Thoughts On The Changes To Miss America

For nearly 100 years, the Miss America competition has defined the ideal of what it is to be an American woman. That ideal is about to change.

Gretchen Carlson is the new chairwoman of the Miss America organization. The former Fox News journalist, who won the title in 1989, announced the changes to the competition this week.

The most notable change is that the bathing suit portion will be removed from future Miss America pageants.

Frankly, I think it’s about time. While the Miss America competition has the best of intentions, its a little outdated from my perspective. While I’m sure the contestants are intelligent and capable women, we have to be honest with ourselves. We are not judging these women on what they can accomplish, we are judging them on how they look (especially in a bikini).   In 2018, that should not be the message that our daughters are still receiving.

While I very much appreciate the changes that will be made to the competition, I have a feeling that the dent in the glass ceiling will not be much of a dent at all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thoughts On Bill Clinton’s #Metoo Comments

A Presidential Impeachment is history making. 20 years, Bill Clinton was nearly impeached for lying about the sexual liaison he had with then White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

While promoting his new book, The President Is Missing, (co-written with James Patterson) on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, President Clinton was asked about the scandal.

 

I believe that we have to take the following into consideration when passing judgement on President Clinton:

1. He was not the first and will not be the last public official who is caught having an extramarital affair.
2. An older male manager taking sexual advantage of a younger female employee is nothing new. Working women throughout history have dealt with this problem for an untold number of generations.
3. We didn’t have the language or the perspective in 1998 that we have today. The #Metoo movement has shined a necessarily uncomfortable spotlight on the issue of sexual harassment and assault, especially in the workplace.
4. Unlike other men accused of a similar crime (especially you know who), President Clinton appears from my perspective to be genuinely contrite about his actions.

However, his apologies cannot and will not absolve him of his actions. While his reputation has recovered, the reputations of the women linked to the scandal will forever be tainted. Monica Lewinsky will never lead a normal life. Hillary Clinton perhaps could have perhaps won the 2016 Presidential election, if not for her husband’s past misdeeds.

I don’t know if I will ever completely forgive President Clinton. But at the same time, I appreciate the apology and his support for the #Metoo movement. If there is any silver lining in this story, it is that the #Metoo movement is not going away. It is only getting stronger and will continue to grow until women are treated equal to men.

Educated Book Review

Any writer could write a story based on their childhood.

Tara Westover could write enough stories about her childhood to fill several books. Her memoir, entitled Educated, was published earlier this year.

Ms. Westover was raised in a survivalist Mormon family in Idaho. Both of her parents were self-employed. Her mother was a herbalist and a midwife, her father ran his own junkyard. She did not step foot into a conventional classroom until she was in her late teens because her father was opposed to the public educational system. After that first taste of real education, Ms. Westover was hooked. While she slowly broke away from her family, she climbed up the educational ladder, evetually receiving her PhD from Cambridge University in 2014.

For many adults, the decision to move away from their families and the way they were raised is not easy. It requires, patience confidence and the inexplicable belief that you know that what you are doing is the right thing. I enjoyed this book not only because it is well written, but also because it is inspirational to many who would love to chart their own course, but instead they comply with what they have been taught is the right way to live.

I recommend it.