Commentary: 'Wise Women Unite! What Sotomayor Should Have Said'

Submitted by anthony on Sat, 2009-07-18 16:04

Article here. Excerpt:

'(WOMENSENEWS)--I suppose it's a good thing Judge Sonya Sotomayor's confirmation hearings have been a little boring and uneventful. I keep waiting for the scandalous hidden love affair to emerge, but nothing. No affair, unpaid taxes or skeletons to derail her confirmation.

Hats off to the team that vetted her nomination.

What has become a sticking point, though, are Sotomayor's comments in the past when she had the nerve to refer to herself as wise.
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How dare she? Everyone knows white men set the bar when it comes to making fair and impartial decisions. They never allow their background or experience to influence their judgment.
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It was obvious from the majority opinion that none of them had been in the position of having their work devalued because of their gender.'

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"...none of them had been in the position of having their work devalued because of their gender"

What?

Jobs held by men get devalued for that reason all the time. The current administration has not funded or underfunded much-needed infrrastructure work simply because men (and white ones at that!) are "dominant" in those fields. I can't even count the number of times I have seen articles decrying the loss of any number of jobs in fields "traditionally populated by women" (notice they don't use the word "dominated" when talking about fields with a lot of women in them) due to changes in the work world but not see so much as a word said when many jobs in fields "dominated" by men get lost. In fact, this is sometimes lauded as a good thing-- "creative destruction" as it has been spun. Ugh, talk about double-speak and double-standards!

I wonder if Dr. Mason has ever stood out under a cloudless sky on a hot tarmac or road at 100% humidity in jeans and a hard-hat with it being 98+ degrees F in the shade while also in close proximity to molten gravel and wet pavement? I wonder how "dominant" she thinks men who do that feel?

That aside, the author of this piece needs to hang out with people other than those she works with in her air-conditioned, nealry-all-female office from time to time. She might actually try talking to men about their experiences at work (or lack thereof) these days and how they get treated once people find out they are unemployed. But perhaps that's a bit too much effort and besides, she may have to leave her office and actually go outside or maybe (*gasp*!) visit a construction site or unemployment office to do it.

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Submitted by Matt on Sat, 2009-07-18 17:48

How many men have become unemployed recently as compared to women? What percentage of all jobs lost were lost by men? How many Administration officials are focussed exclusively on restoring work to men as opposed to women?

Ms. Mason is showing symptoms of being either a math-challenged ignoramus or a feminist - but I repeat myself.

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Submitted by TomP on Sat, 2009-07-18 19:51

If the Brooklyn Bridge collapses on my way to work, I'll blame groups like NOW and their perverse and distorted sense of economic parity.

Then I will blame Barack Obama. The president doesn't have the nut sack to say no to 'feminist economics' -- (talk about an oxymoron!)

But in a way, I see Obama's dilemma. If he doesn't kiss Kim Gandy's unshaven arm pits, NOW will start a cyberspace campaign complaining how horrible this country is to women. Then will hear bitching about women not being able to vote a 100 years ago. Finally, feminists will start pumping out ridiculous statistics -- which of course is politically incorrect to challenge. Obama can't have that, he needs the female vote.

Eventually the only construction jobs available will involve building more domestic violence shelters -- which of coarse will not permit men.

I have to go, I'm getting a migraine!

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Submitted by anthony on Sat, 2009-07-18 22:48