You’ve had power forever and look where we are

An older white liberal man, during a heated political discussion, asked if I thought white men should even run for office anymore.

It took me only a second to think about it and answer “No.”

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We were talking about a Democratic primary that involves one white male candidate and one white female candidate.

The male candidate looks good on paper: Stanford undergrad, Yale grad school. He has had some impressive jobs. People will look at that background and think he is smart and hard working, which I am sure he is. He is also probably a nice guy and is completely sincere in his desire to serve the community. I have nothing bad to say about this guy. Who he is personally is not the issue.

The female candidate does not have a fancy school on her resume. She has not worked at impressive companies. But she has been participating in the community at the local level, serving on boards and commissions and projects that probably don’t impress people but do work that needs to be done, like making sure that the local park is inclusive and accessible, both in the play equipment and in the restrooms. (The fact that there are restrooms at all is important to some of us. I sure haven’t seen men fighting for public restrooms. Indeed, they have argued against them.)

Our current legislator, who is a woman, also did not go to a fancy school. She has not had impressive internships or jobs.

But since she was elected eight years ago, she has done so much for our community and for women and children specifically.

In her first race, two of her major issues were maternal mortality and human trafficking, things I had not even thought about in our district. But she was right – they were problems in my own middle-class suburb.

Since then, she and the other Democratic women have proposed and passed legislation about insurance coverage for follow-up mammograms (which had been considered diagnostic and not preventive, so you ended up paying hundreds of dollars to make sure you don’t have breast cancer) and postpartum Medicaid coverage. She has proposed legislation about menopause research and other women’s health issues. Her focus is not exclusively women but it is something she cares about and acts on.

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I’m not saying men don’t support solving these problems.

But I don’t see them pushing for legislation to solve these problems.

I don’t see them campaigning on solving these problems.

I don’t see women’s issues being brought to the forefront until female (usually Dem) politicians address them.

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My question to all white male candidates – no matter how liberal they are – is, “What do you bring to the conversation that has not been brought up, discussed, and acted on a million times already?”

I’m waiting for the answer.

But not enough to make sure we have research and treatment and insurance coverage for them

At a panel discussion, a county judge said that one of her biggest challenges when she had her first baby was finding a place to pump in the courthouse. There’s only one pumping station, she said. In the entire courthouse.

Her husband had asked her what previous pregnant judges had done and she laughed.

“Previous pregnant judges?” she laughed. “Previous pregnant judges?”

Another panelist, an older white man who is a professor at the law school and who describes himself as very left, looked shocked when the judge talked about the lack of lactation space, not just for her but for other women using the courthouse. It had never occurred to him that this might be a thing.

A couple of issues here:

1. It’s rare for the needs of women in public spaces to be taken into account
2. It’s rare for the needs of women anywhere to be taken into account
3. Even the most liberal of men don’t see these needs

QED We need more women in office.

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I talked about mammogram followups in a previous post. That is, if you have breast tissue that a regular mammogram won’t read (that is, the machine is not doing its job), you will often need a followup mammogram for more investigation.

In many cases, the followup mammogram is considered diagnostic. The first one is preventive and the law requires it be fully covered at no cost to the patient.

But when a procedure is coded diagnostic?

Hahahahahaha you’re paying hundreds of dollars for that out of your pocket.

In Wisconsin, a group of female legislators got a bill passed into law requiring insurance companies to cover the followup mammogram in these cases as preventive.

That is, as a procedure that insurance covers fully.

Female legislators. Women. Women led the charge on this. Because we are the ones who feel the pain. (Not that it should be that way, but damn it seems to be the only way.)

Men did not do this. Men did not say, “You know what we need? We need to make it easier to diagnose breast cancer!” Nope. Male Republican legislators are too busy trying to cut taxes for their rich friends or get rid of environmental protections or reducing the age of consent.

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When I first learned about the Temperance Movement, I thought it was silly. Mean women who didn’t want their husbands to have a beer after work.

Then I learned that the tavern leagues had gotten legislation passed that allowed a tavern to garnish a man’s wages for his bar tab. The bar got paid before the children got fed.

