January 26, 2004
Fuck You and the Cats You're Spending Your Life With
Posted by nerdling | January 26, 2004 06:41 PM
If you're reading this, you're probably one of my friends. And if you're one of my friends, you probably share my opinion on political pundits, particularly the conservative ones. Therefore, it would be no surprise that I despise Ann Coulter. Why am I making this point, you ask? Because I'm about to go into a rant about Ms. Coulter and her barely logical ideas!
I started reading an essay about married couples with opposing political views on salon.com and, much to the dismay of my good sense, I continued reading even after I saw her name come up in the article. What idiocy is she spewing now? Just this:
Coulter has an explanation for the supposed prevalence of lefty lasses and Republican lads: "Notwithstanding their progressive pretensions," she says, "all women want a man."
For those of you who are not my friends, I am neither a lesbian nor a feminist. I am in a rather traditional relationship with a man three years my senior. He pays for me when we go out on dates, he opens the door for me, he thinks that (heterosexual) women and men cannot have truly platonic friendships. And I can say with great certainty that Ms. Coulter's above quote is the stupidest thing I have heard in a long, long time. So stupid, in fact, that I can't decide whether the best response would be to groan aloud or to beat my head into a wall in frustration.
This might be a lame semantic bone to pick, but all women do not want a man. I, in fact, do not want a man. I am with my boyfriend because I want a partner; someone who complements me and makes me try to be better. Someone I can lean on and who can lean on me. Hallmark sentiment to be sure, but the day that I want a man for any reason even resembling one ascribed as part of a gender role will be a very cold, very uncomfortable and very long day in Hell.
And while I'm on the topic, I think that comment is a deeply saddening one. Though I do not like Ann Coulter I would like to think that a woman who has amassed the amount of interest she has would think more of herself—and be more intelligent—than to say that she wants a man because of something as uninteresting and obviously programmed as femininity.
Yes, I am a woman and I am not ashamed that I like and want a man to hold my hand—but that hand is there for support, not to lead the way. I can make my own way. I just don't want to be alone when I do it.
