the vote--no glass ceiling or voter intimidation or the such...FLAT OUT NOT LEGAL.
as for ur crude female boner remark, that is the the takedown talk that KEEPS women from advancement! Shame on you! Yes i have found a site that i like and that is what posters do.. opine and point to other sites and reads they like.
Last night had so many moments that I will always remember! This was my 3rd presidential election, but it was the first one in which I felt that I'd actually made a difference. I'm finally proud of my country again, I haven't felt this way since I was a child!
I think the most striking thing for me was the contrast between the McCain crowd and the Obama one: when McCain mentioned Obama by name, people in the crowd shouted and boo'ed. When Obama said McCain's name, the people cheered and clapped.
Maybe it was just them being gracious winners, but I really think it reflects a difference in tone between the two camps. The Republicans seem to have so much animosity towards anyone who disagrees with them. I'm really hoping that they will rally behind McCain's call to work with President Obama, but I'm not sure if my optimism is misplaced. Does anyone else feel this way?
I think you make an excellent point, actually. I was struck-- and annoyed-- by the Republican crowd's booing when Obama's name was mentioned. That seemed terribly out of line. While I have been an Obama supporter for quite a while, I admire McCain's accomplishments and the sacrifices he has made for our country, and I know many other Obama supporters who feel this same way.
I remember reading a poll taken on CNN not that long ago where the majority of Republicans polled said that if Obama won they would be angry, whereas the majority of Democrats said that if McCain won they would be disappointed but not angry. I was pretty intrigued by that.
Well, the booing wasn't classy I admit, but keep in mind that this was a disappointed crowd. On the other hand, Obama's crowd was on cloud nine. McCain was no longer a threat to them and thus they probably felt more gracious.
I'm still not sure how to feel. Yes, I'm happy. But since he's not officially in the White House yet, and since Prop 8 has now passed in CA, some things are still very dismal.
I can't seem to make myself take off my cynic hate. Though I am very excited to see Obama as president. A black man, president. Amazing. I'm excited that it seemed like he would lose, but record numbers of voters came out just for him. I got misty at his acceptance speech and it will surely go down in history.
...Maybe I'll just feel better when things actually get into motion.
I feel the same way. I'm happy about Obama, but I can't believe that my beloved home state would actually pass Prop 8. However, the margin between yes and no is a paltry 400,000 votes out of 10 million, and there remain to be about 3 million absentee ballots to count- so it's still technically too close to call. Let's hope those absentee voters were anti-discrimination.
Does anyone think, really, that we will ever see a female president in our lifetime? I hope so and I hope Palin hate doesn't get in the way of it.
Whiel you are hard pressed to find a black person, male or female, who would say that non-whites shouldn't be running things, there are still plenty of WOMEN who actually believe that leadership is a man's role and are perfectly comfortable seeing only males in this position with their supportive wives by their side.
Hillary almost beat Obama. McCain still did alright with Palin on the ticket. Yes, I think we could live to see a female president within the next couple of decades.
I certainly think the next major milestone will be a woman president, one that I look forward to. :) That being said, I'm not sure you can say that McCain did "okay" with Palin on the ticket-- CNN makes a fairly decent argument that she hurt his campaign more than Bush did (link for anybody else interested in reading it: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/05/palin.campaign.anatomy/index.html?iref=werecommend). I was especially interested in their claim that her unfavorable ratings had increased greatly by the end of the campaign.
Yes, I think we will. We were almost there. I'd like to imagine myself as the 90 year old kick-ass feminist featured on ABC7 voting for the woman candidate hehe. However, I do believe we still have a lot of work to get done... we all know that there are still equality issues - race, class, sex, gender, etc - that significantly need to be worked out.
Does anyone think, really, that we will ever see a female president in our lifetime? I hope so and I hope Palin hate doesn't get in the way of it.
Yes, I do, I just don't think it will be Hillary Clinton. Clinton, Obama, McCain, and Palin all gained acceptability (or not) not just because of their values and positions, but also because of who they are and how they present themselves and how they fit into the cultural zeitgeist. Clinton had a lot of personal hatred directed against her in addition to the general misogyny. I believe a lot of that was based on how threatening she is to the vision of a subordinate female. Sarah Palin probably won't be a serious contender as a presidential candidate (thank dog), but a woman like Condi Rice who has established herself as whipsmart but non-threatening to her male superior just might (dog help us).
I'm discouraged when I think of the sexism that was thrown at both Clinton and Palin during this presidential race. I just didn't think it would happen to the extent that it did.
I truly believe we will see a woman president in my lifetime. I believe that Hillary would have made it if Bill hadn't acted like he was going to be president again. Most people I know feel that Hillary was the real president the first time anyway. It just amazes me that such a small woman can threaten the big bad men in this country.
