On 16 March 2008 Michael Britt wrote: >It seems to me that as much as people are talking about Elliot >Spitzer these days, many people are talking just as much about the >fact that his wife was standing by his side when he apologized and >resigned. The women I know have strong negative feelings about this >and they all say that they wouldn't have stood next to him. His wife >looked pretty bad. Is this just another example of how our culture >expects women to support their man, or is there some other psychology >going on here?
Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but am I alone in thinking that when Michael writes "Is this just another example of how our culture expects women to support their man, or is there some other psychology going on here?" he is implicitly (though of course entirely unintentionally) belittling women? There seems to me to be an implication that Silda Spitzer behaved as she did because she is a victim of "our culture", which implies she did not have sufficient autonomy to act as she herself wanted to. This, of course, opens up a huge question. I'll just throw one point into the mix. No one disputes the enormous disadvantages with which women have historically had to contend, including, of course, lack of social and political rights. But there is another side to this story - that women (indeed people in general) do not always have to be victims of their social circumstances (though sometimes, of course, this is unfortunately the case). Leaving aside historical figures one could name, one has only to read the works of nineteenth century female novelists (not to mention the novels of Trollope) to appreciate that there were plenty of strong-willed (not to say feisty!) women who did not cower in the face of social convention. (I don't believe that these novelists simply fantasized characters that bore no relation to real-life individuals.) If one wants to be critical of Silda Spitzer by all means do so, but let's also treat her as an autonomous individual who is capable of making her own decisions - as, of course, TIPSters have in their responses! Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London http://www.esterson.org --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
