January 26, 2021 by admin

“Dr. Jill Biden Earned Her Title.”

Wall Street Journal writer Joseph Epstein’s condescending attempt to convince Dr. Jill Biden to drop the Dr. in favor the “Mrs.” which he opens by saying “Madame First Lady—Mrs. Biden—Jill—kiddo,” is actually an attempt to belittle her. And to belittle all women who have the audacity to display their legitimate credentials, which, once again, they have earned.

The message is clear: her identity doesn’t matter. Her achievements are irrelevant. Her intellect is offensive. She—and all women—should stay in our lane, which is to be happy assuming the title of wives to our husbands.

The most enraging part of this rant is his attack not just on academia itself, but on Dr. Biden’s actual research. Her dissertation explores ways to retain community college students. Epstein
dismisses this as “not promising.” It is not just promising but vital. Dr. Biden’s research is deeply worthy, highly relevant, and vital to the future of our nation. Epstein’s dismissal of community college students and indeed community college professors, of which Dr. Biden is a proud example, reveals an elitist, classist, and myopic view of the nature of education and
its value. So who the hell is he—with his honorary doctorate and his BA—to dismiss it? Who the hell is he to claim expertise on anything to do with her research at all? I know he is a man, but Dr. Biden is a doctor of education. Trust me, on this (and many other things), she knows more.

The pandemic has taken a deep toll on everyone; female academics have been particularly hard-hit compared to their male counterparts. We also understand what motivates Epstein’s article, and it’s not a concern that someone will mistakenly turn to Dr. Biden in a medical emergency. Epstein proudly rejects a title he did not earn, even as he resents the conferral of honorary degrees on, in particular, Black women. Every woman who has ever earned a doctorate and been asked for coffee or directions to the professor’s office has met a man like Epstein. But, with one of the most visible women in the country proudly using her title and inspiring so many other women to insist on theirs, perhaps our chorus can cause him and others like him, including the WSJ editors who continue to support the article, to just for once shut the hell up and listen to the experts: the women with doctorates like me and Dr. Jill Biden.

—

SHARRONA PEARL, The Lilith Blog, December, 2020.

Continue Reading

The Lilith Blog

July 29, 2020 by admin

AOC, Ted Yoho and The Origin of Vulgarity

Last Monday, Republican Rep.Ted Yoho, from the steps of the Capitol, called Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez disgusting, crazy, dangerous, and a “fucking bitch” insulting and harassing her in front of colleagues and reporters.  On Wednesday, Yoho offered a non-apology on the House floor, stating that despite regretting his “abrupt” manner of conversation, he could not apologize for his passion. He couldn’t apologize for being a God-loving patriot and “family man,” using the all-too-common tactic of deploying his daughters and wife as shields for his misogynistic behavior. 

Continue Reading

The Lilith Blog

August 20, 2018 by JoAnn Abraham

#MeToo, The Supreme Court, and Immigration Cruelty: Connected by Misogyny

At this summer’s ESPY, Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly, awards, the 141 survivors of sexual abuse by Dr. Larry Nassar (one of them was Olympian Aly Raisman) received a standing ovation. These women athletes had suffered for decades in silence, shamed into believing that they were at fault, or that what the doctor was doing was all right. They weren’t, and it wasn’t.

As the future of Roe v. Wade seems to waver, I thought about how, in this day and age, these young women weren’t even sure they had the right to determine when and by whom they could be touched. Only in the months since #MeToo did that change.

Continue Reading