Our society has failed that girl on so many levels, how to apply basic logical thinking being only one of them.

It's terribly sad that she thinks that way at 13. Hopefully, as she gets older she'll educate herself and realise how wrong that line of thinking is.

What? Britney doesn't have a blog yet? That was WAY more thoughtful than some of the crap we've heard from Chris Matthews...

You can add to your curl up these comments:

"I can't vote for Hillary, because she's hated and popular kids don't like her."

"I can't vote for Hillary, because she had a cheating husband."

"I can't vote for Hillary, because, oh, I don't know, she doesn't seem, oh, I don't know, nice."

Awful as that is, I think it speaks more about her upbringing than it does about her (actually, that's pretty awful too, to think that her parents probably put that idea into her head). Who you are at 13 isn't necessarily who you will be in 10, 5, or even three years. At that age you're still trying to find your identity and where you stand on a lot of things. I never would have identified as a feminist at 13; I thought that they all hated men (even though I was a feminist and didn't realize it). And now look at me! I read feminist blogs, magazines, books, and basically wave my feminist flag loud and proud.

It really doesn't sound like something a 13 year old would say and in that fashion. Those are not her own words.

If it is, at least we also don't have to weep for her literacy.

*sigh* I just died a little inside. I'm sure that girl's opinions have been fed to her by closed-minded parents, so I have hope that as she grows up her opinions will change, but it's still really discouraging that a parent would tell their daughter, "sorry, sweetie, only men can grow up to be whatever they want"

I was thinking about the dinner conversation and her mom is the one who is demonstrating women's roles. Sure wish her mom would vote for a female - her daughter!

I wasn't aware that George W. was in possession of a set of ovaries. Surely 9/11 wouldn't have happened if there had been a man in the while house?!

I guess Brittany heard that Ayn Coulter is backing Clinton, and is angling for her job.

When I first saw this I was hoping that the Kennewick was not the Kennewick I grew up near. But it was. There is a part of me that agrees that this letter may not have been written by a 13 yr old but the language used suggests that it could have been.

What a sad Monday.

How sad. Chances are that she's been spoonfed this crap her entire life, but still. I don't know...at 13, I didn't have any feminist role models, and I lived in a pretty rural, small town, but I was already bucking the fundamentalist beliefs that my parents held.

I hope at some point this girl is able to learn to think for herself.

My wife and I agreed that we did not want to be informed of the gender of our baby before s/he was born. Before the birth, we had several excellent discussions about what would make us happiest/most worried about having a girl or having a boy. One of the things I felt most excited about having a girl was the prospect of helping her to develop into a person that would feel proud of herself, of all females, of resisting and overcoming the patriarchal subjugation that would attempt to oppress her from the day she was born. Six years later, I still feel that responsibility, and try tremendously to shape my upbringing of her to those ends. The prospect of my daughter thinking or expressing anything remotely what the letter writer said is one of my greatest fears. If my daughter does, I would feel like such an abject failure as a parent.

I concur with GottaBeMe. At 13, I was definitely bucking at least some of my fundamentalist parents beliefs. Then again, I was also writing and believing pro-life screeds, so hopefully this 13 year old's belief will go the way of my old pro-life beliefs. Far more discouraging are the sheer number of adults who believe it. If you're on Facebook, btw, check out the US Politics application and the can a woman be as an effective president as a man debate question. You'll find many older college or high school aged young women who say no as well. *Sigh*

As I read the letter, I was sure I'd find a guy's name at the end.

I pity this girl who has been raised to think like this. Sadly, I know such things are more common than we like to admit.

Someone needs to give this child a history lesson. Some of the most kick-ass and awesome leaders in world history have been women! Women can be (and HAVE BEEN) intelligent, strong, courageous, and charismatic rulers. I see no reason why we can't look forward to many more examples of excellent female leadership.

One of my personal favorite history stories is that of Boudicca. She and her daughters were raped during the Roman occupation of England - so she led her army in a revolt, kicked their asses, and sent the Romans packing out of her kingdom. Years after her death she was still used as a "boogie man" for Romans living in England. Good story, great history...my point being, women are absolutely capable of holding high office and doing an excellent job of it, too.

