The voice of modern woman

In her new book, Break, Blow, Burn, Camille Paglia chooses several poems and poets I didn't know, including Rochelle Kraut's My Makeup.

My Makeup

on my cheeks I wear
the flush of two beers

on my eyes I use
the dark circles of sleepless nights
to great advantage

for lipstick
I wear my lips

Dr. Paglia reads this as an expression of sexual confidence and "modernist anxiety."   I see the confidence, but it's not the confidence of the "liberated" woman.  It's the personal confidence of the worldly woman: She Who Has Graduated from the School of Hard Knocks. 

The first image that came to me was not of a young confident woman who flaunts her "dark circles of sleepless nights" as "trophies of women's hard-won freedom to roam and loiter."  Instead, I saw the aging aunts and cousins' wives from the big immigrant family parties of my childhood.   They would sit together at the picnic table, their costume jewelry clinking against their glasses of mixed drinks, High Balls and Manhattans.  I remember one aunt made a statement by drinking beer (Schaefer, Schlitz, or Budweiser, of course).   

Some wore a lot of makeup; others none at all.  Most had no formal higher education, but they were all street-smart and confident women.  Smartasses, was the word their husbands used.  After a few High Balls, they'd get downright raunchy, smoking like chimneys, swearing like sailors and barking orders to their husbands.

"Hey, Louie, can you cook this goddamn bergha.  It's so fuckin' raw, I'm gonna milk it tomorrow mornin'."

When I think of today's "liberated" woman I have the image of a narcissistic, bulimic loner, drinking a low- carb beer and wondering why the latest boyfriend wouldn't call even though she gave him a blowjob last Saturday.

God, what happened?

Comments

[Bruce Brownlee]

Tough celebrity broads used to appear on television talk shows. Perhaps they smiled too much, and sometimes seemed to be having trouble reading cue cards; this was because were drunk. Now, Strong Women do the round of interview programs every time they go into detox; one wishes they could just read cue cards and leave.

[TheLeague]

There are few tough broads left. I grew up with them, but they're not my peers. Ruthlessness has replaced the tough broad. Which is sad. To be ruthless requires you to empty yourself of moral judgement, and that empties you of character, as well. That can lead to some petty power plays, but never to true leadership positions.

When did feminists decide that this was the best way for women to gain "power?" It's as if an entire political philosophy has been influenced by cable T.V. shows written by gay men in Hollywood.

[Bruce Brownlee]

Exactly.

One hears so many paeans to "strong women" nowadays. It seems a nice enough phrase, and I took it to mean exactly what it said -- i.e., strong women -- until about the thousandth time I heard it. Because the women to whom it was applied in the media were often women who -- well, "strong" wasn't the first word that came to mind. Simpering, perhaps; self-obsessed, possibly; disturbed, often; quite mad, more than once -- but strong, no.

When I hear the phrase now, I use this test, which my wife thinks is a good one: Could I describe this "strong woman" as a "tough broad"? If so, fine. If not -- send her back to the encounter group.

But I have attempted the "tough broad" equivalency test with a few acquaintances who have used the term "strong woman," usually in hushed, laudatory terms, as though the phenomenon, whatever it is, were very rare (though personified by All the Right People.) They have let me know, often strongly, that I am misguided.

Tough broads in the old days, though, huh?