In a letter [“Women’s Marches Lack Mature Focus,” Feb. 1, Xpress] Dr. Carl Mumpower states his opinion that the women recently marching in Asheville, Washington and other cities were not calling attention to unjust treatment but were, to use his word, “pouting.”
These women, he says, are “members of the most blessed batch of liberated women in history.” That may well be true. But statistics show that women are denied the same opportunities as men to find employment in satisfying jobs that match their talents and to receive equal pay for equal work.
Too, these “liberated” women are not safe from the indignity of “pussy-grabbing” by men who feel entitled to give themselves some real live sexy fun at women’s expense. The marchers wearing pussy hats — “vagina headgear,” Dr. Mumpower calls them — were referring to Donald Trump’s boasting on that subject. Dr. Mumpower claims the marching women were “hungry for an opportunity to discredit the president.” It seems to me that Mr. Trump does a great job of discrediting himself.
Let’s think back to the centuries before the advent of “women’s liberation,” centuries when social and religious attitudes led men to believe it was good to subjugate women. Those were the bad old times when a devastatingly high percentage of youngsters died before they were old enough to help carry on the human race. For the survival of our species, it was crucial that women be encouraged, cajoled, shamed, or forced into having a lot of pregnancies. Fecundity, not their personal development, was what was needed from women.
Nowadays, the situation is quite different. Because modern sanitation and modern medicine permit a high percentage of youngsters to live into and beyond their reproductive years, our planet is burdened by more human beings than ever before. More and more of the planet’s resources are needed — in some cases, are burned — to give these people satisfying lives.
For the survival of not only our species but every species, it is crucial that women all over the planet have fewer pregnancies. Social and religious attitudes everywhere should support the use of contraceptives. Women’s ideas and skills rather than their fertility should be praised. The indignity of women’s bodies being used as public sex toys should be universally regarded as shameful, not manly.
Dr. Mumpower writes that women and men should be only “building a future that finds our nation fed, sheltered, employed and free,” not calling attention to injustice by public demonstrations. He thus repudiates many significant moments in American history.
Perhaps Dr. Mumpower is pouting.
— Virginia Ramig
Asheville
53 thoughts on “Letter writer: Women’s marches spoke to important issues”
What I find remarkable is that amidst these women who so delighted in wearing pussyhats to express their outrage that a man would dare to privatelyy express a politically incorrect idea regarding women, there were other women who found fancy in wearing a head covering that signifies the blatant objectivization and oppression of millions of women worldwide – the hijab. I read a blog of a woman in Egypt who recounted that a cafe full of women gasped in horror and grew silent when they saw these American women on TV. One finally spoke and said, “The hijab will take away your rights.” You can read it here > http://www.cheriberens.net/womenrsquos-march-towards-islam.html
One of the three organizers/leaders of the march, Linda Sarsour, is a proponent of sharia law and an apologist for Saudi Arabia, one of the most oppressive regimes towards women in the world. She wrote that American women should be ashamed of themselves for finding fault with Saudi Arabia’s law forbidding women drivers because the government gives women 10 months of paid maternity leave. What a deal. right ladies? This was one of the leaders of your march.
So the contrasts are indeed remarkable.
Idea? Politically incorrect idea? That was a theory-oriented discourse, was it? Let’s go to the tape, Kellyanne. When the President was discussing the parts of the female anatomy with which he most enjoyed tactile congress, he was not describing his want. He was describing his wont.
Oh, yeah. You mentioned hajibs, too. I have strong opinions about that. I think that if a women wants to wear a scarf on her head, she should be able to. No questions asked. It’s still America. But if she doesn’t want to wear a scarf because it’s too hot outside or whatever, she shouldn’t have to. That’s my compromise position between the two extremes. I know that’s going to ruffle a few feathers and no one will be completely satisfied, but it’s the best I can do to balance the competing values.
I’m with you. Should be a woman’s personal choice. Nothing wrong with it unless it’s imposed by men who can’t control their own lusts and misogyny. Some Christian and Jewish women wear something similar (in church or synagogue).
I’m with both of you, it should be personal choice.
“unless it’s imposed by men who can’t control their own lusts and misogyny.” — and therein lies the rub. Ooops, I may have unintentionally sounded like our Prez by saying ‘rub’ (and several million other men).
“Privately”?