I pity that girl, too. I'd like to give her parents a piece of my mind.

We'll be raising my boys to think for themselves, and for f*ck's sake (!!) to respect women enough to never even dare limit, even with opinion, what their contributions can be to society. No son (or daughter, should one come) of ours, we hope, will ever write a piece like this.

Ever.

I bet that girl's mom and/or dad listens to Rush Limbaugh in the car; she's already internalized a number of misogynist memes.

George Bush's existance SHOULD put to rest the myths about how men are fit for leadership while women are not.
Plenty of countries with female heads of state do not worry about terrorist attacks; it has nothing to do with the genitalia possessed by the country's leadership!

I never call my nearly two year old daughter "Princess." My husband and I call her "Senator" or "Governor". I'm adding "President".

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the author of that letter was prompted to write it for a religious school/homeschool project. My fundamentalist elementary school encouraged the 5th and 6th grade students to write letters to the editor because they were supposedly more impressive, more likely to get read, and more likely to be printed than the same ignorant tripe would be if it had been submitted by an adult.

I never call my nearly two year old daughter "Princess." My husband and I call her "Senator" or "Governor". I'm adding "President".

LOVE IT!

*tear* :(

I never call my nearly two year old daughter "Princess." My husband and I call her "Senator" or "Governor". I'm adding "President".

MAC1973 -- Awesome! I alternate between "Baby" and "Strong Girl"

Someone needs to show Britney this list:

http://www.filibustercartoons.com/charts_rest_female-leaders.php

And I take note that two Muslim countries (Pakistan and Bangladesh), have had female prime ministers. Now, how can terrorists from predominantly Muslim countries attack us for having female leaders if Muslim countries have female leaders?

(of course, the recent assassination of former prime minister Bhutto is worrisome...)

You are in denial if you think this girl's comment is made up.

The girls says what she sees and puts a logic to it - because there must be a reason. She'd do the same if there were no women doctors, teachers, bosses, that she ever saw. She's never seen a woman president. It's natural she'd put a logic to it.

Hell, grownups put a logic to not seeing women in all sorts of leadership -- they don't ask, they have babies, they aren't assertive, it ain't the natural order, womens just don't like to be leaders... whatever - crap. Do you think a child is so different?

On another blog, under the topic of women in technology, a liberal father who works in a Google technical group brought his daughter to work. She said to him, "Daddy are there any girls that work for Google?"

He's a liberal and she asked that question. If she put two and two together in her mind, she might naturally come to the conclusion that tech is not for girlz and girlz can't be authoritative in technology.

One of the subjects that's rarely mentioned, I think, is how to raise children in a feminist household. Clearly, this young woman's raised in her whole that does not value equality in both language and actions ...

But it brings up an issue: how can we better cater to the future men and women of next generation? How can we as aunts, uncles, brothers and sister, and even parents, bring up the dialogue of feminism to those of Brit's age?

Secondly, this is why I think Clinton and Obama being in this race is a good thing - it breaks stereotypes and myths of how "qualifies" to be president ...sometimes, the glass ceiling has to do with society's perceptions ...and I can only hope that having a woman or black person being president will be viewed as "normal" 20 years from now.

That's heartbreaking. Really.

Wow...

Does anyone else find it telling that all of these articles/books directed at analysing women or groups of women are all titled "Ways of Looking at (women/Hillary Clinton)?"

Can you say GAZE much? Holy hell. Have there ever been so many books/articles/op-ed peices written about male candidates with such an obviously biased framework?

Perhaps we all need to go back and read John Berger's "Ways of Seeing" again...

Sheesh.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/01/why-one-south-c.html

This is a little bit of a pickup.

That's a saddening letter.

GottaBeMe, Maria Ann, I think' it's awesome that you started to question your parents' thinking at 13, but for me it was not until college that I really started to question my parents' worldview. I hope that she will, in high school and college, meet people who challenge the way she thinks about the world, as I did (and continue to, even approaching 30).

Could somebody press charges against her parents for intellectually abusing her child? Please?

