Tuesday, September 05, 2006

For the WTF file: I was in the drug store last week, stocking up on drug store stuff. First of all, there are too many varities of "sanitary" products. It takes me five minutes of shelf scanning to find what I am looking for. But my WTF moment: discovering THONG liners. Yes, sanitary pads for thongs.

It is just wrong.

Yesterday, I indulged my biblioholism by blowing a chunk o' money in Barnes and Noble. What I got:

Nickel and Dimed. On (Not) Getting By in America. By Barbara Ehrenreich.

A Walk in the Woods. By Bill Bryson. It's his account of hiking the Appalachian Trail, which in fantasy sounds like something I'd love to do, but in reality, there are no hotels, bathrooms or coffee makers along the trail, so nevermind.

Schoolgirls. By Peggy Orenstein. A look at "young women, self-esteem and the confidence gap". I haven't started reading it yet, but she looks at 8th grade girls and the choices they make.

1001 Things Everyone Should Know About Women's History. By Constance Jones. This is a fun book. I was skimming through it (it is highly skimmable), with an extra large cube of post-it notes beside me. The book is now sprouting neon yellow flaps on all sides.

Some post-it note markings:

"The Equal Rights Amendment is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians" (from my buddy, my pal, my favorite comedian) Pat Robertson, 1994

"How has this Women's Rights movement been treated in this country, on the right hand and the left? This nation ridicules and derides this movement, and spits upon it, as fit only to be cast out and trampled underfoot. This is not ignorance. They know all about the truth. It is the natural outbreak of tyranny. It is because the tyrants and usurpers are alarmed. They have been and are called to judgement, and they dread the examination and exposure of their position and character." William Lloyd Garrison, 1853 (gee...that sounds...so...current)





Sutu sez: Male, female, makes no difference to me. Do you have an opposible thumb? Can you open a can of cat food?

3 comments:

Chip said...

I flipped through Nickel and Dimed one day at the bookstore. The impression I got was that she went out of her way to find menial jobs that don't pay very well. Sure, it's empathetic to do that, but do poor people really hunt for the worst job that they can find to see how poor they can be? Did she take into account things like Earned Income Credit and Section 8 housing? Like I said, I just flipped through the book.

Anonymous said...

Boy, that Pat just knows women, doesn't he? Oh well. I'm off to put a hex on somebody...

(PS Chip - read the WHOLE book).

JanetLee said...

Oh come on now, Chippie. You can tell us. (Elbow nudge, nudge) You're just sore because one of her jobs was at Wal-Mart. You love Wal-Mart. You-think-it's-sexy-you-want-to-date-it. (Falls over ala Sandra Bullock)

Actually, I couldn't tell you because I haven't read it yet. Working on the App. Trail book
first.

Pam - Pat "I'm-senile-and-no-one-wants-to-admit-it" Robertson is always good for a WTF moment.