Surprise, Surprise: Rich Bitch Author Not Really a Feminist

.When will we get it through our heads? All rich people are thieves and parasites who care about nothing except ensuring they get to keep stealing from the rest of us without having to do any real work

So of course the author of the execreble "Lean In" is honoring a despicably anti-woman member of Congress.

Kathleen Geier at Political Animal:

But you’d probably figure that, if an allegedly feminist organization like Lean In is honoring her, she must have at least some sort of a decent record on women. Is she pro-choice, maybe? Or at a bare minimum, a supporter for equal pay, perhaps?

Sorry — no, and no. The New Republic’s Mark Tracy has the goods here. It turns out that Ros-Lehtinen is an anti-feminist nightmare whose anti-woman politics are not a shade different from Phyllis Schlafly’s. As Tracy writes:

— She voted to withdraw federal funding for Planned Parenthood and Title X. She presumably supported the defunding because Planned Parenthood and Title X provide family planning services, but they also screen for cancer in women.

— Her voting record on abortion issues earned her a nice round 0 percent from NARAL Pro-Choice America.

— She voted for the deceptively titled Working Families Flexibility Act, which opponents—including nearly all House Democrats, President Obama, unions, and worker advocacy groups—believe would enable employers to cheapen federal overtime requirements and to encourage employees to spend more time at home rather than earning more money at work.

— Most starkly, she voted against the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which gave women the practical ability to sue over alleged equal-pay violations.

This is disgusting, and Sheryl Sandberg and the Lean In organization should be ashamed of themselves. Women have died for the lack of abortions and free cancer screenings which Ros-Lehtinen has cruelly voted to deny them.

SNIP

But while Lean In has little to do with feminism in any meaningful sense, it does, I think, have a lot to do with feminism’s increasingly close collaboration with neoliberalism. As Nancy Fraser wrote last year, “the movement for women’s liberation has become entangled in a dangerous liaison with neoliberal efforts to build a free-market society.” She continued:

feminist ideas that once formed part of a radical worldview are increasingly expressed in individualist terms. Where feminists once criticised a society that promoted careerism, they now advise women to “lean in”. A movement that once prioritised social solidarity now celebrates female entrepreneurs. A perspective that once valorised “care” and interdependence now encourages individual advancement and meritocracy.

Do be sure to read Fraser’s entire essay — it’s short. And also, check out Susan Faludi’s great piece about Sandberg and feminism in the current issue of The Baffler. It’s several months old, so you may have read it already. But if you didn’t, have a look. It’s one of the smartest things that has yet been written about the Sandberg phenomenon. Unlike so many feminists whose work I usually respect, Faludi is independent-minded enough to see Sandbergism for the dubious proposition that it is.

 I'll bet Sandberg donates to repugs and steals the wages from her undocumented servants. The only lessons she has for women are negative ones.