What's really sad is that this letter is from Washington state, which has a female Governor and two female senators (go us!), so she has plenty of examples of women in powerful roles in government. And relative to the rest of the nation, Washington is doing really well (although I am SURE that is not the story she gets in her household).

Funny--my 24-year-old cousin has the same views, and also thinks that if Hilary became president, people would have "less respect" for Americans. Riiiight, because people around the world respect Americans now with Bush as president. Whatever. This is sad, but it really is a vicious cycle. Unless little Brittany is taught that women in positions of leadership (and obviously women in general) are capable of thought and, y'know, won't bomb other countries on a whim and blame it on PMS, then she's a lost cause.

"if Hilary became president, people would have "less respect" for Americans."

Funny, I don't know about others but I would respect America MORE. I mean several countries have had women leaders and they've done just fine.

Was shocking to see who wrote the letter.

Being from Germany I could explain to her first hand, that having a female leader does more good than harm to a country...

Did I get her letter right, that women may decide on their own, but then need another (male...) person to, like, verify them?
Just like back in the good ol' days when women were not able to speak up in a court? Or like in those countries, where a womans declaration is only worth half a man's declaration?
Can't she see, that she's barking up exactly the same tree than those guys that she fears her country might been attacked by?

Okay, she's only 13... in a few years she may be hitting puberty and get rebellious against her parents. Keeping my fingers crossed....

Having spent several years in Eastern Washington (and I can't believe there are that many Kennewicks around), I can easily believe this letter.

One year I helped the Campus women's organization on my campus do a presentation on women in history to an elementary school class, and more than one student talked about how it was impossible for women to be astronauts, policemen or the president.

The poor women I was there with just did not know how to handle that.

It's sad that a 13-year-old girl thinks "if Hilary became president, people would have "less respect" for Americans."

As an European (I'm from Finland) I can say both the media and regular people are very supportive of both Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama. Bush, on the other hand, has never gotten much respect over here... But maybe Brittany doesn't want respect from Europeans. :)

I wish this girl had more positive role models. I remember that when I was a kid, I was really proud that Iceland had a female president. (Vigdís Finnbogadóttir was president 1980-1996.) I'm really happy that now Finland too has a female president. In 2000, when Tarja Halonen was elected, we too had to endure stupid questions like "can a woman be president". But things were easier here, because Elisabeth Rehn had already paved the way by coming in second in the 1994 presidential elections. Also in the 2000 elections, when Finland's first female president was elected, of the 7 presidential candidates, 4 were women and only 3 were men.

Well Brittany is only 13 and is not fully educated, but perhaps she could do herself a favor by paying attention in history class. If she had payed attention she would learn that long ago in a culture far far away a woman ruled a country and her subjects believed her to a be a God -- Cleopatra of Egypt.

Also let us not forget that Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Anne, Queen Victoria rule England. A Catherine ruled Russsia, a Queen Catherine shared power in Spain, as did Queen Mary (with William) shared power in England.

In modern times Israel had a woman leader, so did the United Kingdom, as well as India, and if I am not mistaken Germany currently has a woman as a leader.

So my question to Brittany would be: It woman were not meant to be the leaders of countries, why has it happend so often?

Our president deals with some countries that don't respect or allow women in leadership positions.

So if these countries said that they wouldn't deal with the American president unless they were Muslim? Or Indo-American? Or trans-gendered? Would American's be writing letters about how they can't vote for a while rich Christian male? Sadly, I doubt it.

I hope this girl manages to find her real self-worth because with this mindset I doubt she realized her full potential as a human being.

Were the paper's editors just giggling with delight when they got this letter?

Why would a paper publish this, anyway? Just to give a virtual high-five to the patriarchy?

Someone should write a letter in response.

I particularly like this line: "It woman were not meant to be the leaders of countries, why has it happend so often?"

I'd also like to tell this girl that her viewpoint is not unlike the viewpoint held by the "terrorists" she says she fears.

This brings to mind the time I overheard an otherwise intelligent colleague saying women are "too emotional" to be president. I wanted to scream at her but...yeah...too ironic. :b

I guess Brittany heard that Ayn Coulter is backing Clinton, and is angling for her job.

