The Young Turks

During the interview, Cenk theorized that one reason younger women are more likely to vote for Obama than older women are is because women have "won" equal rights.  So, while the older women fought for them, the younger women enjoy the benefits of equal rights.  Therefore, voting for a woman is not as important to younger women since they have not experienced the same battles as older women.

I recognize that there have been vast improvements in women's rights but I also think we still have a ways to go.  The mere fact that women make 77 cents for every dollar a man makes is proof that we aren't treated equally.  If you need more, women do not represent half of our elected officials.  Just because one woman campaigns for the presidential nominee is not enough.  If half of our elected presidents are women, then you may be able to say we have "won."  Women are also not equally represented in business.  They do not represent half of all managers and only 1% of CEO's of Fortune 500 companies are women.  Countless women are beaten by their partners and one in eight women will be raped in their lifetime.  Some say that figure is closer to one in four since rape crisis centers frequently report that only half of women go to the police after a rape.  All of these facts reveal a clear picture of sexism and injustice.

I think that in order to continue to correct these injustices, we need to recognize them first.  I think that Cenk saying women have "won" equal rights is like saying black people have "won" equal rights.  Most people agree that racism still exists and I think we need to agree that sexism also obviously exists.

The reason I have been using quotes around the word Cenk used, " won," is because it frames the goal of equal rights as a war.  In that case, who are women fighting?  Men?  I don't think we need to put men down in order to bring women up.  There is room for all of us.  After all, men are our husbands, fathers, brothers and sons.  Since our lives are inextricably linked, I think a strong argument can be made for the fact that if women are treated better, men can only benefit from that.

Wow, I didn't mean to come off as so serious but I really do think these are important points that need to be made.  I'll include a fun poll to lighten the mood.