The guy had years of experience in television, etc. & he was wearing a microphone. Anyone that dumb who became president would immediately create chaos, distrust, empower our enemies, and eventually lead us into either a war, a constitutional crisis, or impeachment…
Wait – what was that? Never mind. Too late.
“Anyone that dumb who became president”
The words “intern” and “cigar” come to my mind.
Right, because a sexual indiscretion is just as bad as treason. Got it.
Oh my goodness. A conversational shapeshifter.
He was knowingly talking to a journalist without a prior agreement that the conversation was off the record. That’s not a private conversation, even if the camera waiting outside wasn’t a tip off. Besides, isn’t character often defined as what one does when he thinks nobody will know?
The guy’s been professionally involved for many years with some of the most beautiful women in the world at a very visually sexual level. So if this is all you’ve got on Trump, the guy’s a saint.
It’s not all I’ve got on Trump. It’s what you brought up.
IT’s all ya got from a sexual viewpoint.
Assault isn’t a sexual standpoint, and you need to read more than alt-news websites.
In the Trump age, another sign of why the women’s march was so timely, & so important – a lawmaker in Oklahoma wants pregnant women to think of themselves merely as “hosts”, and the father gets to decide whether they can terminate a pregnancy or not.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/02/14/oklahoma-bill-would-require-father-of-fetus-to-approve-abortion/?utm_term=.f2ea15752447
HOSTS!!! We’re sliding into a Handmaids Tale version of America, and we have to fight to stop it.
A fetus is nothing more than a parasite to which we humans have an emotional connection.
Ummm…. Not willing to go that far, but…
Gak! Hosts!! Handmaid’s Tale!! Etc.!!!
You reveal more & more about yourself every time you comment, Fred Caudle. Calling accomplished actress Ashley Judd such a vulgar term is telling…
And she grew up in Kentucky, not “Tennersee”. She’s a dang ‘Kentucky Colonel’, the highest honor the State of Kentucky bestows. What honors have you received, Fisher?
http://kycolonels.org/who-we-are/famous-colonels/
Oh. And here I assumed Fake News was deliberately misspelling her name to avoid embarrassment to the progressive Hollywood elite. I’m glad now that I didn’t just shoot off my mouth without thinking.
you take yourself WAY too seriously like most silly progressives do…no sense of humors at all with your crowd…loosen up barry
No Infidel, they’re right. Your comment was juvenile and piggish. Grow up.
My, my…..what convenient memories so many have. What Trump said was gross and there’s no defense for it (except being male?). A couple of relevant things:
1 – Are masses of people so sheltered and naive that they don’t realize that millions of men talk that way in private settings with other guys?? Plenty of them speak that way in front of women as well! So, yeah, there’s an issue here but, as of yet, I’m seeing no serious attempt to deal with the larger problem. Until efforts are made to do that, it is safe to assume that all the current upset is pure politics.
2 – Where were the female street protests when Bill Clinton, while President, was sticking cigars in the private parts of a 21 year old in our oval office?? Fair question and talk about a man having NO shame! Trump was talking big game, as guys are inclined to do, while a sitting Prez was continuing his long history of sexual predatory behavior. Where were the protests?
As usual, the hystericals are full of hypocrisy. Such convenient memories. Sad!
We didn’t think the protests were real because they were reported on Fake News. http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/10/politics/president-protests-history/.
But, say, here are some progressives with a long memory: http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/15-ways-bill-clintons-white-house-failed-america-and-world.
Besides, Real World, if, as you say, millions of men are as depraved, egotistical, callous and self-absorbed as the President, wasn’t it time to do something dramatic by way of wake-up call? Revulsion against Trump was reason enough for me to take to the streets, but you’ve just raised the stakes bigly.
We used to talk that way all of the time at work. One, because it was forbidden, and two because we were purposely being hyperbolic for humor’s sake to break up the crushing monotony of office work. I suspect something similar was going on with Trump.
You realize you’re just proving my point about the need for a dramatic wake-up call, don’t you? Let’s see what some female commenters think.
You sound like a religious zealot. And pretty naive too (best case). You ought to hear how some women speak about men when they’re together sometimes.
You don’t need to worry about me. No one here has any confidence in your judgment.
I’m glad you don’t do that anymore, because that’s certainly no place I’d want to work.
It’s harmless as long as you don’t take it seriously and don’t do it around people who would be offended.
Which btw we never did. We treated all women there with the utmost respect. NO other way to live IMO.