I have no idea if that was an intentional reference to Ayn Rand, but I giggled.

That is a sad letter, but she is 13, and may change her mind. That said, I identified as a feminist from a very young age, in spite of the fact that my mother didn't (still doesn't, appalling) and that my brother said feminists were all ugly man-hating lesbians. I stopped believing anything he said by age three, so his believing that was just a bonus.
I actually realized I was a feminist at about nine, when I wondered why a woman always had to be killed in the James Bond movies. This led to a general dismay with how movies and tv so cavalierly killed and abused women. Why were women and girls always victims? That's when I became a feminist.

If she is in Washington I too am depressed. Not only does WA have a female governor - we are also leading the way in some kick ass legislation. We were the first state to pass anti trafficking legislation and we consistently have the highest minimum wage in the country.

Just one more reason why the work we do is so important. The happiest day of my life will be the day we run out of work and I am unemployed.

It's sad that this girl has never been taught about Margaret Thatcher, Golda Mair, or Indira Ghandi (just to name a few) in school

that's just ridiculous

It's sad that this girl has never been taught about Margaret Thatcher, Golda Mair, or Indira Ghandi (just to name a few) in school

that's just ridiculous

Jeez what a depressing letter. I just hope someone in her hometown has a more enlightened perspective and decides to mentor her.
I didn't call myself a feminist at 13, but my parents (esp. my Mom) made sure I thought I could do anything I put my mind to. Of course, now my Mom listens to Rush Limbaugh, and I'm a proud feminist. What happened?

Our president deals with some countries that don't respect or allow women in leadership positions. I wonder if the United States would have more terrorist attacks because we would be seen as weak with a woman leader.

I wouldn't expect that a 13-year-old would recognize that her president also governs a country where people don't respect women in leadership roles -- namely, her! Hopefully, she will read up on women leaders from around the world, past and present, and formulate a more logical and well-rounded opinion on the matter.

If you live on the dry side of Washington you know all to well that these thoughts are not unique to Brittany.

Not only do the mountains keep the moisture in Seattle -- they tend to keep the liberal thought on that side, too.

I'd love to write a reponse, but you only get one a month in the TC Herald, I'm saving mine for the first person who attacks Friday's letter write who talked about the tragic mess that is abstinence-only sex education.

My grandmother, who'll be ninety-four on St. Patrick's Day, voted by absentee ballot for Hillary Clinton this past week. She came over for Sunday dinner yesterday and yelled at me, my parents and my aunt about how a woman is just as smart as a man, while my super-Republican aunt, to her credit, minded her own business, and my mother, a Hillary-hating Democrat, made nasty asides to the rest of us and repeatedly yelled back at my grandmother that nobody thinks women aren't as smart as men anymore, that's not why people don't vote for her, and my dad laughed to himself under his breath, thinking God knows what about women and Hillary and his mother and his sister and his daughter and his wife.

And then my grandmother turned the conversation to how wives who work outside the home and/or expect their husbands to help take care of the kids are horrible and selfish and ungrateful. More than once my aunt, in her efforts to steer my grandmother onto more gender-neutral ground, winked at me and told me to pay attention, lest I somehow come away with the idea that after college I have no other options than to marry a nice law student and start making babies. I'll have to figure out a way to let her know I'm way ahead of her.

My grandmother's nuts, and sexist, and by rights probably doesn't even have the mental capacity to cast an informed vote anymore, but she was born six years before the nineteenth amendment was passed, and she's thrilled to death that she finally got to vote for a viable female candidate, and without being a particular Clinton supporter, I would be so psyched for her if she got to see a woman take office before she died. More psyched than I am for myself about the possibility that the first election I get to vote in will result in a female president.

When stuff like what's in this letter is said by thirty-five-year-old men, it's infuriating; when it's said by thirteen-year-old girls, it's like knives sliding between your ribs. But I know this shit can change, and I know no one who reads this site is going to forget about it.

