In a Newsday column today titled Pelosi’s Position is a Start, the writer makes great points about Nancy Pelosi’s coming to power as the first woman speaker of the house – as she says “two heartbeats away from the Presidency.” I agree with the writer that this wouldn’t be such a high point of conversation if women were already accepted as true equals … the exception should be the rule.
But what really makes her column stand out for this boomer is the comment that “the biggest challenge for any woman in power is to get her male colleagues … to stop thinking of her sexuality and focus on what’s between her ears.” Again, we can agree with that. I get the twitches though when the writer says “In this respect, Pelosi can put herself on cruise control: the 66-year-old mother of five and former vineyard owner … is not a distraction, or by extension a threat.” According to the writer, at her age, Pelosi’s “twilight years” gives her the freedom to be smart and effective without the ridicule of a reporter’s focus on her hair or clothing.
Hello! I bet if anyone asks soon to be speaker Pelosi whether she’s a threat to her colleagues as a powerful, smart, accomplished woman … well, I wouldn’t want to take that bet. And at 66, she can still be sexual, passionate and loving. Ask her that as well.
Eileen Marcus