What do women want? According to one of our favorite female feminism-haters, Laura Grace Robins, it’s sort of a a tossup between the vote and designer purses. But that’s not what women really need — which is a husband. Oh, and milk. Can you remember to get milk?
At least that’s what I think she’s saying. See if you can figure it out from this quote from her post “Remove the Needs.” I have taken the liberty of bolding my favorite bits. Anyway, here’s Ms. Robins’ vision of the modern postfeminist woman:
She may have everything she wants, but not everything she needs. She wants independence, the vote, her own income, etc., but she wants all these things like she wants a designer purse. Underneath it all, it is just for show and what she really needs are the basics; like food, shelter, and a husband. She may have fancy clothes and independence, but it is the needs that nourish. She can deny the needs and focus on wants, but a life purely filled of wants is typically shallow and empty. Feminists have been the advertisers that make us buy into wants instead of our needs. If we know what our needs are then we can walk down the aisle of feminism and not be allured by the glossy packaging of independence and income. I’m not here for the “Starbuck Frappuccino”, but for a gallon of milk.
But what if the woman in question is lactose intolerant? IN YOUR FACE, LAURA GRACE!
Also, I’m wondering what exactly a “Starbuck Frappuccino” is. I would love to have a Frappuccino with Starbuck. Either one, actually.
Ms. Robins concludes:
Now most women live hollow lives filled with closets full of shoes and purses, while homes are empty of husbands and children.
I think that, like a lot of the people I write about on this blog, Laura Grace Robins has confused reality with Sex and the City.
The show ended nearly a decade ago! At least get a current TV show to confuse reality with!
People like this just disgusting to the point I want to puke my guts out.
Also, @Lili Fugit I think you totally hit the nail on the head with your post
Seriously, I honestly think that if a time machine was invented, women like this should be asked to use it and travel back around the 18th century and live there for a couple of months/years, when women had no rights or independence whatsoever, and they were basically just property of men, from father to husband. Then let’s see how they like it.
I don’t think any woman should be forced or pressured into being a feminist, no, I believe in CHOICE, but when a woman comes out and basically says that she does not want equality, and would much rather go back to being a second class citizen and a piece of property belonging to the men in her life… so utterly sad and pathetic.
The logic in all this is that it’s wrong for women to have the CHOICE of wether wanting to become housewives and mothers, because that should be their only option, right? After all, why should women be allowed to think for themselves or make their own decisions? *puke,puke,puke*
Completely OT, but today’s Google sketch seems to be Daleks. Is it a Dr. Who anniversary or something?
That so-called purse is hideous … and costs more than a business-class flight across the Pacific. It also has nothing to do with the Queen, who I’m pretty sure wouldn’t be seen dead with such tacky shit. Her handbags are functional, which is more than could be said for that thing. It’s only “Queen” because of that idiotic faux-crown on it.
If I came home and found my shoes or bags watching football, they’d be straight into the rubbish bin. Australian Rules is toxic and I bet gridiron’s no better.
La Strega, yay for your bag! Yeah, Oroton’s a very pricey Australian brand.
Doctor Who 50th anniversary. My geek/nerd friends are on it.
Unimaginative – not just a Dr Who anniversary, it’s the 50th! Come Sunday morning (our time) the anniversary special will be shown on TV and in cinemas around the world; they’re synchronising it so it’s on at the same time everywhere. I’m really looking forward to it!
I’ve… never seen an episode of Doctor Who. >_>
I should, I have a link and everything to start watching! But time I do not have.
Mum and I watched the whole of Terror of the Zygons last night, a Tom Baker classic. Lethbridge-Stewart in a kilt and the cutest Skarasen aka Loch Ness Monster ever.
I’m planning on seeing the Doctor Who special on Monday in the movie theatre here. 😀
On the subject of lovely handbags, a couple years back I stumbled across women’s utility belts in a little airport shop. Leather tooled pouched the ideal size for phones, change purses, and all the typical pocket-fillers. They also had a couple which were designed to look like a pair of saddlebags.
I’m happy presenting male, but If I could have afforded that belt… 😀
The description of that peculiar handbag* begins “a true queen knows. . .” In my life experience, when someone is described as a true queen, said individual is typically not a woman. I think it was a clumsy attempt to reference the designer’s name (McQueen).
*My sister-in-law told me she was taught as a child ‘a pocketbook is what you read, a purse is what you do with your lips – a lady carries a handbag.’ She is unmarried, employed, a mother by adoption, and owns her own home. The OP would be horrified.
I’ll be seeing the Dr Who special tomorrow night. Channel Two are sensibly rerunning it in the evening, for those of us who Do Not Do telly in the early morning.
The terminology changes all over, doesn’t it? Here a purse is just the thing that holds your money, whether it’s the same as a wallet (which is what men’s are called) or just a small flat bag with a clasp. A bag is a bag, whether it’s a handbag or a shoulder bag or a tote or whatever.
Where I’m from (Northwest US) a purse is the bag that women carry everywhere because it has your stuff in it*. Most women I know are purse serial monogamists–only using one at a time, and changing it when it breaks/they get bored.
Handbag–to me–usually implies something larger than an everyday purse, but then again, my everyday purse is pretty large…
*Like wallet, phone, feminine hygiene products, painkillers, and in my case my kindle.
If I separated them, I’d think of a handbag as you describe a purse – smallish, it’s not going to carry much. Not that the name means much now, since regardless of size, bags often come with both shoulder straps and hand straps.
Wow, that really is a hideous purse. And “pearlescent baubles?” For $4500, I want real goddamn pearls.
For $4500, I don’t know what I want, but it’s going to be a lot bigger ‘n prettier than that thing.
I can’t help but to think about Serena Joy whenever I see these women.
I think it is regional like calling a carbonated beverage either soda or pop.
My friend from Boston called her container for that which is contained a pocketbook.
My Pacific NW grandma called her container a hand bag and the dinky thing with money in it her purse. My grandpa also had a coin purse.
I have a gorgeous cross body bag made by a local artist. I swapped her for one of my painted silks when we did a fiber arts show together fifteen years ago. It is looking a bit worn in spots but every time I switch to another I end up switching back within a few months.
That’s what these idiots would reduce us to.
I’d love a really nice backpack, but I’ve yet to see any design I really like. It’s not just that it needs to be lightweight but roomy (it has to carry lunch, an umbrella, a purse, water bottle and usually knitting, among other things) but that it needs to be tough enough not to get wrecked on grotty public transport.
I usually carry a backpack (I’m a student, duh), or a tote bag. It’s all I really need, anyhow.
Fuck, mine’s a coldwater canyon but I can’t find their website or any proof they still exist. Try a hiking type store though, they tend to have normal sized backpacks built to survive mud.
Hey I thought us feminists were meant to have short hair and lots of tattoos poking through our unkempt clothes? And now I find we’re supposed to have closets full of designer gear? Wow, I’ve got a lot of work to do to change my look. Damn.
But I can keep the cats, right?
Argenti – yeah, I’m looking through sites for outdoor stores right now.
Ok, now I really want the Queen to attend an official function carrying a bejewelled knuckleduster clutch purse.
😀