Here's something ironic. I also lived in Kennewick when I was 13, and while cleaning out my desk, found an essay I wrote when I was 13 the other day: "How does Society Promote and Reflect our Current Culture's Views on the Importance of Beauty in Women?"

My mom was not a feminist. I am, and decided to educate her. I think it is possible to have opinions separate from your socialization. Unfortunately, I don't live in Kennewick anymore, or else I'd try to find that girl. Also, from the look of her writing compared to this essay I just found-- Kennewick's education system is seriously failing her.

Israel, Pakistan, India, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Liberia, Jamaica, Chile, the U.K. and Norway.
Those are the countries I can think of off the top of my head that have a had a female head of state (or do currently have.)
Aside from critical thinking, this girl needs to learn some history and read the newspaper.

"It really doesn't sound like something a 13 year old would say and in that fashion. Those are not her own words."

Either that or those are the letter writer's own words and the letter writer isn't really 13.

In this day and age of some people posting all sorts of intimate details about themselves online, it seems easier to forget that other people can reveal much less on the internet.

Maybe the letter writer sent it in from a Hotmail address and isn't even really female, Anglo, in Washington state and/or anything else "BRITTANY BAYLES, 13, Kennewick" implies...

*sigh*

i wasn't aware that all the other countries who already have female leaders were being attacked so frequently...did i miss something? are they all weak and vulnerable too...

BTW, MAC, that is AWESOME! i call my Kid "tough girl", and now i am going to add "president".

There is no way she wasn't coached. You know she heard "make descions but not confirm them" from someone in her family, thirteen yr olds don't really have the kind of grasp of language....unless she is terribly precocious, in which case Ann Coulter should fear for her job.

"I wonder if the United States would have more terrorist attacks because we would be seen as weak with a woman leader."

We experienced terrorist attacks with the dickbag that's in office right now and he's not a woman.

I don't feel that bad about this letter. It sounds like she's just repeating what her parents say, as most kids do around that age. She'll probably change her mind when she grows up.

WTF does making a decision but not confirming it mean anyway? Doesn't sound like much of a decision to me.

ugh. My problem is that whenever I see something like this, I automatically assume it's just satire done poorly. It's probably naive of me, but I always have a hard time believing these people exist.

If I have a daughter (and I hope to, someday, have one, or two and a son as well), I hope I will have raised her well enough to know better.

Women can be brave and intimidating, even the ones you don't expect. Dr. Ruth, after all, used to be a sniper. But I'm preaching to the choir here.

I guess the point is, her parents have raised her to be a future FSTDT contributer. Plenty on the religious right do this double speak all the time "oh, women can do anything, EXCEPT ( list of important things here)" Every time, they play it off as if it weren't sexist, and it doesn't get challenged because they're talking to kids who haven't got their own opinions yet, or adults so throughtly brainwashed it doesn't occur to them.

Maybe it's just me, but I have a hard time believing an actual 13 year-old wrote something like that. A typical kid that age, in most cases, would be in 8th grade and should have a better understanding of global events and be able to craft a slightly more mature argument than the above letter. Of course, if I am wrong and 13 year-old Brittany from Kennewick is actually responsible for that, her parents, language arts teachers, and social studies teachers should all be beaten with sticks because that shit is just pathetic.

Gee, talking about Thatcher and Meir...what are you smoking?

All the little school children get that pictorial layout of row after row of presidents-and not a one of them has been a woman. They may even have to memorize some or state fact important to their presidency - not a one a woman.

Teach them history? Hell, our history doesn't have a woman president to put on currency. She is correct in observing that.

It will take one or several being in there for acceptance - don't kid yourself on how powerful that will be. Or how important that is.

I'm fourteen, and I can confirm that that's how many girls my age view it. While we are living in the most free time for women, the idea that women are not strong enough, and even though we often joke about how dumb boys are, or smart enough has been crammed into our minds. It's sad, but not uncommon and has been shown to us by the media for a long time. You have to have a very pro-women's rights upbringing to get past it. Siill, there's hope for us, don't worry. Most of us are un-informed idiots right now. Give it a couple of years.
(I don't think it was written by a thirteen year old, though. The sentences are to choppy while we ramble on. More like a person pretending to be young. I'm glad they didn't add a 'yo' or 'dude' to it. It does have what sounds like the bare facts a kid my age would know and assumptions they would make.)

