A Story in Pictures

January 30, 2009 11:17 AM

Two of the most important women’s-rights-related bill-signings in the past few years.
posted by OverlappingElvis (18 comments total)

I'll have to take your word for that.
posted by gman at 11:25 AM on January 30, 2009

Man, Feministe is just not loading. Bummer.

Out of curiosity, are all the signers male? A majority?
posted by piratebowling at 11:26 AM on January 30, 2009

You killed the site you misogynist!
posted by cjorgensen at 11:33 AM on January 30, 2009

It's too bad the page isn't loading; it's an amazingly striking juxtaposition.

You can get a sense of what it was by comparing:

this

to

this.
posted by iminurmefi at 11:36 AM on January 30, 2009 [2 favorites]

"Out of curiosity, are all the signers male? A majority?"

I see what you did there.
posted by orthogonality at 11:37 AM on January 30, 2009

If feministe won't load, try this link.
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 12:06 PM on January 30, 2009

Here's the bill that was signed, by the way.
posted by MrMoonPie at 12:22 PM on January 30, 2009

orthogonality, I wasn't trying to do anything there. It was an honest question. Quite often when you see these public signings, it's a sea of white dudes in suits.

Now that iminurmefi has posted the shots, I see what the point feministe was making.
posted by piratebowling at 12:22 PM on January 30, 2009

Go, women! As a white male, I've always felt a bit guilty that others, non-white and/or non-male, have more obstacles in life to deal with than me. Because of that, I have voted heavily for women over the years. When I was stationed overseas in the military, I didn't know who stood for what, and it's not always easy to tell race by a person's name, so I'd pick out the women with a (D) next to their name and vote for them. If the choice was between two males or a female and a male but the female had an (R) next to her name, then I just voted for whoever had the (D). Whenever there was a (D) female, they got my vote.

I was a Hillary guy during the primaries because it seems to me that as bad as black folks have had it in life, women have had it just as bad, and for far longer. There were periods of time in human history when the black folks were the masters and the white folks were the slaves. But for the vast majority of human existence, women have been treated as the inferior sex, less-than-male.

In retrospect, however, I'm glad Obama won. He seems to be as pro-women as anyone (or rather, pro-equality), and I'm pleased with the changes he's made so far, and very pleased with the speed with which he's moving. He's the first president in my life that I could look at and think, 'Damn, that dude is smarter than I am.' I never thought that about Carter, Reagan, Clinton, or either Bush. FINALLY, after waiting my whole life, we seem to have elected a president who really *does* appear to be among the best and brightest we can produce. It's sad that that happens so rarely. I would not be surprised if Obama is eventually spoken of as 'the first woman president', like Clinton was 'the first black president'.

It's nice to see progress!
posted by jamstigator at 12:26 PM on January 30, 2009

There were periods of time in human history when the black folks were the masters and the white folks were the slaves.

Can you link me to accounts of this widespread phenomena as well as websites for power stations willing to dish out gigawatts of electricity to inquiring consumers and bill them later for it? TIA
posted by cashman at 12:31 PM on January 30, 2009

Striking photos, though not exactly surprising.
posted by rtha at 12:31 PM on January 30, 2009

Sweet, I'm getting a raise! And yay, my grandmother's favorite color is red! Go ladies!

And yet... Shit, I hope I don't get laid off. These are confusing economic times for all of us, seriously. I am cautiously hopeful that progress is underway and I smile every time I realize that something I have prayed for over the years is slowly coming to fruition.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 4:38 PM on January 30, 2009

Jamstigator: What about doing some research to elect who you think is the best candidate for the job regardless of sex or race? You are saying you feel guilty for being born, and try to to elevate anyone and everyone above yourself to assuage your guilt. I don't get it.
posted by jellywerker at 5:43 PM on January 30, 2009

You know, at first I was afraid that everybody's expectations for him were too high, but this Obama fellow is kind of kicking ass, yes?
posted by queensissy at 6:34 PM on January 30, 2009

Nice.
posted by homunculus at 6:47 PM on January 30, 2009

Some information about the bill and the impetus behind it.
posted by Foam Pants at 7:07 PM on January 30, 2009

We all understand this was not an accident, yes? Women in red did not spontaneously swarm Barack Obama, so overwhelmed were they by this particular piece of legislation.

What's baffling to me, and always has been since the photo of Bush signing the "partial birth abortion" ban was front page news, is how completely, viciously without pretense that particular photo opportunity was. No mothers holding their mewling toddlers, no lady doctors grinning from behind stethoscopes, or even a female politician shooting the thumbs up from the background. And the thing is, you know it's not for lack of interest. I'm sure there are dozens of women in Washington (and elsewhere) who would line up around the block to watch the ink dry on just such a bill.

But whoever was in charge of planning this particular historical moment? Whoever it was who made calls and schedules and contacted the press and is always, always, always thinking about posterity and polls and how best to condescend to the American public?

They just said, "You know what? Fuck it."
posted by StopMakingSense at 8:55 PM on January 30, 2009

When I was overseas and voting absentee, I was working in a nuke-proof facility with 3-foot concrete walls and gigantic steel doors that weighed many tons. No internet, no phone calls home, no books or magazines in English handy, no research. THESE days, obviously I would have indeed educated myself on candidates and issues by using the net to access such information. In those days, and in that place, that was not really possible, so I had to improvise some way to make my vote count for *something* I believed in, and the easiest thing to identify by names on a ballot was the sex of the candidates.

I don't feel guilty for being born. I feel guilty that I did not have the same obstacles thrown in my path, because I am white, and male. Or rather, if you want top phrase it in reverse, I'm saddened that those who are not white and male unfairly have to deal with obstacles that I do not.

I do not wish to elevate anyone above me, but I would like to elevate those deemed by society to be below me, so that we are all equal. My white-ness and my male-ness should afford me no advantages.
posted by jamstigator at 3:26 AM on January 31, 2009