What Do Right-Wing Women Want?

What does the Right want from its women? Just in time for Women's History Month, [America's Future Foundation] members and distinguished guests will try to hammer out an answer that question at our next Roundtable on Thursday, March 9.

Panelists Christina Hoff Sommers, Carrie L. Lukas, Allison Kasic, Richard Morrison, and moderator Brooke Oberwetter will discuss the seeming contradictions in a movement that celebrates housewives and soccer moms as post-feminist heroines, elevates tough-talking single career gals like Condoleeza Rice and Ann Coulter to icon status, and is populated more and more by women who are trying to strike the right balance between families, relationships, and careers.

Details, RSVP, here.

Comments

[henry]

Seriously--I think I'd prefer a dental drill in my ear than have to listen to this.

[smacky]

Nice to see you again, henry. I was wondering where you had gone. (Presuming you are the anti-religion henry of Hit and Run yesteryear).

[theOneState]

Yeah, but, Henry, this one features Allison Kasic. And you know how brilliant the sons and daughters of our elected congresspeople and senate-people are. It's hard to overlook the great work they did for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.

I don't know what happened to her 'h', though.

[DaveInBigD]

You mean aside from the whole "Submit Gracefully" thing?

[Ken Shultz]

What does the Right want from its women?

This question may have it backwards. ...I suspect that "the Right" may ideologically driven by women.

They're probably the ones running your local, Protestant church. They're the ones enforcing the unwritten dress code on other women at work who would otherwise dress more provocatively. They were the ones driving the temperance movement way back when, and they're the ones driving the Drug War now. These days, when we're talking about the right, I suspect that we may be talking about women primarily. What do women on the right want?

...That's the question.

[concerned_douchebags_for_ameri]

Right wing women want to be just as annoying as left wing women, but shave their armpits and legs.

[John DeWitt]

Why don't people 'who are trying to strike the right balance between families, relationships, and careers' stop talking about it so damned much, and just do it? They'd find themselves with a lot more time on their hands, and they'd be so much less tiresome.

[smacky]

They're the ones enforcing the unwritten dress code on other women at work who would otherwise dress more provocatively.

Not necessarily. Maybe the ones "enforcing the unwritten dress code" (i.e. snarking at pathetic male-attention-driven women) are the ones that have better things to do than spend excess time slutting it up for a professional job that isn't remotely intended to be sexual in nature. You can stay in fantasyland if you'd prefer, though.

Secondly, if when we're talking about The Right we really mean women on the Right, then when we talk about The Left, aren't we really talking about women on the Left? Why don't we just exclude women from politics altogether, shtup the hot, inappropriately-dressed secretary, and call it a day?

[tgb]

I'm with Henry on this one. The only thing worse would have been that shrill Kate O'Bierne on the panel.

[anonymous coward]

smacky,
That sounds awesome. How do you propose we go about this?

[Karen]

They could have retitled this one "debutantes throw a fit" and it would have been more descriptive.

[Pro Libertate]

smacky, you may be my favorite woman on Earth.

[Thomas Paine's Goiter]

I don't think Allison will have to worry about deciding between family and career. *shudder*

[Jeff P.]

If anybody was ever able, either via lookalikes or photo-realistic CGI, to make a streaming video of Ann Coulter and Janene Garofolo licking each other, the internet could be in danger of imploding.
Throw in Huffington in a femdom get-up and computers might evolve intelligence, if only so they could weep...

[Ken Shultz]

Not necessarily. Maybe the ones "enforcing the unwritten dress code" (i.e. snarking at pathetic male-attention-driven women) are the ones that have better things to do than spend excess time slutting it up for a professional job that isn't remotely intended to be sexual in nature.

You're right, smacky, women really do seem to enforce an unwritten dress code, don't they? ...I saw it at school when I was a kid, I saw it at church too. ...and all those blue haired ol' ladies, God love 'em, they weren't the half of it. Lay leadership at church seemed almost completely a female domain as I recall. ...and religion itself seems to speak more to women than men, doesn't it?...

I was looking for a reference--if somebody's got one, please link it--I wonder what the ratio is of single evangelical women to single evangelical men. Given that women live longer than men, it'd have to exclude both men and women of a certain age to be meaningful. ...but I suspect that evangelical Christianity, as it continues to grow, is more of a female phenomenon. Have you seen Joyce Meyers on television, or Paula White? ...They're almost like Oprah but with fewer guests and more Jesus.

...and, surely, this isn't the first time you've heard about the Soccer Mom/Defense Mom phenomenon, is it?

[mediageek]

Jeff, that's seriously disturbing.

Some enterprising 3d animation students should get right on this...

[mediageek]

Oh, in other nooze, Little Fyodor and I are planning another Reasonoid gathering, probably on March 24.

Who else is interested?

[Ken Shultz]

For anyone that's interested, forget Jerry Falwell and Ernest Angsley,these are the faces of the evangelical movement today.

[smacky]

You're right, smacky, women really do seem to enforce an unwritten dress code, don't they? ...I saw it at school when I was a kid, I saw it at church too. ...and all those blue haired ol' ladies, God love 'em, they weren't the half of it. Lay leadership at church seemed almost completely a female domain as I recall. ...and religion itself seems to speak more to women than men, doesn't it?...

