The fact that Greg Gutfeld is what passes nowadays for conservative comedy, it should come as no surprise that many didn’t get the joke from a recent Daily Show skit by guest-host Chelsea Handler. I mean, Gutfeld looks like the type of guy who knows what decibel level to tell in a crowded room to tell a racist or sexist joke without others hearing it. Handler delivered a skit that wasn’t even a minute and a half long. You can see it below at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuFYxlWuexQ
The skit was intended to be a parody of what others think women who are childless are like. It involves Handler talking about eating edibles and sleeping all morning, then going to Paris and climbing Mount Everest. Then, she goes back in time and kills Hitler. All within the span of just one day, less than 24 hours. Anyone with a sense of humor could see that she’s joking.
But apparently, the skit struck a nerve with many conservative pundits like Tucker Carlson, Matt Walsh and Jesse Kelley. They have basically been wagging their finger at her for not being willing to get pregnant like a good woman should be. At 47, Handler has wasted her life by not having children, they think. Even worse, they think it’s wrong of her not even to be married once.
The irony of all these men, including Ben Shapiro, telling a woman what’s good for her is lost of them. And what’s so funny is Handler isn’t saying all women shouldn’t get pregnant, it’s just that they should have the option of whether they want that. Less than 100 years ago, Handler would be called an “old spinster” or “old maid.” And there are some who would consider her to be a lesbian, because only lesbians were the ones who didn’t get married nor have children.
So many people have foolishly defended the male pundits by saying that Handler could still have some time because her hypothetical children are only going to be literal children for 18 years. So, if she got pregnant (and married) in her 20s, her kids would’ve been grown today so she could get them out of the next like a bird, they say. Yes, but that’s not parenting. And if so many people think this, it’s no wonder so many Gen Xers, Millennials and Gen Zers are messed in the head.
Parenting starts on the day your child is born. Sometimes, it starts earlier as you go through the motions of pregnancy and adjusting to a new lifestyle. And things don’t end when your kids turn 18. You’re a parent for life whether you like it or not. People are mistaking human children for animal children. Not to say there’s nothing wrong with having furbabies.
The problem is most conservatives who are white are scared of theories that by 2050 that mostly white children will be the minority. They can’t come out and say they don’t want people of different races to procreate, but they’re trying to do dangerous things like the repeal of Roe v. Wade. This turns rapists into unintended sperm donors. Women will be sexually assaulted by family members, church officials and Johnny football and they will be required to carry the child to term.
Then, there’s the history of forced sterilization over the decades of non-white women. Black women, Indigenous Native Americans and Latino/Hispanic women have been forced to be sterlized and are still being, but it’s not as bad. Some lawmakers are actually saying that Loving v. Virginia was a bad idea. Well, not Justice Clarence Thomas because his wife is white, but he did say it was wrong for the LGBTQIA community to marry.
But anyway, it’s all part of their sexist way of returning to a romanticized era in which WASP conservative men had more control. If more white women get pregnant, they’ll have to give up jobs to men. It’s illegal to fire a woman if she is pregnant or gets pregnant but there are ways of getting around that. Remember that show Commander-in-Chief where Geena Davis plays someone who becomes the first woman President? Well, they can’t have a woman as President because she will have a daughter who will spill her juice over the morning threat reports. Yet, many real Presidents have had young children while in office.
What angers them is that women like Handler are choosing a career over motherhood and they fear that they are encouraging this to all women. But every woman is different. Handler says that. She saying what’s works best for me doesn’t work best for you. She enjoys being an aunt. Conservatives have this notion that any white woman who doesn’t become Betty Homemaker is going to encourage other white women to reassess their lives.
Women don’t have to get married for better lives. They can get the better paying jobs and they don’t have to have people expected to co-sign on papers to buy a house or car anymore. And that’s what also angers these conservatives. They see themselves becoming useless. And a species that is on the bringe of extinction will do what they can to survive.
The days of high schoolers getting knocked up on prom night or after the homecoming football game are over. Like I said in a recent post, at one point in my hometown, they didn’t really let women go passed the 10th or 11th grade. But then, they had to let them graduate. They’re going to college, technical college or even the military and they doing things for themselves. Some women aren’t interested in becoming a wife and/or mother until they meet the right person. And that can be years or never.
Pregnancies can be dangerous as it is. Women lose calcium and develop high blood pressure. If they have pre-existing heart problems, it can be a problem. There is a reason so many women prior to the 20th Century died during or following child birth. And there are complications with the pregnancy or the fetus that can affect women’s health. And some women just can’t have kids. Or they can get pregnant or can’t carry the child to term. Imagine what that does to a woman. One miscarriage is bad enough but forcing women to repeatedly get pregnant and then to have multiple miscarriages is sadistic torture.
The nuclear family model only applied to a certain demographic. Black and brown skinned women were expecting to work. We passed law to make sure they worked in some states. And a lot of lower-income white women also had to work while raising a family mostly with a husband who didn’t do much except bring home a paycheck. People raised in abusive homes aren’t quick to repeat the cycle if they can avoid it.
Yet, conservatives think they should. They want women to be nothing but broodmares. They’ve shown their true colors and said the quiet part aloud. The irony is they are doing exactly what they accuse Handler and others of doing. They’re the ones creating the divide and telling people there is a line in the sand and you have to stand on one side or the other. And as phrases like “weaponized incompetence” spread and women are re-examining how little their husbands and partners did, it’s making men realize they have to offer more than an income and a sex organ.
For the longest time, most men haven’t wanted to be fathers, but they were allowed to be absent fathers and not do much child-rearing. But now, women are telling men, they don’t want to be parents either. It’s like that old phrase reversed, “What’s good for the gander, should be good for the goose.” I also think many men, espcially conservatives, are struggling with their own sexual desires and many are closeted homosexuals, bisexuals, pansaxuals, etc. But that’s the topic for another post.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 