A gaggle of Princeton coeds at Nassau Gate. April, 2015. Paul Goldfinger photo © Click to enlarge.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
The last time we tried to bring up a controversial subject about women on Blogfinger, ie objectification of women in our society, the response from women in the BF audience was underwhelming. But maybe that topic was too abstract or just not relevant. The latter was my opinion.
Last week I was listening to Dennis Prager, a radio talk show host who likes to discuss cultural issues. He said that he met a bright young woman in her twenties doing security work in Israel.
He asked her if she were married, and she said, “No.” She gave the same reply when asked if she had a boyfriend.
Then he asked her, “Would you like to have a boyfriend?”
And she replied, “No, I would like to have a husband.”
I thought that was a fascinating reply and so did Prager. He and his audience had a lengthy discussion on the subject; once a week he has a “male/female hour” on his show.
Prager thought that few woman in America in that same demographic would reply the way the Israeli did because our college age women seem to want to “play the field” and delay commitment while they pursue careers.
Prager was critical of the American approach saying that it was flawed in terms of what’s best for society and what’s best for women, and especially because, according to him, the best time for a woman to find a husband is when she is in college.
A few days ago, the NY Times mentioned an article by Maureen Dowd where she interviewed many women working in Hollywood. One of the quotes interested me regarding our topic today. It is a quote by Amy Heckerling, a writer and director for the movies.
She said, “I can’t stand most of the movies marketed to women. They are all about finding guys and weddings, weddings, weddings. I don’t care about weddings.”
Then, I told a friend about Prager’s remarks , and he was incensed saying that Prager was being condescending and was clinging to old fashioned ways of viewing American women.
I thought that Prager was correct as far as college being a good time to “find a husband,” but, notwithstanding that observation, contemporary American women have different priorities and life-schedules than one or two generations ago.
So what do you think?
BILLIE HOLIDAY