Personally, I don't particularly give a crap what someone's wearing to work. (Well, I might freak out if I were married and my husband's office secretary wore completely suggestive outfits to work every day.) Otherwise, why should I care if a woman embarrasses herself at work in the name of fashion? Last week I saw a woman trying with great difficulty to walk in these knee-high, come-hither boots in our research facility. It's amusing to watch women handicap themselves, especially when a somewhat professional person might actually care more about actually being able to walk while at work. If she actually worked those high-heeled boots (read: could walk in them without stumbling), I might've been more impressed, but she just looked like she was trying too hard. And yes, that usually evokes other people's derision, mine included.

[linguist]

Ernest Angsley

Holy crap (pun intended)! I haven't heard that name in soooo long. His Grace Cathedral was in my neighborhood growing up. I remember it had a nice garden.

[Pro Libertate]

As a former executivish-level attorney at a big corporation, I can tell you that while we male upper-level types may like seeing such women, we don't particularly respect them. I can recall a couple that had competence as well as overly displayed cleavage and other body parts, but the latter often clouded over the former. In the work place, ability? and professionalism are key, not demonstrating how you, too, can be like Sharon Stone.

Be warned, ye of little dress!

?Though ability may sometimes be the ability to kiss ass, not ability to actually do anything. But that's another story.

[smacky]

As a former executivish-level attorney at a big corporation, I can tell you that while we male upper-level types may like seeing such women, we don't particularly respect them. I can recall a couple that had competence as well as overly displayed cleavage and other body parts, but the latter often clouded over the former. In the work place, ability? and professionalism are key, not demonstrating how you, too, can be like Sharon Stone.

Be warned, ye of little dress!

See, Ken? It's not just women enforcing the social and sartorial mores. 😉

[Karen]

smacky, I once had a secretary who wore a skirt so short she mooned the division director by doing a slight bend over my desk. The d.d. was a good friend of mine, and also a real lech. (It was an odd part of his appeal. I can't really explain.) The ironic thing was that he was truly horrified at seeing her thong undies displayed for the world. Of course, he made ME explain to the problem to her.

[Larry A]

Jane: (Preparing for her first little-black-dress evening office party at her new job.) Honey, which of these shoes should I wear?

John: (Looks down and sees three pairs of black shoes.) Which pair is most comfortable?

Jane: Well! If you aren't going to give me a serious answer...

[Brian]

To submit to her husband as her husband submits to Jesus. Duh. Make me a sammich.

[Pro Libertate]

Larry A, after many years of dating women, I now have sufficient experience and wisdom to authoritatively answer Jane's question:

"The black ones, dear."

[R C Dean]

Why don't we just exclude women from politics altogether, shtup the hot, inappropriately-dressed secretary, and call it a day?

Sign me up, smacky. Sounds like a return to the halcyon days of yesteryear, when we actually lived in a Constitutional Republic with a microscopic government footprint. It is a sad fact that the growth of government power in the US dates back to allowing women to vote. If I have to boff the secretary, too, well, I'm willing to take one for the team.

Of course, he made ME explain to the problem to her.

Damn right he did. For a man to comment in any way on a woman's clothing, especially its provocative nature, is to court a sexual harassment suit.

[Karen]

RCD -- You're right, and also because I was technically her supervisor.

[Jamie Kelly]

I think right-wing women want to be slapped on the ass and called "Charlie."

[jp]

I don't care what my secretary looks like; she has to be competent. I want everyone else's secretary to be hot.

Seriously, I've never known a secretary who was so hot that, given enough exposure, she didn't eventually become just another employee.

[henry]

Ken, there is one good thing about that new face is that if she ever comes to her senses and dumps all the Jesus BS, I can still look forward to her flashing her pelt in Playboy. That is something I could never say about Jerry Falwell and Ernest Angsley, so I guess I'm in favor of this trend.

Here's hoping for another Aimee Semple McPherson type ending here!

[keith]

Can we replace Christina Hoff Sommers with Christina Applegate, Suzanna Hoffs, and Suzanne Sommers?

[strat]

It's easy, they want a strong man with leadership skills, who will hold them to an agreement like this one.

Er...maybe not exactly like that one.

[Lowdog]

strat - holy shit!

[B.P.]

I clicked on Ken's link. Was that Paula White person sculped from soap?

Mediageek: Keep the board posted on this potential March 24 get-together. I might be able to free myself for this one.

[fletch]

Smacky-

Why don't we just exclude women from politics altogether, shtup the hot, inappropriately-dressed secretary, and call it a day?

Shucks! You womens weren't supposed to be smart enough to figure that out... :o)

[smacky]

It's easy, they want a strong man with leadership skills, who will hold them to an agreement like this one.

Damn! I missed a perfect opportunity to post the link that strat posted. See, Ken? It's not just women enforcing the social and sartorial mores.

[John C. Randolph]

R C,

Blaming the growth of government power on the suffragets I think ignores the two major events that vastly increased the power of the feds: the civil war, and new deal. I'm sure a lot of women voted for Roosevelt, but so did a majority of the men in the country. Not a single woman voted for Lincoln, of course.

