Rant With Gratuitous Sexual References

Once upon a time I met Gloria Steinem, and we had a brief chat. A chat that might have gone on much longer if she hadn’t said something that stopped me in my tracks, accomplishing what most people find impossible. She rendered me speechless.

“There’s nothing sexier in the world than watching a man ironing,” she dropped into our conversation.

My mind - which could, did and often does find itself filled with endless visions of boys and hotness – could simply not compute hers.

Did she find an equitable division of domestic chores a requisite for dalliance, and was ironing perhaps the pinnacle of said equity? Or was it, perhaps, the groveling she found so arousing? After all, she has also said that unpaid housework "is the definition of women's work, which is shit work.''

I’ve grown exhausted by one of the “narratives” in this election: the whole older women/younger women, Clinton/Obama thing. And how it ties in with second wave/third wave feminist divisions. I tire of it because it’s one of those observations that seems so obvious, and I just wish it were all over.

The other outspoken old school feminist in this election has been Erica Jong, she of Fear of Flying and the infamous “zipless fuck.” Since I‘m taking the low road in this exegesis, the relevant point here is one often forgotten: that she stated that she herself has never enjoyed one.

Unlike third-wave feminists.

Both of these women have been penning endless dismissive diatribes against Obama and those who support him, and, most especially, against those younger women whom they see - god, yes, one knows this is coming – as not doing things their way. The end of feminism, the dismissal of all that went before them. Yes, I’ve got it. It's a generational, experiential thing. Angry older women, angry older black preachers.

But what finally pushed me to the limit, and forced me to waste words on these ladies, was Jong’s comments: “Despite his penchant for saying "sweetie" to shut women up, Barack Obama…”

As one who regularly uses some sort of endearment – usually sweetheart, darling, dollbaby [seriously], hon, but almost any will do – perhaps all I’d really like to say to Steinem, Jong, their candidate and all the others who share their anger, bitterness, lack of understanding and sense of entitlement, is

STFU, babycakes.