rangelife

A Really Real Moment in the History of Gender Equity

In 2003, there were 1.35 females for  every 1 male who graduated from a four-year college.

In March 2008, housework was officially declared part of the sexual bargain.

And again in March 2008, this appeared on the Real Time with Bill Maher boards.

BILL - NEW RULES - You need to stop bashing Hillary. The last two weeks I have turned your show off because all your panelists have bashed Hillary. The disrespect you showed Terry McCalliffe was sickening, You wonder why Hillary wont come on your show? Your clip on Hillarys book, was disgusting, That is a personal moment that would not have anything to do with running this country. Why dont you show a clip of Jackie Kennedy's reaction to finding out about Marlyn Monroe. I am really disgusted with you.

Of course, Maher is and always has been the purest definition of a sexist, if not an outright misogynist. So how else is going to take on the possibility of a woman ascending to the most powerful position on planet Earth?

And now Hillary's core supporters -- predominantly white Gen X and Boomer women -- are mad at the male press for tilting the board against their Great Moment.

Can you feel it, people?

What do you think?

What do you think about Hillary Clinton now?

Has she gotten a fair or unfair shake?

And do you think a woman could beat John McCain in an election about national security?

Does her "I might make Obama my VP if you vote for me" gambit change your opinion of her.

And if she were President, would she feel pressure to be less or more hawkish when that phone rings at 3am?

I feel ya, sister

baby eye contact
Originally uploaded by willlaren.

Fight This Generation

60 Minutes, a show produced by and for World War I veterans, has instructed us 30-somethings to get the fuck out the way.

This pleases me dramatically. You see, the Boomers and their ancestors enjoyed defining our entire generation as cynical slackers, their primary evidence being two movies that grossed about $21M combined, or about 1/6 as much as The Flintstones movie. But Gen X's decade is done. Now the Millennials are in for a good reaming.

"Millenials put themselves first, like to be pampered, and aren't sorry for it." They also apparently all look like Comic Book Guy. ("Is there a word in Klingon for loneliness?") And even their moniker is a real bitch to spell. Is it one "n" or two?

Also, according to the 60 Minutes piece:

While this generation has extraordinary technical skills, childhoods filled with trophies and adulation didn't prepare them for the cold realities of work.

"You now have a generation coming into the workplace that has grown up with the expectation that they will automatically win, and they'll always be rewarded, even for just showing up," Crane says.

Praised throughout their no-failure childhoods, surgically attached to their iPods and mobiles and assorted gadgetry, the Millen(n)ials wander through their coddled lives making demands and expecting attention. Mommy got them into college, and Daddy wrote their resumes. If you don't praise them like little babies, they'll ditch you for another boss. Or as an ad exec puts it:

"If you don't want me, Mr. Employer, I'll go sell myself down the street. I'll probably get more money. I'll definitely get a better experience. And by the way, they'll adore me. You only like me."

Of course, what the 60 Minutes report totally misses is that the primary difference between this gen and the last isn't the self esteem or the iPods: It's the job market, stupid.

Gen X joined the economy at a lousy time. As globalization and recession hollowed out the middle class, the new adults of the early '90s had no sense of their place in the future. In 1994, there were no stock options, no Web 2.0 startups, just dead-end McJobs and territorial Boomer bosses with mortgages. For some it created a sense of cynicism. For others it created a sense of focus. For too many, it created a path to law school.

But today's new college grad was 9 or 10 years old when Netscape IPO'd. With the exception of a minor slowdown that started right around Dubya's first inauguration, the Millennials have only known boom times. As our dollar-depressed, housing bubble-busted economy drags downward, so will a young whippersnapper's ability to job-hop their way to Nirvana.

So move over, Gen X. There's a new generation to stereotype and abuse. And they'll have to miss that 2pm meeting. They have yoga.