The Purest Kind Of A Guy

[Plaid Adder]

Still taking me a little while to digest the "binders full of women" remark.

I've now seen in several places the debunking that demonstrates that the story Mitt told wasn't even true--that in fact the now-infamous "binder full of women" was a study done by a coalition of organizations called MassGAP that was specifically trying to address the underrepresentation of women in government, and not something that he ordered. Well, that's par for the course.

This is going to hurt him. Not just because binders are old-fashioned, not just because it implies that he sees no difference between an actual woman and her paper resume. Because any woman working in any profession now knows exactly what kind of guy Mitt Romney is.

A guy who can only hire women out of a "binder" prepared for him by an action group is a guy who has spent his whole career navigating the Old Boys Network. That is a guy who has gotten to where he is by having, as Roy Cohn so memorably puts it in Tony Kushner's _Angels in America_, "the ability to be a good son" to the men further up the ladder. That is a guy whose advancement has been fueled by having gone to college with this guy or played golf with that guy or joined the same country club as the other guy. That is a guy who lives in a world where influence is patrilineal and you only ever move up a step because some man in power has decided that you are "a good guy." That is a guy who has to all intents and purposes been assuming that the profession he practices--in this case, politics--is still essentially all-male.

That, at any rate, is the only way that you get to be the governor of Massachusetts in this day and age without knowing a few women who you would like to have on your team. You think that when Obama was putting his cabinet together, he had to tell his staff to fetch in a binder full of women?

Now, since the story as Mitt told it is actually a lie, it's possible that he did know a few women he wanted to appoint. But in the story as Mitt told it, not only does _he_ not know any women qualified for positions in his administration, neither do any of the men on his staff. Which would appear to be all-male, since otherwise, there'd have been at least one women in that room who showed up with a list of names to put in the pool because she knew all the guys would be recommending men.

So thanks for the binder story, Mitt. Now any woman who's ever worked in any profession dominated by men knows exactly whcih of their asshole colleagues you are.

The Plaid Adder

[fleur-de-lisa]

1. THIS OUTRAGES ME TO MY CORE

I was left with the impression that Robme believes you have to search high and low for a qualified woman, because deep down, he believes there just aren't that many. He's sure there are some, but they must be few and far between if you have to make a special effort to find them.

As a woman who's spent her entire career in a male-dominated profession, fighting for advancement opportunities and equal pay, THIS OUTRAGES ME TO MY CORE ! ! !

[Plaid Adder]

2. Yeah, my core too.

I'm sure my core will be further outraged when I have the entire debate transcript to marvel at.

But thi sis enough. I mean we've all been there, right? "Oh...ARE there any women qualified for this job?" YES, you ASSHOLE, I can name you 12 right now, and the only reason you don't know them is because you're a frickin' dinosaur who has no idea who the up and comers in your profession really are!



The Plaid Adder