Why did men even pass such a law in the first place? Was there not one man who voted for such legislation who wondered how workers would keep a roof over their children’s heads? Was there not one man who wondered why bar owners should get a break?

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When I was canvassing last month, I talked to a 30ish woman with small children in the room behind her. I told her about the mammogram law that women had just gotten passed in our state.

She told me that she had skipped her mammogram this year because she always has to have the followup and she is so tired of the cost and the hassle.

I asked her to schedule a test, telling her that we need her around.

Women save women. We can’t count on anyone else to do it.

(Make sure all the like-minded women you know are registered to vote and know about the next election where you are.)

But also give me some of that government health care while I tread on other people who aren’t affecting me in any way at all

Do you want to know what hypocrisy looks like?

I saw a cousin last week. This guy, who is white, is a huge trump supporter. When he comments on my political facebook posts, it’s always to argue and point out how I am wrong and Dems are bad and blah blah blah. His whole attitude is that he got where he is just fine so why shouldn’t everyone else?

(As in, when he was on his town’s school board, he dismissed parents’ requests for all-day kindergarten and for Pre-K. “They just don’t want to pay for daycare,” he said. Which may have been true but also is not unreasonable, especially in an environment where the only way to keep the lights on is to have both parents working for money.)

BTW, “where he is” is that he bought his father’s business, the business our grandfather started, the business that was already a strong, steady brand. He sold it a few years ago and retired early.

When I asked him about health insurance, he said he is on ACA.

A.

C.

A.

Not a trump thing.

“You mean Obamacare?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he answered.

“OBAMACARE,” I said again, waiting for him to recognize the contradictions between what he writes online about the Democrats and how he conducts his own life.

Reader, he did not appear to recognize the contradictions.

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I have another trumper cousin.

(If you don’t have any trumpers in your family, it’s because your family just isn’t big enough.)

She is consistent in her rage about Dems and her acceptance of the cult. She refuses to get a covid vaccine because she says it will change her DNA. (Yes she has heart problems and is medically vulnerable why do you ask?)

Yet she divorced her husband when he needed multiple organ transplants so that he would qualify for Medicaid.

That is, when it was to her financial benefit, she decided that using a resource that the government provides was a perfectly fine thing to do.

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What do you even say to someone who can’t see? Who won’t see? How do you even get through to someone when the answer is right in front of their face and they are looking at The Answer while they swear that The Answer is bad?

I really am asking you for a script. How do we get them to see? Even a tiny bit?

Men who won’t retire because they worry about having nothing to fill their time also because they won’t be important anymore

An acquaintance who retired a few months ago sighed that he’s not important anymore.

He was a professor at a local college. Published. Respected, I am sure.

Now he is retired.

And in his mind, he no longer matters.

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A VP at a former job worried he would have nothing to do when he retired.

A dear friend in a very high-level, high-status position is worried about filling his time when he retires and keeps delaying his retirement.

The women I know who are retired? Did it years ago and have not looked back.

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There are at least two things going on here, I think.

The first is the perceived – well probably real – loss of status from other men from leaving a prestigious job.

Maybe it’s because I was not important even when I was working that I am not bothered by not being important now.

It’s not that I didn’t want to be important in my job – it’s that apparently, I was incapable of climbing the corporate ladder. Even looking back now, I don’t see what I could have done differently. Well, except maybe keep my mouth shut. Honesty is not valued in a corporate environment.

(But even with that – I asked my male bosses what I needed to do to be promoted and they either could not or would not tell me.)

(And yet there are women who make it to the top and I was not one of them so clearly this is also very much a me issue.)

(What is the big secret that everyone but me knows about how to get promoted?)

I guess power and status are intoxicating and hard to leave. I wouldn’t know.

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The other thing is the lament of “But what will I ever DO?”

Again, I am wondering if this is a Man Thing, because my women friends have absolutely no trouble filling their time. We are reading. We are registering voters. We are knocking on doors and writing postcards for candidates who will protect our rights and make the lives of our daughters and granddaughters better. We are going for walks with our friends. We are protesting. We are traveling. We are making jam and sourdough bread and trying all those time-consuming recipes we always wanted to try. We are getting rid of junk that is cluttering our lives. We are gardening. We are binge-watching shows we missed. We are having people over for dinner.

