I listened to two of the contributers to the XX column on NPR yesterday and I was sick to my stomach. I feel totally betrayed by you and your age group. Yes, we suffered so you guys could have it easy and what do you do? You dismiss us. Ask yourself why there isn't one woman on the XX over the age of say 50? It's because like all youth, you know so much that we are irrelevant now. I wish you the same future.

I couldn't believe the tripe about Clinton not being "feminist enough." How dare you?! When she was out there breaking into law, you weren't even born. When she was trying to figure out a way of being both a mom and holding down a job in a field were women never got a break, you were just a dream. Hell, you don't even know what it means to be a feminist. To have to sacrifice your feminity to gain one ounce of acceptance and to have to claw and fight to get anything even approaching equality in the workplace. So while you sit all cushy writing your little columns try to remember that women like Clinton slaved away on the "society pages" fighting to get a break to write a column other than a Dear Abby.

Feminism has died because of YOUR generation. Feminism has become a mental pursuit that doesn't require anything of you but pontification.

I am not sure what they call this generation, Ellen, but they remind me of the hippies of the 60's, who thought they knew everything until it caved in on them.

They will learn the hard way,as that generation did.

When I heard women on the cable networks sneer at Hillary,they made me sick.

See...your problem is that you've chosen Hillary as your great feminist icon. But she was married to a governer and then president. It's not as though she clawed her way to the top. To a certain extent her success now is dependent on Bill's success before. Maybe, in some alternate reality, she made it here without Bill, but we'll never know. I'm not saying Clinton hasn't worked hard or doesn't deserve any credit. She does. But lets not erect any statues just yet.

Gov. She was a lawyer in her own right, when he decided to run. So, get your facts straight.

Clinton isn't a feminist icon. She's just one of the many who were out in the trenches doing the dirty work that allows this generation to act self-satisfied. Feminism doesn't have an ICON. Get real. Feminism is the accumulation of all the women who were dissappointed and screwed over, but continued on. You want to see feminism. You go see a mom who's struggling to keep her family together working multiple jobs. You go look at women who have fought their way into partnerships by sacrificing the choice of marriage and children. You go look at the woman who was denied a promotion because sh took too much time off for her sick kids. That's feminism. Icons are bullshit.

differnetEllen:

To have to sacrifice your feminity to gain one ounce of acceptance and to have to claw and fight to get anything even approaching equality in the workplace.

With the greatest respect, this is what I don't understand about feminism. Isn't the point of feminism to be treated equally for who you are as a woman - to be judged by the content of your character, not the letter of your chromosomes, if you will - not to become "like a man?"

In Hillary's case, I think that it was because she tried to deny who she was as a woman and be "tough" and "strong" "like a man" that led to the sense of a lack of genuineness on her part. People connected with her when she was who she was, e.g. the NH "crying moment," rather than this nonsense about obliterating Iran.

My two cents.

That's the crap you guys pushed on her. She's a woman who was forged, like a lot of us in the age when to be femine was seen as a weakness. Just because your generation has the luxery to describe femine as positive is only because their generation suffered. What?! You think this all just happened because men got more sensitive?! You dismiss women of Clinton's generation because you have been gifted by their work.

Please! Let's not pretend the fact that Hillary "was a lawyer in her own right" quailifies her uniquely for the presidency. The fact is, she was a corporate lawyer for firms like WalMart. Little better than a lobbyist, for goodness sake! Her actual public service background - outside of being Bill Clinton's wife while he was governor of Arkansas, and then President of the United States - is pretty thin. There are lots of other women out there with far deeper public service credentials than Hillary's. FYI, I'm an over 50 single mom, raising a 15 year old son on my own, with no assistance, financially or otherwise - I do all the work and pay all bills myself. I work a very demanding full time job, then I race home to feed my son and help him with his homework. On weekends I run all the errands, do all the chores (except for those I can get my son to assist with), stop by the nursing home to see my alzheimer's-stricken mom, drive 2 counties away to see my cancer-stricken sister, take the dogs to the vet, mow the lawn, do the grocery shopping, etc., etc. I do all this because I love the people in my life, and because I am a responsible person. Anything I get out of life I expect to have to earn. I don't think the world owes me anything. Nor do I think the world owes Hillary Clinton - or any other woman - anything. She had a nice head-start on securing the Dem nomination, because of who she was - world-famous Hillary Clinton; Bill Clinton's wife, and the second-term Senator from New York. Barack Obama had to claw his way up the political food chain to overtake and pass her. He ran a more effective - and less dirty - campaign, and as a result, he beat her, fair and square. She doesn't deserve any more extra points because she's a woman, or because she worked as a lawyer for WalMart, or because she was the wife of President Bill Clinton. This nomination was hers to win or lose, and she lost it to the better candidate, plain and simple. As a woman who came to maturity in the 70s, I would love to see a woman president of this nation in my lifetime. But it has to be the right woman (and please, don't even mention Condoleeza Rice!). Hillary was not the best person for this job at this time. That's it, plain and simple. Now let's get behind the Dem candidate, because we need to kick these Rethuglican crooks out of the White House, take back our government from the fascist oligarchs who want to "drown it in a bathtub", and turn our attention toward defeating the real enemy of the people - John McCain, the Rethuglicans' nominee! Thank you.

