More on the Rise of the Valkyries
By At Duck of Minerva, Laura Sjoberg weighs in contra Dowd:
Instead of telling stories about “the men” and “the women” in politics, feminist international relations theorists have spent the last twenty years telling stories about the power of gender-based expectations on political interactions, from the interpersonal to the interstate… They have argued that, so long as masculinity remains a standard in politics, both men and women will be constrained by that standard.
The missiles flying over Libya were a victory for masculinity as a standard in U. S. political leadership as much as they were for the “Valkyries” that pressured the President into doing it. Any success will likely be credited to that masculinity, though any failure will likely be credited to women’s emotional and/or impulsive whims.
And Katha Pollitt spanks Robert Dreyfuss:
After all, can you imagine a piece in The Nation titled “Black President Opts for Bombs” or “Qaddafi, a Man, Threatens to Massacre Rebels, Most of Whom Are Also Men”?