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!
What worries me is that those closets don’t seem to have any clothes in them. Wandering around nekkid except for shoes and a bag doesn’t appeal to me.
My hollow life is full of rooms full of plastic bags full of knitting yarn.
I use backpacks these days. I don’t want to put all the weight on my left arm, because my left knee’s the dodgy one, and I have my cane on the right, so a bag there is a pest.
@kittehserf
Silly me. Of course. I just need to pull my head out of my designer bag so I can think clearly.
cloudiah: before I bombard you with links, what’s your price range?
I’m a huge fan of Betsey Johnson bags.
kittehs – Ooh, yarn! My closet’s boring; it just has my clothes, two pairs of shoes, a laundry bag, and my suitcase.
Why can’t I have a hollow closet???????????
bbeaty – those designer bags fog our poor ladybrains something terrible.
Alice – my wardrobe’s in urgent need of emptying, though I feel very good for having finaly got rid of four pairs of shoes that were really past mending, the other day. Come the time Mum and I have to move to a smaller house, we are going to have SO MUCH crap to get rid of.
My hollow yarn bags live on and around my hollow walking machine in my hollow bedroom.
kittehs – You should see how much stuff is in my closet back at home. SO MUCH STUFF.
I really need to empty mine too.
Incidentally, this is why I like being away from home: my closet looks much emptier.
“At some point (usually around 40) the numbness wears off and women remember their basic needs of home and family.”
I was just about 40 when I my mother died and I was no longer taking care of her. A few years later, my daughter moved to go to college out of state. As much as I love(d) them both I gave a huge sigh of relief and began staying out late and dating and getting busy with the fellas again. Even now that I have been some what re-domesticated by a great guy (who loves to cook but does not love his job, btw) I spend a shocking amount of time basically playing music loud and running pantless through my childless house going “Woo!”
So, there’s that.
My hollow closet is filled with whatever pile-of-stuff was moved from the room to the closet.
… And sweaters. I didn’t buy them; they accumulated.
The wife laboring and putting love in for her paycheck is not an option, obviously.
“At some point (usually around 40) the numbness wears off and women remember their basic needs of home and family.”
Um, no? Home and family aren’t synonyms. If by family she means having children, no, never, it’s not for me, and I’m safely ten years past the forty mark. Also I don’t think I’ve ever been numb, unless you count lying on top of my arm while I’m asleep.
Is she incredibly insecure about her own preferences, or pandering to an audience of men who’re whining about wife-as-property not being the default anymore?
Well, she is, if you read paycheque as meaning “room and lodging in return for being domestic and sexual slave”.
I tried to figure out how the soulless modern feminist women can her own income, fancy clothes, closets full of shoes and purses, yet lack basics such as food and shelter. Are food and shelter made out of husband?
… $300 for a backpack? 😯 Fuck!
(This is what comes from looking at David Jones’s website, oy.)
Yes.
Okay, so you folks did a marvelous job of dissecting this already, and I know very little about handbags except that my wife’s tend to break at the strap-bag joint a lot, so I’m just gonna drop off this explanation of a Starbuck Frappuccino (even though those technically aren’t frapps–I’m assuming they’ve got them on order):
http://www.chailife.com/wp-content/uploads/starbuck_starbucks.jpg
Women aren’t independent — they are either dependant on husbands or fathers or dependent on the government for their ‘make work’ jobs. Women also don’t have to pay any taxes on their paychecks, don’t you guys read Sunshine Mary.
True, KitKat, she explains it all!
@freemage
SQEEEEE
let me know when that order comes in
Now, kitteh, how can your hollow life echo emptily like it’s supposed to, if it’s all packed full of knitting yarn?
There should be signs at the entrance to deserts: 123 MILES TO NEXT HUSBAND. Trust me, you don’t want to break down in the middle of the Mojave with no heteronormative. social validation. AAA won’t be able to reach you in time.
Why Is my tablet. randomly inserting. periods. in the middle of. sentences.
I agree that food, water, shelter, clothing, and some kind of social interaction are human needs. But “husband” is not one of those things.
Having jobs in and of itself isn’t even a feminist issue. Many households require multiple sources of income just so they can get those basic needs. It’s bizarre that people harp on about ladies being able to make money like that’s something frivolous.
::dies::
hellkell, well I just found out that I’m getting a big one-time bonus at work (which might be because they know I’m interviewing elsewhere, I say cynically) so the sky’s the limit! I’m kidding, I know some people spend the same amount on a bag that other people would spend on a new car, and I am not one of those people. So something way under the cost of a new car! XD
I like that purple Bodhi bag. Hm…
I keep calling to try and get them to stop taking taxes out of my paycheck cause I’m a women and only men pay taxes, so far it is falling on deaf ears. They keep taking the taxes and I have to do absolutely nothing at my job, it is only a ‘make-work’ job. Now it they would only stop with the pesky taxes and tell me where the building is where women get everything for free, I’d be all set.