Yes, I do get that. But the Anita Hill hearings took place in the 90's and
Uncle Joe ran that hearing so that Clarence Thomas was favored and Anita Hill
was treated like a lying slut and that's part of that 1950's macho package
which we saw so beautifully enacted last fall during the senate hearing on our
latest supreme court nominee. True, not every man who hugs a woman whom he
doesn't know has evil intent. But I can't give Joe Biden a pass. There's too
much else in his political history.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2019 9:14 PM
To: blind-democracy <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-democracy] Shoulder Squeeze: Friendly gesture? or reminder of
her place.
There's no way I can get inside another person's head. Nor do I ever want to.
So I have to decide what Uncle Joe meant by his "laying on of hands" when he
came up behind a woman he knew, and squeezed her shoulders in full view of
others. Joe would want us to believe that he is a touchy sort of guy from the
old school. People in the old school touched more than folks seem to do today.
"Just a friendly gesture", he would have us understand. But the woman
complained. At best this made it a one way friendly gesture. I don't know
what Joe said to the complainent, but I know what I would have said. "Please
forgive me. I'm sorry. It was purely thoughtless behavior on my part. I
assure you that I will not do it again." I've mentioned before how confused a
message was sent out to us teenagers back in the 50's. We guys wanted to do
the Macho sort of thing so we'd be seen as real men. We lived in a time when
men took the lead. Women were supposed to "melt in our arms". A woman pulling
back and saying, "No!" would respond with a kiss if we just pushed a little
harder.
But that was then, those days when a woman must have her husband or father
cosign for any expensive purchase she wanted to make.
Those were the days when we still looked at working women as taking a man's
job. And on and on. But those were the days I grew up in.
Still, it made good sense to me when women began to seriously push the
boundaries in the early 70's.
Many men stood up beside the women and supported their efforts to achieve
equality. Many men jeered and called those men as P---y Whipped. They were
not willing to let the girls stand shoulder to shoulder with them.
Things got very ugly at times. But we did finally begin to see a dim light at
the end of that long dark tunnel. And then we put Donald Trump in the
president's office.
Remember that this is the man who promised to return America to her former
greatness. Putting women back in the kitchen and the bedroom is one piece of
that glorious return to our former Glory. And women have had the right to vote
for less than half of this nation's history. My grandmother Jarvis was in her
mid 40's before women had the vote.
So what goes through Uncle Joe's head when he comes up behind a woman and
squeezes her shoulders, may remain a mystery to us. But we other men should
take heed to the message sent out via the woman's protest.
When in doubt, keep your hands to yourself...and that goes with your funny
comments, too.
Carl Jarvis
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