Says the guy whose debut post (under a previous fake name) was about a woman’s “cankles.”
You must be one of the sheltered and naive ones. The term “locker room banter”was created for a reason; because it’s common. And I very much doubt that it’s going away.
Women should be much more concerned about actual predators than those who talk big game.
Isn’t it amazing how the progressives are acting like religious prudes?
Leave my neighbors out of this.
And objecting to assault is not what I call prudish.
There’s that reality vs narrative-as-fact thing again. Trump didn’t assault anyone.
He said he did. He said he assaulted women all the time. He said he couldn’t help it and they just let him get away with it because he was a star.
See, here’s your problem: Trump said he compulsively assaults women. Some dozen women say he assaulted them. For him to be a really bad hombre, only one of those people has to be telling the truth. For him to be less than a really bad hombre, everybody has to be lying, including the very guy whose character you are trying to defend. And even if you get past that little problem, the best you can say about him is that he’s only one of the bigger clods on the planet. And I am an unjustified in concluding he’s unfit to be president, why exactly?
NO, he didn’t say he assaulted anyone. He was describing a certain type of celebrity groupie that is so desperate for attention that they’ll let a celebrity like Trump do anything they want, like grab them in the [MEOW!].
To ask is to answer. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/17/opinion/is-it-time-to-call-trump-mentally-ill.html?.
The video speaks for itself, Snowflake. But, if what you say is true, he showed weak character by apologizing for everyday male conduct.
He wasn’t in a locker room. He was talking to a television reporter. And he said he was an actual attacker. He said such attacks were routine for him. You may think he was joking, but that’s not a conclusion to which I would automatically leap. I like to keep an open mind.
Hey Peter – why aren’t you talking about ACTUAL Presidential predators? No, it’s not ancient history and it still matters.
To think that that sick guy almost became the ‘first gentleman’ ever! Disgusting.
Like I said, this whole brouhaha is pure politics.
Hey, pal, I gave you a link to the protests of Bill Clinton’s behavior that occurred at the time. Did you see the sign held up by the self-described feminist? Remember what Christopher Hitchens had to say at the time? Where were you at the time? I don’t remember seeing you in the streets. Bill isn’t president and Hillary lost, and we aren’t going to protest the conduct of a First Spouse runner-up. But you can, if you want. See if Doctor Mumpower can get the old Bare-Breast-Day gang together again. It would be a hoot.
Plus, I’m a realist and, as I said, given (some) men are going to talk ‘sport’ when hanging out with other males, I don’t see much changing in that regard.
Where ALL of us (of any and all political ideologies) could well expend our efforts is to band together and demand Congressional term limits! For that, we at least have a fighting chance for success.
Congressional term limits would be worth it just to get rid of Schumer and McConnell
And a big raft of other “legacy” Congress critters. McCain, Feinstein, Hatch, Pelosi, Lewis……the list goes on.
I have a good case to make for changing to the Presidential term too. One 6 year term and can’t run again.
a whole lot of mansplaining going on here from all the usual -white, male and stale- subjects….. and they’re not the least bit conscious of, or embarrassed by it (or remotely close to civil in the case of the initial post from the scary neanderthal). sigh.
So, you’re mangling Ashley Judd’s name to make a joke about her breasts? That is so not cool, and so not staying on this site.
Speaking of piggish, remember the beauty queen Trump weight-shamed? Might not be so bad if the President had grown up in the meantime. But did you catch that last press conference? Do you read his tweets? Did you see how he wants to destroy federal agencies he doesn’t care for? Up on the latest news from Russia? See those jets buzzing our ship? Did you see how he carefully put off discussing top-secret nuclear security until he knew he was safely tucked away in the middle of a dining hall in some tacky Florida resort? What’s not to like about this guy? What’s to protest?
https://www.google.com/amp/insider.foxnews.com/amp/article/54057….Linda Sarsour is indeed a very hateful woman. And western feminism has completely lost its way. It no longer represents strong minded thinking women who are concerned and want to have a real conversation. But woman who take pride in calling themselves “nasty”…..Screaming obscenities ( Ashely Judd) call to blow building’s up ( Madonna) and talk about taking away the vaginas of other women (Linda Sarsour). All to a crowd of so called “empowered” women wearing genitalia on their heads. You can’t make this stuff up. Sorry ladies…But you’ve lost thinking women along the way. This isn’t a cause so much as a spectacle.