The Year of the Woman, the Feminists, and the Silver Fox

“This is our year” my good friend proclaimed over a lox brunch.

That’s what I keep telling myself. We’re two attractive, single, twenty something year old women enjoying a mid-week brunch in bustling downtown and laying it all out on the table with updates about work, our sex lives, and our bright futures just at our fingertips.

Indeed- much mainstream media seems to agree with my dear friend that this is “our” year… the year of the woman. Just this week, The Times of Israel highlighted a feature on Hanna Rosin’s “The End of Men” which is exactly that- the rise of women out performing men. Popular media outlets have entire sections if not publications dedicated to us, for us, by us (and occasionally men).

Now I am no feminist. I am not a bra burning, practical shoe wearing, pant suit type at all. I am the opposite of most feminist stereotypes. In fact, if I started burning my bras, I assure you it would attract more attention than if I didn’t because the only thing bigger than my self confidence is my cup size. I believe in my femininity. I love my heels, girly ways, and in no way think that men are out to oppress me.

My friends (the feminists) felt (and voiced to me) that voting Romney was the worst thing I could do.

They said: “But you’re a woman, you’re self employed, and you’re a minority”.

Self employed should be reason enough to vote conservative I countered.

They teased me and joked that I was voting for the silver fox (Romney) because that’s ‘my type’.

Could they have sounded more like Matthew Dowd? I may like my partners older, wiser, and salt n’ pepper but that is certainly not reason enough to vote for someone. I don’t vote based on how I date.

But the most offensive (in my opinion) question they asked: “How can you vote for someone who seeks to repress your reproductive rights?” According to my friends, voting Romney was setting us, the women, backwards instead of forward.

I disagreed. I think continuing to cling to the Roe v Wade soapbox when it clearly isn’t going anywhere shows a lack of progress. Our right to choose is going to be a never ending battle just like the battle over who the Holy lands belong to is, so as women, let’s find a new soapbox to harp on.

Roe v. Wade is not holding us women back. Women who don’t actively participate in their own futures are what set women back. Women on the sidelines waiting for decisions to be made for them are what set us back. We need to work together (as women) to actively participate in our futures and create the futures we want. While I don’t always agree with her, Gloria Steinem was right when she said:

I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine marriage and a career.

As the election loomed near, my choice was clear. I am a Republican. I voted for my future. I voted for the platform I believe in. I actively create my future every day in the organizations I volunteer for, my work, and the decisions I make. I won’t sit and give you a pity party because my candidate didn’t win. I won’t tell you that the administration has held back my success, because my success- is my own regardless of who’s President. My mother always said that while President Obama wasn’t my candidate- he IS our President and that commands respect no matter what. Meir Liberman said it best- all we have now is hope. All we can do is work together for our collective futures.