Weird, I got *three* copies of this email. There's definitely something fishy, but inconsistent, going on...
On Jul 1, 2010, at 9:56 AM, Dr. Ernie Prabhakar wrote: > I figured y'all would get a kick out of this... she may not be far off! > > -- Ernie P. > > http://slatest.slate.com/id/2258714/?wpisrc=newsletter > > http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/29/AR2010062903997.html?sid=ST2010062904419 > > Obama: Our first female president > > If Bill Clinton was our first black president, as Toni Morrison once > proclaimed, then Barack Obama may be our first woman president. > > Phew. That was fun. Now, if you'll just keep those hatchets holstered and > hear me out. > > No, I'm not calling Obama a girlie president. But . . . he may be suffering a > rhetorical-testosterone deficit when it comes to dealing with crises, with > which he has been richly endowed. > > It isn't that he isn't "cowboy" enough, as others have suggested. Aren't we > done with that? It is that his approach is feminine in a normative sense. > That is, we perceive and appraise him according to cultural expectations, and > he's not exactly causing anxiety in Alpha-maledom. > > We've come a long way gender-wise. Not so long ago, women would be censured > for speaking or writing in public. But cultural expectations are stickier and > sludgier than oil. Our enlightened human selves may want to eliminate gender > norms, but our lizard brains have a different agenda. > > Women, inarguably, still are punished for failing to adhere to gender norms > by acting "too masculine" or "not feminine enough." In her fascinating study > about "Hating Hillary," Karlyn Kohrs Campbell details the ways our former > first lady was chastised for the sin of talking like a lawyer and, by > extension, "like a man." > > Could it be that Obama is suffering from the inverse? > > When Morrison wrote in the New Yorker about Bill Clinton's "blackness," she > cited the characteristics he shared with the African American community: > > "Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, > born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald's-and-junk-food-loving > boy from Arkansas." > > If we accept that premise, even if unseriously proffered, then we could say > that Obama displays many tropes of femaleness. I say this in the nicest > possible way. I don't think that doing things a woman's way is evidence of > deficiency but, rather, suggests an evolutionary achievement. > > Nevertheless, we still do have certain cultural expectations, especially > related to leadership. When we ask questions about a politician's beliefs, > family or hobbies, we're looking for familiarity, what we can cite as > "normal" and therefore reassuring. > > > Generally speaking, men and women communicate differently. Women tend to be > coalition builders rather than mavericks (with the occasional rogue > exception). While men seek ways to measure themselves against others, for > reasons requiring no elaboration, women form circles and talk it out. > > > > -- > Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community > <[email protected]> > Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism > Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
