The Steady Drip, Drip of Reinhard June 2, 2012

The Steady Drip, Drip of Reinhard  June 2, 2012

I was a little out of character today and complained about a meme. It was yet another glorification of the strong, defiant, opinionated woman whom men should appreciate and listen to…plastered on top of a picture of a buxom and skinny young half naked woman. With this kind of illustration, you are saying, “Follow these rules and you will have sex with women like this,” and that’s not the point. I don’t care if sex is the only way to reach certain men, if you illustrate a plea for respect with a pinup, you are once more reducing us to fun vaginas. Men have fun penises and we don’t mix that up with respect and appreciation because, as usual, men are esteemed for their minds and accomplishments. And yes, there’s a touch of bitterness here because I have lost my looks and will never get them back. With my medicines for MS puffing up my body and covering my skin with brown spots; and my hair greying and the skin wrinkling and sagging, I don’t have to be told again “Game over.” I got it. And I am still be friends with the last man to tell me this because he was so honest with me. But it’s a bit disingenuous to tell us that someone can still desire us for our wits and intellect. Bullshit! There are 2 million more women then man in the US. If a man has enough money, he can look like a toad with eczema and still get laid. And he can find a hot piece with as much wit and intelligence as Madeleine Albright or Hillary Clinton, neither of whom qualifies for "Hot Piece" anymore. Women are more merciful to men. Maybe it’s because men can father children till they’re ninety and women lack the siren call of fertility after menopause, even if we still enjoy sex. (YES! We do.) I don’t think the answer to this question is arriving soon in this pornographic atmosphere. And simultaneously, the new Right Wing is pushing to disenfranchise and devalue women . This is the time we need to assert that we are more than wives and mothers and sex toys. Yeah, I know, Grandma Reinhard is none of these, but I would like to see one small change in my world…put the inspiration and respect and rebellion on pictures of real women, not Bollywood sex symbols. God bless you if you look like one, but Honey, few of us do.