Roy Exum
I have lived for a couple years by myself so tomorrow’s “Day Without Women” will not provoke a bunch of whooping and hollering and wearing sack cloth around my place. Instead, it will most likely be a great day of reflection of how I honestly do not like any “Day Without Women” because I find I really miss the benefits of loving somebody. Maybe as the sap rises in the trees to bring forth the leaves this spring, it will rise in my veins as well … I hope so.
That established, I must add that I miss a certain type of female; the friendly, nice and kind women – smart, pretty and proud, too -- who have often co-starred in my life’s story. I will not miss mean, pushy and sexist females like those who gathered under a billboard in North Carolina in recent weeks and I sure didn’t admire the radical women who carried vulgar signs and pictures of female birth canals in January’s “Woman’s March On Washington.”
Tomorrow (March 8) is the official International Women’s Day and the organizers of “A Day Without Women” want to make a statement. The website says the happenings scheduled for Wednesday around our nation are to recognize "the enormous value that women of all backgrounds add to our socio-economic system, while receiving lower wages and experiencing greater inequities, vulnerability to discrimination, sexual harassment and job insecurity.”
I don’t have a quarrel with fixing any of that. I’ve never looked down on a female in my life but – careful! – there could be a problem. The website also says it “supports the feminists of color and grass-roots groups organizing the International Women's Strike. This will be a day of economic solidarity.”
Whoa, “Strike”!?! When “International Women’s Day” becomes “International Women’s Strike” I believe that is a slippery slope. If a male or a female doesn’t show up for work, this to extend some social agenda, without clearing and preparing for a substitute, anyone who bangs their chest with defiance could likely be relieved of their position and the benefits thereof for being stupid.
Last month in Forsyth County, N.C. (think Winston-Salem) there appeared a billboard on Business I-40 that read, “Real men provide. Real women appreciate it.”
I agree with that but, oh mercy, here came the Delilahs, the Bathshebas and every other snowflake within reach. About 100 gathered to protest beneath the sign, which was placed by an anonymous donor. Some had made signs on sheets: “It’s Time Women Have Real Respect” and “Real People Respect Each Other,” all to the obvious delight of the anonymous prankster who just succeeded in trolling the crazies.
Within a day or two, the sign was replaced by another that was too wordy but still mocking: “Much Ado About Nothing. A social experiment that brought forth those so immersed in their own insecurity that in the mirror they could only see an angry victim of their incorrect interpretation of a silly billboard — Bless their hearts.”
The women were not amused. “Who’s going to have time to read that when they’re zooming along?” said Molly Grace, one of the agitated feminists. “Sexism has existed and is still existing around us every day whether that billboard is there or not,” the Winston-Salem business woman said. “Mark my words, we’ll be here long after that billboard is gone trying to make a better world for us all.”
The spokeswoman said she would love to have “a decent conversation” with whoever put up the sign and revealed her goal was to eradicate “the antiquated sexist thinking that often goes unnoticed.
“What we're protesting and angry about is not that an individual and some individuals decided to do this. It's more the fact that that mindset exists at all and not just that it exists but that it is actually a fairly normalized well-accepted mindset,” she told reporters.
“The implied expectation that regardless of mitigating circumstances women should be appreciative of her man and that, to me, and that's the whole thing,” Grace added, saying her group has $3,500 for a forthcoming billboard and is contacting feminist illustrators around the nation to design the sign. And what will her group’s sign say? “People of quality don’t fear equality.”
I agree with that. So I am not upset, bothered, worried or concerned about any of the signs. But it does jiggle me a little to hear my inner self wonder, “You know, tomorrow’s hoopla really is a big ado over nothing.”
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THE CHAPEL HILL-Carrboro Public School District has announced all of its schools will be closed on Wednesday for “safety” reasons. It has been reported that if the district female teachers join in the “Day Without Women” Strike the schools would become too unsafe for the students.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS in Alexandra., Va., will also be closed on Wednesday so teachers can strike but food personnel must report for duty so that breakfast and lunch can be served.
royexum@aol.com