Pinko Feminist Hellcat has a smart post about “elitist” New York women. The thrust is that too many people are willing to condemn a New York (or Northeastern) feminist woman as de facto “elitist.”
What is that? It’s really not New York women who are, y’know, busting unions and oppressing the poor.
I think there’s two things going on here. First, part of it is an anti-education bias. Somewhere in a screed against a New York feminist bitch, there will always be a reference to her college education. Gods forbid we should have brains. I mean, she’s smart, how bitchy is that?
But more importantly, it’s about attacking women because women are always the easy target. Go after the fur-wearing “rich bitches,” not the leather-clad bikers or, more significantly, the cattle-raising industry. Go after disposable diapers (3% of landfill) instead of corporate waste (80% of landfill), because moms are easier to pick on than corporations. Go after Martha Stewart (endlessly! I thought I was bored with Martha until I got really, truly, full tilt boogie bored with Martha-bashing) instead of the man who actually did the crime.
I don’t know where this instinct to go for the female jugular comes from. Shall we blame the patriarchy? Is it the animal in us, ferally attacking the weak?
I do know we need to resist this impulse. We need to recognize it, acknowledge it (within ourselves or others), and just let it go.