-jcr

[Timon19]

Re: Ernest Angley

Ol' Ernie, of course, acquired the notorious Rex's (Humbart) Erection some time ago. Thankfully, I live on the other side of town and down a hill from that giant concrete phallus.

On the other hand, it's a handy navigational aid (on rare clear days) when one gets lost anywhere from South Akron to Peninsula...

[Mr. Bucket]

I shitch in a bucket.

[Ron Jeremy]

What do women on the right want?

...That's the question.

That's easy huge hard cock.

[Postmodern Sleaze]

strat:

I think that fellow missed his calling as a EU bureaucrat...

[Ken Shultz]

Last week I saw a woman trying with great difficulty to walk in these knee-high, come-hither boots in our research facility. It's amusing to watch women handicap themselves, especially when a somewhat professional person might actually care more about actually being able to walk while at work.

Fletcher might think this funny, but I've always been more of a fashion over function guy myself. ...and if a female at work happened to find me physically attractive, don't think I wouldn't use that to my advantage if I could. ...but I wasn't trying to start a debate about what women wear to work...

I was trying to point out that much of what we think of as being from "the right" today ultimately derives from women and the interests of women. I think the picture of the angry white male as the foundation of the hard right is way off--a vestige of the early nineties. I suspect domination of the right by the angry white male went the way of the militia movement, perhaps in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing. ...at any rate, I don't see much evidence of it after the Gingrich revolution. ...except for in the angry white male press.

...and Soccer Moms have been in the driver's seat of "the right" ever since, even after they changed the name to Security Moms. ...and I think a lot of people are mistaking the horse for the cart these days. ...and I think that's interesting.

...and I don't see why the observation provoked such a... ...never mind.

[Stevo Darkly]

re strat's link:

Holy bejesus! I understand that some BDSM couples use contracts like that -- only I don't think they're that controlling!

Hmm... I wonder if their relationship started off like that, then went completely into the Twilight Zone because they guy had genuine control issues, vs. just roleplaying for fun. That is, maybe this is evolved version 8.7 of some much milder kinky "for safety and mutual fun" contract.

PS: I only know what I read on the Internet.

[strat]

I think that fellow missed his calling as a EU bureaucrat...

Postmodern, that was almost exactly my reaction after reading it.

He might also be able to write term sheets for third-tier venture capital firms.

[Warren]

Ken Shultz,
I think you make an excellent point

[R C Dean]

Blaming the growth of government power on the suffragets

Relax, John, I keed, I keed.

Actually, the nail in the Constitution's coffin was popular election of Senators, but that's a different rant.

[joe]

smacky,

When you say "Why don't WE...shtupp the hot, inappropriately-dressed secretary," what exactly do you mean by "we?"

I'm going to need some specifics here. 😉

Anyway, what does the Right want from its women? The same thing it wants from every other non-white Christian heterosexual male that's willing to argue the Right's case: cover.

[JC]

"I wonder if their relationship started off like that, then went completely into the Twilight Zone because they guy had genuine control issues, vs. just roleplaying for fun."

Maybe his wife drove him over the edge with all her arguing, complaining, crying, voice raising and condesending.

[peachy]

What do right-wing women want?"

Not right-wing men, I'd guess...

[Native NYer]

Is "Paula" in Ken's link a real doll? She has the same slightly cross eyed look as the doll which was playing video games with that Indian guy in a post a few months back.

Scuplted not from soap but from plastic.

[Stevo Darkly]

Maybe his wife drove him over the edge with all her arguing, complaining, crying, voice raising and condesending.

Er ... huh?

Is "Paula" in Ken's link a [R]al [D]oll[TM]?

She is kinda Stepford pretty.

[Stevo Darkly]

[R]eal

For some reason my keyboard started overtyping instead of inserting. Now it's back to inserting. Weird.

[Bonar Law]

"Anyway, what does the Right want from its women? The same thing it wants from every other non-white Christian heterosexual male that's willing to argue the Right's case: cover."

What about white gentile men who are on the Left? Do they provide "cover" for their black, female Jewish overlords (excuse me, overladies)?

Or do people join the "left" or the "right" because they have certain sincere beliefs which they want carried out in the public arena? That hypothesis may not be as sexy as some conspiracy theory, but I think it's more accurate.

[joe]

By "white gentile men," would you be referring to the Chair of the DNC, the most recent presidential candidate, the previous presidential candidate, the one before him, the one before him, the one before him...

I'm sure the Concerned Women for American are genuinely concerned, and genuinely right wing.

That doesn't mean they aren't used for cover by the rich, white, mostly Christian men running the show.

[ChrisO]

I was having such a pleasant Friday until I visited that scary Paula White site. Damn you, Ken!!! Here's a scary quote:

Paula White is a Life Coach, Motivational Speaker, Pastor, Preacher, Author, Humanitarian, Philanthropist, Teacher, TV Personality, Wife and Mother. Beneath her unassuming beauty, lies a gentle and girlish charm.

Didn't they used to say stuff like that about L. Ron Hubbard?