Ferraro

Geraldine Ferraro ran as the vice presidential nominee in 1984 when I was three years-old. She has died, at the age of 75 and when J and I spoke about it, he made a comment that essentially said "who cares that she ran for vice president? She lost. People don't care about who lost." When I realized that he was serious, I wanted to hit him. He went on to say that it only matters in this backwater country because other places have had female prime ministers and presidents and vice presidents for years. That did not make me feel better but simply made me angrier that he didn't think it mattered that this woman paved the way for other hopefuls and that her ground-breaking achievement in 1984 pointed out all too clearly how non-progressive our country is.

The world as a whole still does not treat women as equal citizens. We have come a long way but we are still second class. We do not have 100% control of our reproductive rights (men do), we still do not receive equal pay in the work-place, and our body parts are still considered items that must be shielded from both children and adults (Ohio recently passed a law to enforce the use of pasties in strip clubs... nipples are evil). Tits are to be covered and hidden in shame. Women in the locker room at my gym do all sorts of tricky maneuvers in order to undress and dress without showing any skin because we have had a lifetime to learn to be ashamed of our bodies.

And this is in the US, the land of opportunity. I'm not even outlining what it is like to be in a country under the rule of the Taliban or one under a religion that calls for women to cover up from head to toe and not be seen unaccompanied by a man. The US is so incredibly fortunate that it is appalling that we have not yet had a female president. Did I vote for Hillary Rodham-Clinton to run as the Democratic nominee during the last election? No. You know why? Because I felt it was more important for Democrats to win than to push the feminist agenda and I knew my country would vote for a black man before they would vote for <<shudder>> a woman. I was more concerned with not continuing under a Republican regime than with asking people to open their eyes and understand that my gender is competent, intelligent, and capable. It was a difficult choice.

That being said, it was a choice I am glad I had to make. And I thank Geraldine Ferraro for making it a choice I actually had to make.