Good grief - Henry Kissinger?
Good grief - Henry Kissinger?! Augh. Also, it finally crystalized for me that this niggling irritation about the state dinner coverage on flotus is setting us back to at least 1960.
It's not that no men do event planning, but it is still regarded in many circles as that thing women do. And a lot of socialites have done real work with fundraising and things, so even that is kind of dumping on women. Meanwhile, flotus is "putting her stamp on the WH". Iow, the most restrictive, traditional, circumscribed roles of women are being met by someone with expensive clothes and a fancy house.
She's a role model. Many prior flotuses have broken out of the traditional to do more - Eleanor Roosevelt, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama - even the traditional ones have done something lately - Barbara Bush, Laura Bush. This flotus is really hitting her stride, though, because she can put on a fancy dinner. Which is great, but it's not really the role model young women need.
https://www.npr.org/2018/04/24/605467270/first-trump-state-dinner-brings-billionaires-and-administration-officials
https://www.npr.org/2018/04/24/605467270/first-trump-state-dinner-brings-billionaires-and-administration-officials
It's not that no men do event planning, but it is still regarded in many circles as that thing women do. And a lot of socialites have done real work with fundraising and things, so even that is kind of dumping on women. Meanwhile, flotus is "putting her stamp on the WH". Iow, the most restrictive, traditional, circumscribed roles of women are being met by someone with expensive clothes and a fancy house.
She's a role model. Many prior flotuses have broken out of the traditional to do more - Eleanor Roosevelt, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama - even the traditional ones have done something lately - Barbara Bush, Laura Bush. This flotus is really hitting her stride, though, because she can put on a fancy dinner. Which is great, but it's not really the role model young women need.
https://www.npr.org/2018/04/24/605467270/first-trump-state-dinner-brings-billionaires-and-administration-officials
https://www.npr.org/2018/04/24/605467270/first-trump-state-dinner-brings-billionaires-and-administration-officials
P.S. Wine snobs have fun with that picture and the different way they are holding their glasses.
ReplyDeleteF-L Silver the wine snobs can also have fun with the fact that Trump has juice in that glass. 😉
ReplyDeleteWRT, Melania, I think the fall back to older tropes is because her profile has been so low and her stated cause being cyberbullying, which while admirable is not terribly actionable. They are trying to find stuff to write and being predictibly sexist.
Except she isn't doing anything about cyberbullying. They would cover it if she were, if only to mock the fact that her husband is the cyberbully in chief.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the sexist coverage. She wore a hat, she smiled, she picked the china and the menu - it's all you hear. Totally 1960. Nothing about so, are state dinners complex and challenging? What kind of job skills would that entail? What other large events has she planned? How is that similar or different to a state dinner?
The coverage is also stupid because they're saying its the week of Melania! because you actually saw her in public. Like, so what? Not every first lady has been interested in the public spotlight.
Special note was made the the Bush family was grateful that she brought two staffers who had been close to Barbara Bush to the funeral. What?! I mean, even if she offered seats on a private plane to people also going to the funeral, big deal. Say thank you and we're done. It's not like it's a qualification for sainthood. It's only even vaguely remarkable as more than a random factoid because her husband is such a selfish horror.
Now we give points to people because they act like a human being? I wish I could get a job with that low a qualification bar. It's insulting to her as a person, and it's a terrible example of how they have learned nothing from the coverage of Hillary Clinton. Given any opportunity, back to the same old tropes.
I also think that in some ways (maybe a lot) she is following her husband's version of when America was "great". A quiet, stay at home wife with exceptional hostess skills is exactly what he wants.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, there are a lot of skills in pulling off a successful event beyond china selection that the press could have focused on.