How does someone with power reach retirement age without one hobby? Or without any ideas of what to do when he and yes I mean “he” is not at work?

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(For the record, my acquaintance who doesn’t feel important anymore is a wonderful man who is finding very important ways to fill his time – among other things, he is the excellent chief inspector at the polling place where I volunteer, which is absolutely essential for a functioning democracy but just doesn’t get the social validation it deserves.)

Maybe we will finally hear from this long-ignored group

You what we are really missing in this country? You know what is a huge mystery to us all? You know what is completely lacking from the public discourse?

The views and opinions – the needs, the wants – of the white middle-class male.

We don’t know what men want. We muddle along blindly, focusing only on our own needs – can we get that second mammogram when the first one is inconclusive covered as preventive and not as diagnostic? Can we get free tampons in school restrooms? Can we protect our basic rights as women?

We think about all these things while ignoring the chasm of lost men.

And that is why I am so, so delighted that even though there is a highly-qualified woman running for the State Assembly seat being vacated by a woman who has indeed gotten that mammogram coverage passed into law, there are now also two white men – both lawyers – running in the Democratic primary for that seat as well.

I for one am so grateful that at last, we will have this long-underrepresented segment of society represented in our government. I am so happy that not one but two men saw this gap, said to themselves “You know what we really need? We need to have someone who speaks for WHITE MEN!” and have courageously stepped up to serve the community by selflessly dedicating their time and resources to running for and possibly serving in office.

If one of them is elected instead of the woman, perhaps we can finally give the issues that middle-class white male lawyers face the attention they deserve. It’s been a long time coming.

(Can I tell you how pissed off I am that I might have to spend my summer campaigning for the woman when I thought I would get to take off before the primary? I just spent a month knocking on doors for a Supreme Court candidate. I wanted a break. But DAMN.)

It is not our responsibility to keep everyone else happy, AKA Quit blaming your daughter in law for everything talking to you my MIL

Here’s something nonpolitical and evergreen for you.

What the heck is the deal with mothers in law who expect their daughters in law to do all the emotional labor?

Wait wait I know. Because they had to do it and by God they are going to inflict that pain on the next generation.

I saw this letter to Carolyn Hax and my very first thought was, “WTF does the DIL need to ‘reach out?'” (A phrase I hate almost as much as I hate the word “littles” for describing children.)

Why can’t the actual child of these two people be the one in charge of talking to his own damn parents?

Dear Carolyn: I’m close with my ex-husband and his wife. They live in Florida. My ex and I share two children and four grandchildren. All is well.

My younger son’s wife, however, never calls her father-in-law or his wife. Does not share news about the kids. But she is always friendly toward them.

I live in New York and see my younger son’s kids all the time. My ex is upset and has asked me why she does not call.

I was visiting my ex recently, and our granddaughter called me. She does not call them. She is only 8. It was awkward to say the least.

I need to find a way to tell my daughter-in-law she should reach out. I don’t think my son should be in the middle or made to feel badly. How do I handle this?”

Facebook

Mr T’s parents didn’t like me, but I was the one expected to write all the thank-you notes for the crap they sent us that we didn’t want.

I was also expected to attempt to earn their approval. His mom wrote me a letter (which unfortunately I cannot find) in which she told me we should tell each other all the things we didn’t like about each other and noted that she had had to earn the approval of her in-laws, probably because Mr T’s dad had left his first wife for her, but honestly, Mr T’s mom was not the problem in that story, his dad was. No, she should not have become involved with a married man, but he is the one who broke his wedding vows.

Anyhow. Mr T’s mom thought that because she had been treated like crap, it was OK for her to treat me like crap.

Why should the daughter in law be in charge of the relationship?

Why shouldn’t the son be in the middle?

Why doesn’t the grandfather call his grandchildren?

Why are women so damn complicit in their own oppression?

Also may I note since I saw that letter that I have also seen several other letters and articles of the same ilk, so if you want to be crabby about how some women are helping maintain the patriarchy, read on. Here’s a good one: Why Are Women Doing Their Husband’s Job Searching

This woman is respecting her DIL’s desire not to be the scheduler but the son isn’t doing it right and the mom thinks she need to do something but she does not!