I disagree with you about Hillary not being the right person. But that wasn't the point of my original post. My post is about the smug, self-praising of young women today who criticize an older woman for being "not feminist enough." You are a good example of feminism. Go back and read what I've written from the beginning.

And by the way, you are like a lot of people who are pro-Dem because you are anti-Republican. That's a huge problem for the Democratic Party. You can't win long term based upon a negative.

acro101:

See...your problem is that you've chosen Hillary as your great feminist icon. But she was married to a governer and then president. It's not as though she clawed her way to the top. To a certain extent her success now is dependent on Bill's success before. Maybe, in some alternate reality, she made it here without Bill, but we'll never know. I'm not saying Clinton hasn't worked hard or doesn't deserve any credit. She does. But lets not erect any statues just yet.

BS,I have not chosen anyone as my icon.I have lived through a good share of the feminist movement.I have not always agreed with anything the say.

You decide what someone says and twist it to suit your self.

I am upset with the way the obamanuts and MSM treated Hillary.That has nothing to do with feminism.That is about fair play!

With the greatest respect, this is what I don't understand about feminism. Isn't the point of feminism to be treated equally for who you are as a woman - to be judged by the content of your character, not the letter of your chromosomes, if you will - not to become "like a man?"

Yes,that is the point and theya re not treated that way.Go into the work force and see how women are paid according to their male counterparts.Equal work,equal pay.Most folks do not have Unions now,but they are making a comeback.

One thing you may not know is the unions had a great deal to do with Womens rights.

You will notice the older unions may be dying off.New ones are springing up the the service sector.

Donna,that Walmart thing was in the 70's when Sam Walton was alive and the firm was in Arkansas.

You are spitting out the Right Wing crap and do not even seem to realize how you sound. Word for word,we have had that spewed at us since the election started.

You will never heal the party as long as you repeat what the Republicans have said for years.

Please do a little thinking of your own. And According to the latest polls,Obama is losing against MCCain.Hillary would have won! The MSM is now laughing that Dems chose the weakest candidate!

Ellen,she is not even anti-Republican.She is spitting out all the right wing talking points.

"You want to see feminism. You go see a mom who's struggling to keep her family together working multiple jobs. You go look at women who have fought their way into partnerships by sacrificing the choice of marriage and children. You go look at the woman who was denied a promotion because sh took too much time off for her sick kids. That's feminism."

My point was simply that absolutely none of those things you've decribed above as feminism apply to Hillary Clinton. So it does seem somewhat fair, by your own criteria, to question her feminist credentials.

What do you want?

You feel that you have been betrayed. What remedy do you seek?

What do you want us to do?

Do you want respect? I give it freely. Women who have worked for more fairness and equality in this country have my utmost respect and I don't think I'm alone in that sentiment.

What else?

You want Hillary to be the President?

It didn't happen this time. People voted. She lost. There's not much else to say about it.

So What Do You Want?

differnetEllen:

That's the crap you guys pushed on her. She's a woman who was forged, like a lot of us in the age when to be femine was seen as a weakness. Just because your generation has the luxery to describe femine as positive is only because their generation suffered. What?! You think this all just happened because men got more sensitive?! You dismiss women of Clinton's generation because you have been gifted by their work.

For the record, I didn't "push" anything on her.

BTW, how about this perspective: I grew up as a child in the Me generation of the 70's and had to emotionally subsidize my my mom was she listened to Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman" and discovered herself. I don't blame her for it but that knife cuts two ways.