This makes me sad because a girl in my Gender and Women's Studies class the other day said nearly the exact same thing: that a woman shouldn't be president because other countries won't respect us. It is frustrating that even some college women think that.

Elinah is correct. Most thirteen year olds tend towards run-on sentences in informal writing. Especially if they feel strongly about a subject.
As an adult, we refer to this as a "rant" or "getting on the soapbox".
The content and sentence structure in this letter are not an attempt to be concise or clear. The writer is likely a younger child inflating her age or an adult imposter.

Though I think the Tri-City Herald should have known better than to publish this, they are very thorough about confirming the letter-writer's authenticity.

bjayjay81 is right - most newspapers would check a letter writer's authenticity

I'm sure a 13-year old could've written this. Choppy sentences can be done by young writers before they start to use more conjunctions and make more complex sentences. I guess I can see the logic. A woman has never ruled her country. There must be a reason. So she thinks personality reasons rather than societal reasons.

Actually, it's standard newspaper practice in editorials to call the person who sent in a letter to the editor, to ensure they are the correct person ...I'd suggest looking up a middle school from the town she wrote, and call them to see if she exists, but it's a bit creepy and stalkerish ...

Would it be wrong for us to vote for Clinton, merely because of her sex, simply to break the glass ceilings and show young girls and boys that women can be presidents, too?

As horrifyingly sad as that letter is, I don't doubt for one second that it was written by a thirteen year old. I certainly could have (perhaps would have) written something like that at her age, a combination of the politics I heard and my own attempts to rationalize them.

*eyeroll*

I think this ranks neck-and-neck with Megatron saying humanity doesn't deserve to live: random, ignorant, ridiculous, arbitrary, subjective bullshit from someone who a) doesn't know any better, and b) has something to gain ego-wise from holding that position, and so c) doesn't bother to learn any better. And who gives a shit about such trivialities as accuracy and negative effects on other people when believing something makes you happy and inflicting it on others makes your own life more convenient.

(This is why they keep attacking our self-esteem. Because she finds the validation of men for her sexism, and the superiority it enables her to feel over other women, to be valuable. When you're poor in self-esteem, it makes cheap, flashy trinkets like these seem valuable and important.)

According to a person on my flickr page (Can you believe we are debating on a flickr page!?!) women shouldn't be in charge either...

see for yourself:
http://flickr.com/photos/gaiasrose/459944855/?addedcomment=1#comment72157603854446882

It's turned into quite the interesting and baseless conversation, I can't even really call it a debate because she is slinging "facts and information" at us that is without ground or logic...now off to read the rest of the comments here...

Whether the letter is real or not, my concern is the media messages that little girls are getting today. How many little girls get their ideas of what they should dream to be when they grow up from watching Disney movies and TV? Did you read in the news about parents lying about Iraq war veteran status to get tickets to the Hannah Montana show? I was walking through Macy's before Christmas and checked the price tag on a gold tulle and lame Disney trademarked "princess" dress; 68 bucks! Do we really want our daughters and in my case granddaughters to aspire to be or emulate Britney or Lindsey or Miley? It's all about the U.S. obsession with celebrities, wealth, and consumerism. Our girls need role models who give something besides entertainment and self-absorption to the world - teachers, scientists, entrepreneurs, problem solvers, government leaders, take your pick - but puhleeze! Let's take back from Disney and all the other marketers the role of inspiring our daughters with real female heroes.

This echoes a discussion I had in class today with a guy in my philosophy class. He was adamant that women can't be leaders like men. He gave some half-ass example about his ROTC experience when a woman leader dropped out because she became pregnant. I told him that you cant cast all women as bad leaders just because of one example. I told him I could name plenty of crappy male leaders. He kept saying a shit load of other sexist crap about women should only work part-time because after all they had the kids so its more her responsibility than his, (and some crap example of his mom not being home enough ever since she stopped being a homemaker when he was 4, along with his father, but its always the mother who gets blamed-right?), how women are used to accepting sexism, how feminism isnt applicable in todays society, ect, ect, ect

I think we can stop this crap if we had a more open dialogue in society to air out these kinds of idiocy. If its in front of us, then we can deconstruct it. Though its never an excuse for these kinds of sexist outlooks to be had. I shouldnt ever have to hear, 'women cant be as good of leaders as men' from my own college attending generation.