How you can defend democracy today and for years to come

I’m in the last weekend before the Wisconsin election for Wisconsin Supreme Court, so this will be short. Here’s what you can do today to help advance democracy:

1. Make GOTV phone calls for Judge Chris Taylor, the liberal candidate I am supporting for Wisconsin Supreme Court. If she wins, we will have a liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court until at least 2030, which will be to the Peoples’ advantage for issues such as gerrymandering, women’s rights, and voting rights.
2. Call your state’s Republican legislators in Washington DC. The Representatives do not need to know if you are not in their district. If they ask for a name and address, make something up. I am often “Susan in Green Bay.” If you call today or tomorrow, you will get voicemail, so you don’t even have to talk to a person. Tell them to release the Epstein files or to stop this illegal war (or whatever you want to tell them). The goal is to get attention to the issues we care about.
3. Who’s running for office in November? Find the candidates you will support. For your local candidate, sign her nominating papers. Circulate her nominating papers. Volunteer for her campaign. It doesn’t have to be just knocking on doors or making phone calls. One of my candidates, the fabulous Robyn Vining, looks for people to also do things like deliver campaign swag or bake for events or sign people in at events. There are plenty of volunteer opportunities that barely involve talking to other people.
4. Join your local League of Women Voters and help register voters. Be strategic about it. The LWV is non-partisan, but I do not participate in events where the attendees are likely not to agree with me politically. Almost all citizens have the right to vote. I focus on the ones who care about democracy for all.

(So we might as well use our power for good and start teaching the jerks)

What is the remedy for a smug white teenage boy who thinks he knows better than I do?

Years ago, I got takeout at this chili place. All I wanted was some Cincinnati chili to eat at home.

At home, where I have my own silverware. Where I am not forced to eat with plastic, an experience I do not enjoy plus I do not like the waste of plastic utensils.

I told the worker, an older white teenage boy, that I did not want utensils.

He put them in the bag anyhow.

I looked at them and said, “I told you I didn’t want utensils.”

He shrugged and told me it was too late to change it.

Then I gave him the cash – a ten dollar bill plus a quarter and three pennies for a charge of $9.28.

He looked at me, keyed something into the cash register, counted out 72 cents from the cash tray, and dropped them in my hand.

I said, “I gave you change so you could give me a dollar bill back. So I wouldn’t have a lot of extra coins.”

He rolled his eyes and closed the cash drawer.

I was so astonished at his rudeness and utter disregard for what I had told him that I didn’t even know what to say.

Today, I would know what to say.

Today, I would give him my middle approaching old age lady glare and say, “Please open the register, take these coins, and give me a dollar bill.”

Today, I would say, as I handed him the plastic utensils, “I told you I did not want these.”

Today, I would say, “Why are you ignoring what I tell you?”

I would not smile.

I would not laugh.

I. Would. Seethe.

Let’s seethe together. Let’s shout together. Let’s make sure we are heard.

(PS Today is the No Kings March. Are you there?)

Oh wait I mean the Hollywood Persistent Suitor Who Deserves A Hot Woman Even Though He Is A Loser Or Is Loser-ish

I just watched this show, A Remarkable Place to Die. The main character, Anais, is a detective. She’s smart and strong and doesn’t take any crap.

Her colleague, a smart, handsome male detective, is interested in her and asks her to dinner.

She says no.

The male pathologist, who is also smart and handsome, is interested in her and asks her to dinner.

She says no.

A male witness in a murder case is a grungy, ungroomed backpacker. He asks her out at the murder scene, the scene where a fellow backpacker has been killed in his sleep, a scene that I guess made Witness think of love?

She says no.

Witness waits for Anais to come out of the police station. He is still grungy and ungroomed. He asks her out.

She laughs and says it would be completely inappropriate for her to go out with someone involved in a case she was investigating.

(Not to mention there is nothing at all appealing about Witness. Nothing. Put him next to Detective and Pathologist and he disappears in his unappealingness.)

He shows up a third time and she says no again.

