Kelly strikes me as someone who’s decided that getting her bag is worth whatever shit she has to put up with, and whoever she has to throw under the bus, to make that happen, but every once in a while the strain of doing so comes through, never so dramatically as when she left Fox News.
In a Hollywood movie, she’d be the minor villain who sacrifices herself for the heroes, but only in the last act after turning down several previous appeals to her humanity, and after her other options have run out.
I don’t get to say whether this is good or bad, but her post-lawsuit career seems like that of someone who didn’t learn much…
(fuck but there is no eay to frame this comment without sounding like a judgy asshole…)
There actually is a strain of something not entirely unlike feminism on the right, sort of a trans-exclusionary impersonation of third- or fourth-wave. This is your Megyn Kelly or Nancy Mace. The “Boss Babes” mentioned in the article. They are still supposed to look a certain way and never presume to tell a man that he’s benefitted from privilege in any way, but they are allowed to compete in a man’s world within the guardrails. They’re permitted to be a sort of wish-fulfillment fantasy for less ambitious conservative women and a mouthpiece for those women’s concerns, so they’re allowed to be assertive and maybe even to have prioritized their own careers, e.g. Mace being the first female cadet to graduate from The Citadel. However, they’re not really supposed to look like anything other than a news anchor (the performative femininity is allowed to stand in for the feminine roles they’re deprioritizing), and they’re never allowed to imply that their choices should be the mainstream option. The more “traditional” life choices they can (appear to) cram in beside their careers, the more loved and admired they will be.
They are given a platform as “unicorns” and as a sort of pressure-release valve so feisty little girls in conservative households can be given a role model, but the notion that all women should be pursuing what they want without guidance and protection from a man is anathema, and every time someone like Kelly deviates from the straight and narrow, she will be unceremoniously slapped back in line.
If I’m in a charitable mood, I might say that given the worldview they’re indoctrinated into, they are sort of instinctively trying to make a life they can be proud of and show a different path to be an example, but the acceptable persona is so wedded to a particularly banal and unimaginative vision of the patriarchy that it’s impossible for it to be what some of them want it to be, and it’s no wonder some of them visibly chafe.
I think that theres almost a “you get one pass” way of thinking among conservatives so long as you stick to the talking points, act white and straight. They will accept a black man as long as he isnt gay, they will accept a gay man so long as he is white and not flamboyant and they will accept a woman so long as she is white and straight.
LOL, I hadn’t thought of that, but you’re not wrong. I like that. 🤣
act white and straight
This is really what it comes down to. They don’t think of themselves as racist/sexist/homophobic because they don’t (all) reflexively reject someone because their innate characteristics. Instead, your obligation is to identify and adhere to certain cultural touchstones, political beliefs, and historical narratives. If you do that, then you don’t make them feel uncomfortable and you can be dissolved in their acid bathpart of their melting pot. They’re also slightly more tolerant of people whom they code as weak or politically apathetic. Woe unto the person who thinks that you can be both different and assertive, though.
The worst part is that I feel like sometimes in some cases they have a point.
Some cultures have elements that just dont mesh with general western societies values. Take “Halal” slaughter of animals for example, I dont agree with it because it places unnecessary suffering onto the animal. I eat meat but I hope that the animal has a happy healthy life and then have a quick painless death. But I know plenty of people who just rally against halal on the grounds that its for “them” not because they understand what it is at all.
You try talking about elements of some cultures (like forced child marriage or a man being legally allowed to discipline his wife) that you dont agree with being brought to and endorsed in your country and people try to brand you as a bigot or a racist for not accepting their culture, I dont oppose “them” I’m against “that”.
Kelly strikes me as someone who’s decided that getting her bag is worth whatever shit she has to put up with, and whoever she has to throw under the bus, to make that happen, but every once in a while the strain of doing so comes through, never so dramatically as when she left Fox News.
In a Hollywood movie, she’d be the minor villain who sacrifices herself for the heroes, but only in the last act after turning down several previous appeals to her humanity, and after her other options have run out.
In the (relatively) recent Hollywood movie made about her (and other women at Fox News), she’s the hero…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombshell_(2019_film)
I don’t get to say whether this is good or bad, but her post-lawsuit career seems like that of someone who didn’t learn much… (fuck but there is no eay to frame this comment without sounding like a judgy asshole…)
There actually is a strain of something not entirely unlike feminism on the right, sort of a trans-exclusionary impersonation of third- or fourth-wave. This is your Megyn Kelly or Nancy Mace. The “Boss Babes” mentioned in the article. They are still supposed to look a certain way and never presume to tell a man that he’s benefitted from privilege in any way, but they are allowed to compete in a man’s world within the guardrails. They’re permitted to be a sort of wish-fulfillment fantasy for less ambitious conservative women and a mouthpiece for those women’s concerns, so they’re allowed to be assertive and maybe even to have prioritized their own careers, e.g. Mace being the first female cadet to graduate from The Citadel. However, they’re not really supposed to look like anything other than a news anchor (the performative femininity is allowed to stand in for the feminine roles they’re deprioritizing), and they’re never allowed to imply that their choices should be the mainstream option. The more “traditional” life choices they can (appear to) cram in beside their careers, the more loved and admired they will be.
They are given a platform as “unicorns” and as a sort of pressure-release valve so feisty little girls in conservative households can be given a role model, but the notion that all women should be pursuing what they want without guidance and protection from a man is anathema, and every time someone like Kelly deviates from the straight and narrow, she will be unceremoniously slapped back in line.
If I’m in a charitable mood, I might say that given the worldview they’re indoctrinated into, they are sort of instinctively trying to make a life they can be proud of and show a different path to be an example, but the acceptable persona is so wedded to a particularly banal and unimaginative vision of the patriarchy that it’s impossible for it to be what some of them want it to be, and it’s no wonder some of them visibly chafe.
I think that theres almost a “you get one pass” way of thinking among conservatives so long as you stick to the talking points, act white and straight. They will accept a black man as long as he isnt gay, they will accept a gay man so long as he is white and not flamboyant and they will accept a woman so long as she is white and straight.
LOL, I hadn’t thought of that, but you’re not wrong. I like that. 🤣
This is really what it comes down to. They don’t think of themselves as racist/sexist/homophobic because they don’t (all) reflexively reject someone because their innate characteristics. Instead, your obligation is to identify and adhere to certain cultural touchstones, political beliefs, and historical narratives. If you do that, then you don’t make them feel uncomfortable and you can be
dissolved in their acid bathpart of their melting pot. They’re also slightly more tolerant of people whom they code as weak or politically apathetic. Woe unto the person who thinks that you can be both different and assertive, though.The worst part is that I feel like sometimes in some cases they have a point.
Some cultures have elements that just dont mesh with general western societies values. Take “Halal” slaughter of animals for example, I dont agree with it because it places unnecessary suffering onto the animal. I eat meat but I hope that the animal has a happy healthy life and then have a quick painless death. But I know plenty of people who just rally against halal on the grounds that its for “them” not because they understand what it is at all.
You try talking about elements of some cultures (like forced child marriage or a man being legally allowed to discipline his wife) that you dont agree with being brought to and endorsed in your country and people try to brand you as a bigot or a racist for not accepting their culture, I dont oppose “them” I’m against “that”.