Ketchup

[poliphilo]

I'm slowly catching up on the convention. The BBC are showing looped highlights on their Parliamentary Channel.

Yesterday I watched Teresa Heinz Kerry. I'm sorry, but it's hard not to hear that as Heinz Ketchup- especially since the name is displayed on screen with the Heinz bit- the famous logo- dead centre.

And isn't there something slightly creepy about still dragging your dead husband's name around with you after remarriage?

A woman defined by the men in her life- the ones she's slept with, the ones she's given birth to- those wholesome, handsome sons.

And if she says anything off her own bat she's "opinionated". I liked her defence of herself on that charge, carrying the attack to the enemy. But isn't the whole enterprise, the parading of oneself as mother and sexual partner, just a little demeaning?

Look at me; See what a healthy womb I've got!

Comments

[glitzfrau.livejournal.com]

isn't the whole enterprise, the parading of oneself as mother and sexual partner, just a little demeaning?

Yes. In a word. It sickens me, wherever it is practiced and in whatever context.

[shellefly.livejournal.com]

But isn't the whole enterprise, the parading of oneself as mother and sexual partner, just a little demeaning?

It depends.
If that is what she wants to be - for motherhood and wifehood are both very difficult, though undervalued, jobs - then it is not demeaning.

If that is what she feels she has to be to make America happy, then it is demeaning.

I don't know which it is with her, I don't know enough about her, and as she is involved in politics, I probably never will so ... shrug ...

Of course, I prefer the Hillary example - she may be many things, but retiring and doormatlike she is NOT! :)

[ibid.livejournal.com]

I wonder if she is trying to be the 'whole woman' who has it all.

Look at me - empowerment AND I'm a nice safe mother!

[four-thorns.livejournal.com]

are you aware of the cookie bake-off?

when clinton was running in 1992, hilary said something in an interview to the effect of "well i suppose i could stay home all day and bake cookies, but that's just not me" and there was a huge uproar, because how dare she insult all the housewives and mothers out there! god forbid a woman should have aspirations beyond her home. so ladies' home journal held a cookie bake-off in which hilary clinton and barbara bush each submitted a recipe to the magazine and readers voted on it. hilary won. and the magazine has done it for every election since, and the winner of the cookie bake-off always goes on to become the first lady.

the point being, for all our talk about equal rights and opportunities for women, "motheriness" is all that voters look for in a potential first lady. i think teresa is well aware of this, and not happy about it, but she's gonna do what she has to, to help kerry win.

i really hate the media. i had to cut all those tapes of her telling the reporter to "shove it", knowing exactly how they were going to be used. it's so hypocritical, considering that dick cheney can swear at a senator on the senate floor and his approval rating goes up. if teresa heinz kerry had been a man, people would be applauding her for standing up to nuisance reporters.