Maybe now that Feministing doesn't have to be partisan, we can start calling out the media more often for sexism against Palin.
Seriously, the big story now is that Palin talked to some campaigners in a towel and spent even more money on her wardrobe? Can we stop emulating gossipy 12 year olds??
Oh, when I say "Can we stop emulating gossipy 12 year olds??" I mean society in general, not the Feministing community. Fox News is the worst at being gossipy 12 year olds at the moment.
And no, I don't care that gossipy isn't a word. :)
Thank you Happy Feminist!
I am so disgusted right now. The MSM has sunk to a new low in airing this non-story! The election is over and they are giving news time to the complaints of unnamed McCain staffers?! Pathetic!
I'm disappointed about the Senate. Holding my breath for the fillibusters to begin. I am also sad about Prop 8.
sadie101,
I believe Obama /said/ that it was Cooper's sex that kept her from being able to vote. He mentioned the race factor too, I know. But in a lot of places it was still difficult for blacks to vote 80 years ago.
I've never been a huge Obama supporter and I imagine that I'll be kind of unhappy with him as president.
But ... I went to segregated public schools in Virginia. My father was originally from NYC, my mother from Toronto, they met in Los Angeles and we moved around quite a bit before settling in the far western reaches of Fairfax County in the mid-1960s. And the schools were segregated, some (but not all) of the towns were segregated, and I gather that for my Jewish liberal parents it was like landing on another planet. Loving vs Virginia had yet to be decided and so some friends of my mother had to go into DC to get married (where Walter Fauntroy presided, which was kind of cool).
Then the courts forced the schools to integrate and Virginia offered vouchers to parents who wanted to move their children out of the public schools as a result, and my mother, who's huge on education, took the vouchers and sent us to good private schools. It's the only thing she says she's done that she's ashamed of. And after a couple of years I went back into public schools which were turned upside down by racial strife, and which had to be closed for several days because of violence between white and black students. And there were the assassinations and US cities going up in flames. When the time came to leave for college I made a beeline straight north and got the hell out of there.
So out of curiosity, two nights ago I wanted the Obama rally in Manassas on CSPAN, and that's when I started getting weepy. It wasn't just that there were lots of black people and lots of whites. There were people of South Asian descent, east Asian descent, old people, young people, Latinos, and it looked nothing like the racist backwater I came from. I never in my wildest dreams imagined that an African-American would be elected president in my lifetime.
And it's more than that. I remember Jim Crow and de jure segregation, but that died before a lot of you were born. In a few generations there won't be anybody around who has first-hand memories of that and who's still carrying that baggage. So, for the moment, I'm hopeful not only that we've gotten ourselves a more decent government, but that bit by bit we're becoming a more decent people.
Does anyone think, really, that we will ever see a female president in our lifetime? I hope so and I hope Palin hate doesn't get in the way of it.
While you are hard pressed to find a black person, male or female, who would say that non-whites shouldn't be running things, there are still plenty of WOMEN who actually believe that leadership is a man's role and are perfectly comfortable seeing only males in this position with their supportive wives by their side.
I was so nervous and anxious watching the results come in, and when they announced Obama as the President Elect, I felt overwhelmed with joy! My husband and i clung to eachother and cried in relief. I coulndn't be more proud of this counrty for stepping up for change. It's going to be a long hard road with all the issues we face, but I'm confident that our country can help Obama make the change we need.
Also, for anyone thinking that the election of Obama represents America becoming a whole lot more progressive, I'd like to say I think: yes and no. I think certain parts of America are becoming more progressive, I think young people are becoming more progressive. But, Obama won first and foremost not for his liberal, inclusive agenda, but because of the economic crash experienced the last month.
If it wasn't for that, I don't know if Obama even would have been elected, because I don't know that those battleground states which were close would have gone for him. And now he's got an uphill battle this first term. Hopefully it goes well...
I was watching the county by county maps for most states last night and I would agree, some parts of the country are becoming more progressive while others are staying the same. Other than the west coast and the northeastern states, the middle parts of the country were only blue around the cities. Iowa is a blue state, however, only random counties and the southeast corner of the state, with Iowa City and Des Moines, were blue. Also those parts of the southern states that have an increased African-American population, such as Atchinson county in Kansas.
I am extremely happy about the Presidential election of course. I am not so happy about my local elections here in Denton, TX (D/FW area), but it is Texas, so we still have a long way to go here.
I am very upset about the anti-gay propositions that passed though, that is very dissappointing.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/05/rice-congratulates-obama_n_141414.html
Condi Rice - like her or not - can hardly stop smiling.