Congrats Toronto, proud of this city right now. Olivia’s double digit lead over Bradford is truly amazing, especially since the polls were too close for comfort. I’m extra proud of the strong grassroots efforts that made this happen
Hilariously, Bradford’s own ward went 2:1 for Olivia, making him the biggest loser of the night 😂
Jack Layton has been dead for 15 years. At some point his wife’s wins should be considered her own.
At what fucking point did a comment about her husband diminish one iota of her success? Is that a risk in your world, and all it says about your respect for women?
Holy fuck.
If, after 15 years, someone’s first and only response to a woman’s success is to talk about her husband, that’s sexism.
Sheesh. Glad most of this country doesn’t think like you.
He wasn’t perfect, far from it, but he was a force for good in Canadian politics. He was the only federal politician, in my life so far, that gave the slightest bit of fk for the workers and the poor.
Mentioning her husband doesn’t take anything away from her own accomplishments. I don’t know her personally, but I doubt she’d get butthurrt over people remembering him and missing him.
It’s not a reflection on Jack. I loved him. So much that I campaigned for him pretty hard as I was living in his riding: phonebanking, door knocking, the whole deal. It’s not about him, which is rather the point. It was a post about an entirely different person’s accomplishments, and your first and only comment was to talk about how great her husband was. That’s sexist.
If it helps, consider the absurdity of switching the sexes.
Jack and Olivia are married for some time, each with their own accomplishments. Olivia starts a promising career as leader of the NDP and tragically dies of Cancer. Jack spends the next 15 years doing great things in Toronto, working into a role as the new mayor. He’s got fans and supporters and laundry list of accomplishments. He wins another election, and someone chimes in to say: “I miss Olivia. She was great”.
The only rational answer to that is:
Of course, no one would say something like that because it’s absurd. Even if long-dead-Olivia was great, that greatness is irrelevant to Jack’s massive achievement. Citing it, intentionally or not, is to somehow ascribe her greatness to him, and that’s pretty silly.
And yet people do it to women all the time.
I didn’t see it as the first and only comment, so I didn’t get the same impression or reading as you.
I also don’t find your example absurd at all. It’s purely your assumption that such examples never happen in real life.
Your entire tone comes across pretentious, presumptuous and hostile. I’m glad most of the country doesn’t think or act like you.
Dude’s dead and still adored in the country he served all his life.I highly doubt Olivia Chow will see it as an attack on her accomplishments just because people still remember her dead husband.
There people who do diminish a woman’s personal accomplishments by assigning the credit of her success to her husband. I don’t think it’s as rampant and pervasive as you’re implying.
Nobody in Toronto voted for her because of the dead guy who’s last name she didn’t take as is the norm in traditional western christian marriages. She got elected as the mayor of the Centre of the Universe on merit. Twice.
Here’s you:
Also you:
You might want to re-evaluate just who’s being hostile here. I’ll own the pretentious label though. I’m not trying to come off that way, but I’ve been told that my writing can sometimes read like that.
I have been to funerals for women, funerals where they highlight at the funeral the accomplishments of the woman’s dead husband. This sort of sexism is far more common than you appear to believe. The fact that you jumped to the accomplishments of Chow’s long-dead husband in the face of her monumental current achievements is, whether you want to acknowledge it or not, sexism. Had you diminished her achievements and compared them to Layton’s that’d be sexist too — worse really — but that doesn’t make your initial comment any better.
I get it, nobody likes it when people point out something you’ve done as shitty. It’s especially bad when you don’t think the label fits because you don’t recognise what you’ve said as terrible, and the intent wasn’t there. But that’s how this stuff works, it’s why sexism is systemic rather than explicit. It’s the water we’re swimming in and it’s often not easy to recognise.
I get that you weren’t trying to be shitty here, but you said a shitty thing. Maybe you don’t see it yet, but I’m hoping that this will at least start you on the path to getting you there some day.
At what fucking point did a comment about her husband diminish one iota of her success? Is that a risk in your world, and all it says about your respect for women?
Holy fuck.
Are you feeling okay? Intoxicated or just angry?
Or genuinely honest mistake and replied to the wrong person, quoting something I never said…
Yes, shifty people like that do exist who refuse to give women their rightful credit as individuals. I’m not one of those people.
Oh yeah, totally my bad. I hadn’t realised that there were three people in this thread! I’m not intoxicated, though I am quite tired. I’m signing off on this whole thread now.
Jack Layton fans are annoying at this point. They all forgot the time he got caught getting a massage from a unregistered therapist.
My step bro was on the tarmac for one of JL’s daily gaffes. We still talk about it occasionally.
You’ll find I never said he was anything like perfect; just missed.