In the next episode, we see her waking up in the morning. She rolls over – and guess who is next to her in bed?

Not the colleague.

Not the pathologist.

But the gross, obnoxious backpacker.

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That episode – obviously – was written by a man.

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That episode was written by a man for a show made in the Year of Our Lord Twenty Twenty Five.

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This trope is not going away.

This trope is not going away despite #MeToo. Despite everything.

This trope tells men that as long as you harass a woman – a woman you could not otherwise get, BTW – eventually she will succumb and you will get what you want.

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There is a long history of this story. Look at almost every Woody Allen movie: he plays a whiny loser who punches way above his weight. Diane Keaton? Mariel Hemingway?

(Although it turns out that Diane actually did have a relationship with Allen. Gross.)

(Although maybe she felt compelled to date him because he controlled access to what she wanted. Another example of men using sex to control access to power.)

Any other movie where the slacker guy gets the girl anyhow:

• Reality Bites (I wrote about what happens 30 years after she picks the loser)
• Knocked Up
• Something About Mary
• Etc, etc, etc

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This isn’t going to change, is it? Not while men still run everything. Men write and direct the world they live in – the world they want to live in.

From the NY Times last year:

Women Directed Fewer Box Office Hits in 2025, Report Finds

The number of female filmmakers dropped to 8.1 percent this year from 13.4 percent in 2024, according to a study from the University of Southern California.

Even this headline from Variety is not encouraging, as the gain is still not to the level of our portion of the population:

Women Make Historic Gains in Streaming, as 36% of TV Creators Are Female

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I would say we should watch only shows written and produced by women, but sadly, the show A Remarkable Place to Die *is* produced by a woman. She gets the rest of it right – it’s a show about a woman that’s not about men – the men are supporting characters and Anais’ sole purpose in life is not to Find A Man, but damn. Why did she let Anais sleep with the loser? Yes, the episode was written by a man. But it was approved for production by a woman.

I wrote to the production company to complain. I will see if I get a response.

Why you should donate to or volunteer for Judge Chris Taylor, who is running for Wisconsin Supreme Court

Last week, when I was canvassing for Judge Chris Taylor for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, I met Liz, who was raped when she was 19.

Stranger rape. She was, she said, in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I nodded in agreement. Yes, we women have to be so careful, don’t we?

Wait.

No.

There should not be “wrong” places for us.

We should not have to be so careful.

We should be able to exist in this world without worrying that someone will harm us.

He was a rapist. He chose to violate another human being. He has all the culpability.

Holy smoke it takes a lot of work to reframe my thinking.

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She ended up pregnant.

This was before Roe. “It was when you had to go in the back streets to get an abortion,” she said.

Which is what she was forced to do.

Liz lived to tell the tale, as did another woman I know, Jane.

Jane had gotten pregnant when and her boyfriend were in college. He said it was not a good time for them to get married. She flew to Mexico for the abortion, calling her sister once she had arrived to tell her exactly where she was in case she didn’t return and her family needed to find her body.

She got the abortion and lived.

It’s been a while since Jane told me her story, but I think the boyfriend later asked her to marry him and she said nope.

(Yes! I found the post I wrote about Jane two years ago and I remembered correctly.)

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I met Lucy, 76, yesterday when I was canvassing. When I told Lucy that Judge Taylor used to be an attorney for Planned Parenthood (which is one of the reasons I want her on the Wisconsin Supreme Court – her opponent is anti-choice), Lucy didn’t miss a beat.

“I am for abortion,” she said.

Two of her college roommates had needed abortions late in much-wanted pregnancies.

One fetus didn’t have a skull and was aborted at six months.

The other fetus – seven months – had multiple anomalies and was going to die in utero. Her parents named her Abigail and held a funeral.

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This world where women have to fly to Mexico or risk their lives in back alleys? This world where a wanted baby has to die in your uterus for you to get the medical treatment you need?

We are returning to this world and worse.

We can’t depend on the US Supreme Court, but there are state courts doing the right thing.

Send a few bucks to Judge Taylor or phone bank for her so we can continue the fight for women’s rights – for all rights.

PS I changed the names and identifying details of all these women, but the stories themselves are real.