A Ms. is as good as a mole

It seems that some very silly people have gone and undermined the whole foundation of feminism, by putting limits on whose empowerment one might celebrate:

The magazine co-founded by Gloria Steinem doesn’t seem to like Jews when they’re Israeli Jews. Or at least, that’s the impression they’re giving after rejecting an ad for Israel that the AJC wanted to place.

The magazine has turned down an AJCongress advertisement that did nothing more controversial than call attention to the fact that women currently occupy three of the most significant positions of power in Israeli public life. The proposed ad (The Ad Ms. Didn’t Want You To See) included a text that merely said, “This is Israel,” under photographs of President of the Supreme Court Dorit Beinish, Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni and Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik.

“What other conclusion can we reach,” asked Richard Gordon, President of AJCongress, “except that the publishers − and if the publishers are right, a significant number of Ms. Magazine readers − are so hostile to Israel that they do not even want to see an ad that says something positive about Israel?”

So much for joining the noble movement of worldwide feminism.

Not that I missed anything. Today, "feminism" has fallen into a state of disrepute, by virtue of narrow-mindedness among the so-called elite of the movement. A bigot is a bigot, whether she calls herself a feminist or not. And, wherever two or more of them are gathered in the name of this actual, righteous cause, they encourage freedom and equality in the same way that gophers and moles help stabilize levees.

I once called myself an ardent feminist. When I was a little girl, I dreamed of the day I would grow up to make great and grand gestures for the cause... of course, I also dreamed I could become a cowboy. (Darned tricky, that chromosomal restriction on being any kind of boy other than a tomboy.) Times do change. I'm older, more brittle, and less inclined to want to lie beneath the stars on a frigid winter night, with nothing but a harmonica for entertainment and nobody but cattle for conversation. I fear I would miss my internet.

Great and grand gestures aside, though, I still believe I can call myself a feminist: as far as I'm concerned, we still have a few more miles to go before women and men are equal in the eyes of each other. This doesn't mean we're all interchangeable -- heaven knows, not even all sisters are the same, so why would we expect identical skills and talents from one sex to the other? Some of us are simply waiting for society as a whole to recognize that each individual has his or her own worth, and expectations will be that we, as a people, gain (as the Marxist line goes, with sexist language disregarded) from each according to his abilities.

When that day of balance and sanity arrives, maybe I will fetch hat, boots and saddle, and ride the range, a cowhand prepared to do a job. Meanwhile, some are still more equal than others...


Later thought: In the original article:

When Director of AJCongress’ Commission for Women’s Empowerment Harriet Kurlander tried to place the ad, she was told that publishing the ad “will set off a firestorm” and that “there are very strong opinions” on the subject − the subject presumably being whether or not one can say anything positive about Israel.

Consider the ramifications of anybody at Ms. Magazine worrying about creating -- or feeding -- a controversy.

Feh.