noknightsneeded:profeminist:Colleen McCullough: “we’ll celebrate a woman for anything, a
noknightsneeded:profeminist:Colleen McCullough: “we’ll celebrate a woman for anything, as long as it’s not her talent”The Australian’s obituary of Colleen McCullough is a sad reflection of how women’s lives are valued“Sadly, this is not an issue that is restricted to this particular newspaper (although it is a clear and awful example of it), or to McCullough herself. When the accomplished and brilliant rocket scientist Yvonne Brill passed away in 2013, the New York Times came under fire for their obituary, which began with:"She made a mean beef stroganoff, followed her husband from job to job and took eight years off from work to raise three children. “The world’s best mom,” her son Matthew said. But Yvonne Brill, who died on Wednesday at 88 in Princeton, N.J., was also a brilliant rocket scientist, who in the early 1970s invented a propulsion system to help keep communications satellites from slipping out of their orbits.”Once again, a woman’s life full of incredible accomplishments. Once again, a woman reduced to her position in relation to men, and this time, how good her cooking is.That these outrageous obituaries still being published demonstrates how little has changed, and how women’s lives are still too often abridged and disrespected. It shows us where the emphasis remains; a woman’s physical attractiveness and relationships with men are given more weight than her personal accomplishments.“BUT” Brill was also a brilliant rocket scientist, even though she was a woman and a mother. As if the two are mutually exclusive. Yes Colleen McCullough was plain and overweight, “NEVERTHELESS” she was warm and had wit and could attract men. As if those attributes are mutually exclusive. As if that is an important thing to note at all, let alone in the first paragraph of her obituary. The summation of their lives; centred around men.”Read the full piece here#MyOzObituaryIf my obituary looks like this, I will come back from the dead and strangle people.^^^^ Totally agree! A kick-ass feminist does not let puny death get in the way of making the world a better place. -- source link
#cameron esposito#feminism#feminist#feminist activism#feminist 4 life#sexism#sexist#double standard#double standards