EXTRA: This is Gopher, but I forgot my member name so I had to sign up under a new one!!

i think it's so sad that people of any age think that women can't or shouldn't be world leaders.

when i was in 5th grade, my class had to create a magazine cover featuring ourselves as adults and write a biography of our future selves-- how we got to where we were. mine was a time magazine cover announcing me as the first female president. i don't remember which year i picked-- 2012 is the first i'll be old enough to be prez, but i think i pushed it back a couple election cycles, to get some experience under my belt. i've since lost any interest in politics (lost student council prez in 8th grade) but i do remember looking back on it once i was old enough to know & embrace the term "feminist" and thinking, well, god i hope someone gets there before then.

sadly, that really is a real letter.

I thought exactly the same things when I was that age - blindly believing what I'd been raised to think.

The reasoning I was given: God created men to be the final decision makers, over and above women.
So.....

You're a mother? Well, you can have opinions, but your husband (because you have to be straight and married to have children) can veto anything you say, and you'd better submit to his will.

You're a husband? You should protect your wife in all ways. Treat her gently, as she is delicate. But remember, if you can't control your own family, you're not fit to lead anything else.

You want to be a preacher, preist, or president? Well, you'd better be a man for that. Because God doesn't want women in positions of authority over men.

.............................

If that little girl is in a homeschool/religious school, it may even be a while longer before she's exposed to things that make her challenge those beliefs. I shudder to think what I would be like had I not chosen to go to university.

I find this really sad. My mother is a feminist (So I never had a chance :P) so I was always very proud that my country (Ireland) had (and still has) a female president. It's such a shame that any girl could see a female in power as anything other than an inspiration. And as to a loss of respect from other countries: in most of Europe there's been a great loss of faith in America since Bush has been in power. A female president could go a long way to improving relations with Europe at least. It's terrible that this girl has had the message that women can't run the country rammed down her throat so many times that she has no faith in women's abilities

'I was always very proud that my country (Ireland) had (and still has) a female president.'

I shouldve mentioned Ireland as a place with a female leader!
The asshole I debated asked if I could name any women leaders. Some of the ones I named he didnt even know of. He brushed over when I mentioned Queen Elizabeth. I had to grasp for well known ones as he had no idea who some of the others were. He only wanted to see his sexist presumptions.

'God created men to be the final decision makers, over and above women.'

This is what my mom believed after reading 'Dr.' Laura Schessinger's book, "The Proper Care and Feeding of a Husband." She was having marriage difficulties and read that crap book. She started believing traces of that trash. She took the blame of her marriage difficulties on herself. It took me 5 years to get some of that crap out of her head!

'If that little girl is in a homeschool/religious school, it may even be a while longer before she's exposed to things that make her challenge those beliefs.'

Thats why I'm for some sort of proper screenings of parents that choose to homeschool their kids. We cant have people believing in creationism theory! Often homeschooling is just a way for a parent to institute their propaganda. No one should have to be so devoid of the real workings of the world and about their identity as a female. They should not believe of themselves as incapable due to their gender, and homeschool should never be used to institute that self-identity. Its highly exploitive. All it is, is brainwashing.

Good example: Jesus camp.

'One of my personal favorite history stories is that of Boudicca. She and her daughters were raped during the Roman occupation of England - so she led her army in a revolt, kicked their asses, and sent the Romans packing out of her kingdom.'

One of my personal favorites too!

I attend graduate school very close to the city where this appeared. I forwarded it to my friend who grew up in the Tri Cities and she wrote a response to the article and it looks like it is going to be published soon (she was contacted by the paper already). So stay tuned for a response to Brittnay that occured only because of feministing!