Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Lady binders

We live in interesting times indeed. Life no longer moves at the speed of light. It moves at the speed of meme. So now for all of you political watchers, here is my favorite insta-meme from last night's presidential debate. Mitt Romney and his "Binders Full of Women." I mean, if we can't laugh at this shit we just end up crying uncontrollably.

For those who didn't watch Barry v. Mittens Take 2, the quote came out of a question about women's pay equity. Romney waxed on about an anecdote from when he was elected governor in Massachusetts. And, gosh darn, if all the candidates for his candidate positions weren't men. So he damned they bring him some women and sought them out himself.

And he said he: "went to a number of women's groups and said, "Can you help us find folks," and they brought us whole binders full of women."

Ladies belong in the kitchen – er, I mean in binders, amirite fellas?

The funny thing is, according to the Boston Phoenix, that's not even true. The women's groups had already compiled those "binders full of women" and presented them to him without being implored when he came into office. Also, in case you didn't notice, Mitt never actually answered how he fell about pay equity for women - just binders filled with them.

Anyway, #bindersfullofwomen trended on Twitter and spawned an immediate Tumblr and in general caused much merriment among political watchers because, come on, who says they have binders full of women? In the first debate, zero mention of women. In the second debate, we're all in binders. Oh, Series of Tubes, thanks for making me not have to cry alone in a corner. Good thing nobody puts baby in a binder.

9 comments:

Carmen SanDiego said...

I'm still undecided which was more offensive: binders of women, single moms cause gun violence or equal pay turning into flexible schedule for cooking dinner.

Anonymous said...

The answer is all, all was offensive. But what do you expect from a religious fundamentalist who belongs to a cult in which the woman's primary role is to have a brood of children?

Though, to be honest, it's not just his views on women I find offensive. It's everything about him.

Kristan said...

@Anonymous-
I'm not a Romney supporter, but I don't think it's fair/right to call him (or any Mormon) "a religious fundamentalist who belongs to a cult." That's as ignorant-sounding as the offensive comments you're protesting.

* * *

As for the debate, well, I missed it last night (though I'm catching up now via YouTube) and when I got back to Twitter, all I saw was "BINDERS!" Lol I was so confused.

I think my fave tweets were:
- @margotwood: "Pretty sure "Binder Full of Women" was the name Mark Zuckerberg originally called Facebook."
- @justacomma: "If you like it than you shoulda put three rings on it"

Anonymous said...

Parts of the following link are in German, but nevertheless it's worth to check it out.

http://storify.com/zeitonline/mitt-romney-und-die-hefter-voller-frauen

Interestingly the "Binders full of women"-issue is debated hardly in actual German journalism.

lisa said...

Can I get one of these binders? Because I really need a woman.

Tabitha said...

I can't believe that he gets away with half of the things he says. Absolutely everything he says about women comes out condescending, and it doesn't seem intentional. I think that's just part of his personality and how he views women in his own life, personally and professionally, which is what makes it even worse.

Panty Buns said...

Maybe Mitt figures transportation of those pesky women is easier if pre-packaged "binders full of women" can be strapped onto the roofs of Bain Capital's outgoing service vehicles at week's end or used as housewife package deals. I don't think he's figured out that women are people yet.

B.B.B. said...

When this first erupted, the bindersfullofwomen.tumblr, my first thought was WHAT was dear Dorothy Snarker going to say?

How quickly that site popped up and was populated was an example of collective brilliance.

Thanks for being here!

iPad Mini Carrying Case said...

It''s quite impressive.