LINCOLN, NE—Loudly demanding an immediate statement on the issue, Nebraska voters clamored this week for more information from female politician Elaine Romero, an Omaha businesswoman running in the state’s upcoming gubernatorial primary election, on whether she is, in fact, a mother first. “Elaine Romero has made her stance on the social and economic issues facing Nebraskans abundantly clear, but we will not rest until she states clearly and on the record whether she is a mom first and foremost, and a politician second,” local resident Martin McGlynn said on behalf of 1.9 million restless Nebraskans, all of whom were vehemently pressing for answers on whether the 45-year-old public servant prioritizes her family above all else, considers her three children to be her proudest accomplishment, and—most crucially—sees her role as a mother as her most important job.
There’s more. It’s funny, but not funny.
You’ve got to be kidding.
Yes, it’s kidding, it’s the Onion.
D’oh!
🙂
See, the problem with the Onion these days, is that it’s way too believable.
If they had picked some other state known to be progressive and mostly secular, that might have been both more funny, and more obviously satire.
Unfortunately, using Nebraska makes it really hard to tell. :p
Yeah, honestly, I wouldn’t have twigged to this being the Onion either. Because it’s just way too similar to the attacks on Wendy Davis and other female politicians right now.
I think part of the problem is that the Onion writing staff are still mostly dudes, who don’t get that this is too close to the actual reality of women in politics right now to really be funny.
And it is, indeed, so Nebraska. I am constantly undergoing all sorts of haranguing because not only am I not a grandmother (I had only one son, and he has yet to reproduce himself at the age of 31), I don’t even want to be a grandmother. When I receive an award, I list my professional accomplishments, and then at the end, if there’s time left, I might happen to mention my husband, son, and dog. In other words, I approach it like the men do. Why? Because it’s a professional award, dammit, and that’s what’s most relevant! If I should ever get an award for being a spectacular mother, then I would mention my son first. But that’s not going to happen, because I only have one child, and those awards are saved for women who pop ’em out like a pez dispenser.
There is still a huge, huge divisive war being played out at successful women’s expense. Look how far we haven’t come from the days when Hillary Clinton was excoriated in the press for saying that staying home baking cookies just wasn’t her thing. Look at all the breathless (and statistically untrue) announcements in mainstream media about how women are ‘flocking’ home because their feeble ladybrains are just not capable of understanding the work world, and their only joy in life can come from waving at the children as they get on the school bus to be gone all day. Look at the casual digs and jibes against women who work (particularly women who work successfully in traditionally-male fields such as politics or STEM) that they cannot POSSIBLY be good mothers because they use their brains for something other than homemaking. I took the Onion article at face value because in the mainstream media it’s mandatory to report on how well, yes, SOME women do things other than be homemakers, but really and truly, their heart belongs with their children and in the home, where they were totally be should they not HAVE to work.