tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281443754502891373.post2497549949590569579..comments2023-09-16T09:09:18.691-04:00Comments on Kittywampus - now at kittywampus.wordpress.com: "I Just Wanted to Vote for a Woman"Sungoldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02153155221248240952noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281443754502891373.post-39815104555607126362008-09-28T21:40:00.000-04:002008-09-28T21:40:00.000-04:00Hi Marie,Thanks so much for your thoughtful commen...Hi Marie,<BR/><BR/>Thanks so much for your thoughtful comment. I have not kept very good track of my blog - or anything else - lately. Otherwise I would've responded much sooner.<BR/><BR/>I'm just old enough to have memories of the very end of the 1960s, and maybe that contributes to the satisfaction I feel at seeing a half-black, half-white man on his way (I hope!) to the White House. My commitment to feminism also encompasses racial equality, and so I can feel just as much joy at Obama's nomination as I would at a woman's nomination. <BR/><BR/>I don't quite agree with your statement about not basing our vote on race or gender. I do think it's an appropriate tiebreaker: If I saw two candidates whom I believed were roughly equally qualified, I'd be more apt to cast my vote for someone from a historically disadvantaged group. We're still not inhabitants of a nonsexist, colorblind society, as you note, and so I'd have some preference for candidates who break that mold. But I sure wouldn't let gender and race trump everything else that matters to me.Sungoldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02153155221248240952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2281443754502891373.post-56745470766557983522008-09-22T11:16:00.000-04:002008-09-22T11:16:00.000-04:00Absolutely! Just because a woman is a woman, doesn...Absolutely! Just because a woman is a woman, doesn't mean she will do more to benefit women than a man would. If we make that assumption, we are the ones being sexist. And if we subscribe to bell hook's definition of feminism as fighting sexism, which I do, it goes against the very core of the beliefs we are fighting for. <BR/><BR/>If we are demanding equality, are demanding that we be seen and judged and rewarded based on our individual skills, talents, and actions rather than our gender, then we must also be committed to see, judge and reward others based on their skills, talents, and actions rather than their gender.<BR/><BR/>Of course I want to see a woman in the White House. I also want to see someone who is not White in the White House. Both are long overdue. But, in the end, we cannot vote based on race or gender without following the same ratoinale of those who would not vote for someone based on their race or gender. We must vote for the candidate we feel has the skills, the talents, the ability to lead our country in the direction we believe we should go in. We must do that by looking at many things: their character, their words, their actions, their focus, their history. We must not do that by voting for, or against, them because of their race or gender. This is the double-edged sword it is so easy to be cut by. <BR/><BR/>It is my hope that we will all go to the polls voting for the individual we believe is best suited to the role, regardless of their race or gender and that we will continue to work toward a society in which, someday, neither of these classifications will play a part in deciding whether someone is the right person for the job.Marie Starrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17146183545653883468noreply@blogger.com