So, I just discovered that Janeane Garofalo has a Rosie the Riveter tattoo. This stirs a pet peeve of mine. Why on earth would feminists adopt a symbol of war propaganda that men used to manipulate women? Am I missing something?

And now that I've started this rant I'll have to explain why I soured to feminism in the first place. Gloria Steinem was my great Aunt Carole's best friend in high school. My Aunt Carole was my roll model for what it meant to be a woman. She was involved in her community, she taught me to sew, she told me stories about what being a woman meant to her, and about how her generation was different than mine. My Aunt Carole suffered from a brief bought of depression which she referred to as "when I was crazy" in such a casual manor that it allowed me to seek the help I needed for postpartum depression, totally unashamed, a decade later. My Aunt Carole is the embodiment of unconditional love. Just so you know where I'm coming from. Anyway, in 1992, when I was 16, "Revolution from Within" came out. In this book Gloria goes on and on about how poorly some of her friends from school faired. In specific she mentions "one of my best friends from high school whose children had been born so close together that her small body had run out of calcium. She lost her teeth and her hopes and settled into the life of an old woman." Oh, that's so sad. What a pathetic women. That woman was my Aunt Carole! Can you imagine how painful and confusing it is to have one of the founders of modern feminism condemn your model of the meaning of 'woman' like that? At 16 no less? Even now, 15 years later, my Aunt Carole is independent, involved, creative, active and full to the brim with love. Fuck Gloria Steinem!

Shouldn't feminism be about equality and choice. Then why do the feminists insist on telling me what to do with my life? Don't where lipstick or shave your legs. Having a family means you've been manipulated by male culture. So what, I should let the feminists manipulate me instead of the men? Somewhere between Rosie the Riveter and Gloria Steinem I've lost the right to care for my children. Screw all that noise, I'm going to stubbornly continue to live on my husbands salary, a whopping 6 grand above the poverty level for a family of 4, and be a stay at home mom anyway. That's the choice I'm making. No man or feminist told me to.

Sorry, I ranted again

This is a photo of my Aunt Carole with my kids 15 years after that nasty book was written!