10.27.2006

Identity theft, Part I, Door Prizes, Round 3

I know this blog seems to go back and forth on subjects, the only cohesive thread is seemingly that it is from my point of view: things that deeply interest me and catch my attention. The underlying theme, though, is my place as a woman in this world, although with the history of human rights one would hope that we would be to the point that I would see myself simply as a person and not the gender specific subcategory. That is exactly why I get so flustered with sexism, because though we are different, we are equal. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we've gone through this before, so why in 2006 am I blabbering on about this issue?!? More on this self-realization has been discussed in previous posts, and will be discussed in future posts. Last weekend at the craft show, I was talking to another crafter (a male) who had been joking with the mostly female crowds flowing through his booth about how he is a male and he doesn't know anything. Chuckling to myself, I jokingly told him to please teach his philosophy to my husband. Jokingly, because Hi-C is an incredible person and in our house we are equal, with equal knowledge and the openness to let each other know the good, the bad, and the "you're overstepping your boundaries." It was simply a meager attempt at conversation with my booth neighbor. Oops.

An annotated version of his rant (after my silly joke):
1) Women carry emotional baggage, men don't.
2) Women don't listen to a statement without arguing back and trying to get the last word in. This blanket statement brilliantly negated any retort I might have by clumping me in with his generalizations, thus defining me as a stereotypical woman.
3) Women don't network. Men do.

4) And women use their emotions to make decisions (see #1) creating a weakened ability to orga
nize and lead.

What a damaging, angry, misogynist philosophy that is! First off, he had thought this out really well. Any response I might have could be categorized as any of his "women issues" and simply brushed off as emotional. Secondly, and thankfully, his rant made me realize I need to thank the strong women out there for being such an inspiration. Some entrepreneurial souls, who happen to be women, who give me something to strive for:

Tsia Carson
Sarah Hood
Maya Lin
Emira Mears
Sandra Day O'Connor, because I want her back
Dorian Solot
Martha Stewart (love her or hate her, she is a survivor who kn
ows how to write a thank you note)
Gayla Trail

I'd like to offer these incredible people a pink tank badge of honor.


And from the
National Women's History Project Website, some
notable October dates:
Oct 3, 1904
- Mary McLeod Bethune opens her first school for black students in Daytona Beach, FL
Oct 16, 1916 - Margaret Sanger opens the nation's first bir
th control clinic in Brooklyn, NY
Oct 15, 1948
- Dr. Frances L. Willoughby is the first woman doctor in the regular U.S. Navy.
Oct 28, 1958 - Mary Roebling is the first woman director of a stock exchange (American Stock Exchange)
Oct 10, 1983 - Dr. Barbara McClintock receives Nobel Prize for Chemistry for discovery of mobile genetic elements
Oct 4, 1993 - Ruth Bader Ginsburg joins Supreme Court as
second woman and 107th justice.

Which leads me to part 3 of my bi-weekly Bribe-You-To-Read-Me doorprizes:
In the comments section, list 3 entrepreneurial women who "inspire you to aspire." There are some exceptions: no entertainers (singers, actors, etc), also choose fairly prominent women. This is your chance to offer a small bit of thanks to women you may only know of through the internet or news, and a way to proudly thank them for their strength. Men out there, I know you know some names, too. I'll take names through next Friday, draw a reader's name from a hat, and the lucky reader will win. . . hmmmm. Now that has to stay a surprise, doesn't it?!?

*I'll keep this post at the top of the page until the Door Prize Deadline.

3 comments:

Dede Warren said...

Renee,
i am sorry to leave this here, but couldn't find the {{e-mail you}} button!!

i just recieved the funky fabric swap package you sent me. here's what i left whe i rated you:

Love! Love! Love! the mr stix markers. i have been thinking of these for the longest time. i remember them from being a girl and have been wracking my brain trying to remember the name of them!!! and the fabric, was just an added bonus! so stinkin yummy!!! i'm a happy girl thanks to U!!

dede
http://dreamcreateshare.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

hey Renee,

Thanks for the shout out! my goodness!

I'll be first here to nominate though I'm going to kind of cheat. These folks are super stars in my world and do enjoy some degree of fame:

Lauren Bacon, my illustrious business partner at www.raisedeyebrow.com

And then Madeleine and Suzanne of Lunapads. Those two are my business mentors and I admire their work ethic, their product, their working mom ablities out the wazoo.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, this is going to be long and have some generalizations of my own but:
I was thinking about this over the weekend. I'm just blown away that he thinks women don't network! I think it is because we do it differently - we make "spider webs" for lack of a better term. Men tend to think networking is meeting someone and thinking of how they can use them in the future biz-wise. Women tend to file away all kinds of info about people they hear about, interact with on the internets, make friends with and while I may never have the need for a certain item/service - a friend may one day need it and the info can be passed along - more of a six degrees of seperation operation.
So on that note here are my three ladies:
Debbie Stoller - who edits one of my fav mags - Bust (pulling it out of the fire of early financial problems no less) and has the wildly popular Stitch and Bitch books.
Jenny Hart - who took the drama of a layoff to start her buisness Sublime Stitching - now with patterns being picked up by Burda and two books. She really listens to her customers when creating new patterns and just sweet about complimenting their work.
Leah Kramer - the creator of craftster.org where crafty folk can network, get and give advice and generally celebrate each other's successes.