There’s a group of women who think that, because 51% of voters are women, it makes sense that 51% of state legislators ought to be women. They’ve organized to try and get more women to run and be elected to office.
But who will cook dinner?
In Part One, I quoted from an op-ed by D. Stephen Voss that ran earlier this month in the Kentucky Lantern, titled “The political battle of the sexes”.
His hypothesis is that women — in America, and elsewhere — have been drifting to the left, politically, while the men have continued to lean to the right. But the biggest swing, he claimed, was with the women. In fact, he used the phrase “swinging leftward.”
He introduced the topic by talking about the much-discussed romance between Travis Kelce, star receiver for the Kansas City Chiefs, and America’s celebrated singer-songwriter, Taylor Swift. He didn’t venture an opinion as to whether Travis will swing Taylor to the right, or vice versa. But he claims women, in general, are swinging to the left. “Fast”. That’s the word he used. “Fast”.
Quote:
American girls have been swinging leftward fast.
The photo above, that our Daily Post editor picked to illustrate this column, appears to show Taylor Swift playing an electric guitar.
I’ve never been opposed to women having the right to vote, and I generally support the idea that a woman has sovereignty over her own body. But I’m less comfortable with women being allowed to play electric guitars. There’s got to be a limit, somewhere.
I’ve also seen photos of Taylor Swift playing a banjo. So obviously, there’s some “leftward swinging” taking place in America.
Especially, among young women. ‘Change Research’ did a poll last summer of young voters (age 18-34) and found a startling difference in how young women and young men identified, politically.
I’m not even going to try and address what’s happening with non-binary voters. (Maybe some other time. Closer to the election.)
The question I’m trying to address is, “What Happened to Women?” We gave them the right to vote, and then the right to publish Ms. magazine, and finally, the right to play electric guitars.
What more do they want? What’s driving most of them to grow up to be “progressives” and “liberals”?
Someone has to bear the blame.
According to Mr. Voss:
Liberals focused on the U.S. scene blame the loss of abortion rights, noting (correctly) that abortion has helped Democrats win in unlikely places and assuming (perhaps faultily) that female voters are the reason.
Or they’ll pin the blame on Trump. Even before his 2016 presidential victory, he faced accusations of misogyny, and the conservative culture warriors following in his wake commonly exhibit hostile sexism.
Conservatives, meanwhile, want to blame biased university professors — noting (correctly) that college-educated women are most likely to wind up on the left and assuming (perhaps faultily) that they were conservative at the time they first enrolled.
Those explanations are too parochial. The political battle of the sexes is not a U.S. story. The chasm between young men and women is a global rift. In some countries, women have shifted politically, while in others it’s men, but the gender gap widened across the post-industrial world.
Back when I was married to my wife (now ex-wife) Darlene, she had a subscription to Ms. magazine. But she was mostly interested in the recipes. She didn’t like reading about, or talking about, politics. So I have no clear idea which way she was swinging, politically. (Romantically, that’s a different story.)
I didn’t try to influence Darlene. That doesn’t seem like a husband’s job. I say, if a woman wants to swing leftward, have at it!
However, I don’t think there’s anything wrong, during an election, with the husband filling in his wife’s mail ballot for her, and forging her signature on the envelope. Especially if the wife didn’t have any interest in swinging, politically.
I’m not saying I did that, with Darlene’s ballot.
Nor am I saying I didn’t do it.
That’s for me to know, and for you to wonder about.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all.