On Picking a husband

As I've mentioned in the past, I often read feminist blogs. I'm not sure how much of a supporter of feminism I am because I'm not even sure what feminism is any more. It used to be about legal and social rights of women. At least that's what I think it was about.

Today, if the blogs I read are any indication, it's more about getting attention with the use of extreme left wing politics and Marxist social theory than it is about women.

Feministing is one of the more outrageous (and entertaining) blogs that self-identify as feminist. Not only that the bloggers self-identify as professional feminists. That's who they make their living. By being feminists. Whatever it means to be a feminist these days, being a professional feminists is a whole different ballgame. That requires using all the tools available to get attention. Getting attention is the goal, not improving the legal and social rights of women.

Feministing is very good at their chosen profession. They know how to play to their audience. If by doing so they're just mumbling incoherent, internally inconsistent nonsense, well, they're professionals.

They seem to have mastered the achievement of politically correct, internally inconsistent nonsense with a recent post commenting on some comments made by an editor of Money Magazine.

Marlys Harris wrote a story for MSNBC on how to marry money. The story is somewhat serious, somewhat tongue in cheek. She at least warns us that

Before you start making repeated visits to your target's golf club or home, remember that stalking is a crime in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

To most of us that kind of language is a clue that this article is mostly intended to
entertain, that informing is only a secondary consideration in the article. But, Jessica of Feministing is a professional feminist, on a serious mission, and doesn't have time to notice such little cues to the read

Harris doesn't even mention gender until paragraph 14, when she says

First, some bad news. Forbes magazine, which has made a cottage industry of compiling lists of wealthy folks, declared this year that there are a paltry 946 billionaires in the entire world. Worse, most of them are currently married (though that does not necessarily discourage the most determined gold diggers).

The picture gets even grimmer for men. A scant 38 women appear on the list of U.S. billionaires. Average age: 63.

So, most of the article has a focus of women marrying very rich men simply because that's actually the way things tend to work, there just aren't enough very rich single women to go around. But that's not good enough for Jessica. In her commentary she starts out with

Well this is just lovely. What's the best advice that Marlys Harris, Senior Editor of Money Magazine, has for women? "Snag" yourself a "Richie Rich."

I'm not sure where the quote marks around Richie Rich comes from, Harris never makes a reference to Richie Rich in her story that I can find. And the story doesn't say that trying to snag a rich guy is the best route to success for women, in fact it says it's a tough goal to achieve. The story gives advice on how to find a really rich spouse for those who have that as a goal. The story doesn't suggest that would make a good goal.

Maybe that's a distinction that's hard for some to grasp.

Jessica also gets the rest of her criticism wrong. Pretty much her entire post is based on either miss-representation. Is that what feminism is these days?