For the past eighty years, the Augusta National Golf Club has invited the CEO of IBM to the Masters to be fancy and do whatever it is that boys do when they’re alone and being fancy. (I dare not hazard a guess.) This year, however, the Masters may discontinue its eighty-year-long tradition because the CEO of IBM, Ginni Rometty, is a — wait for it — woman.
Gasp!
Yesterday, President Obama being the saucy feminist that he is, said that he thinks women should be admitted into the all-male club. Mittbot (beta) agreed with him — likely because he hadn’t yet been told to toe the “Girls suck!” Republican party line.
Erick son of Erick, however, is having none of this lady business. “Who cares!” he cried as he complained that Obama is trying to make everything political:
“See, the president is trying to make everything political. President wants to have it both ways. He wants to go play at the Masters. Oh, you’re darn right the president wants to go play at the Masters, but he thinks women should be allowed, they should be members. Why must women be members of Augusta National? Why? Because it’s the last bastion of sexism. I thought the Republican Party was the last bastion of sexism and misogyny in America. Oh, wait. They nominated Sarah Palin to be vice presidential nominee.”
Erickson added: “And of course, Mitt Romney, ‘Well, I think women should be allowed too.’ At least, he’s smart enough to know that we don’t want to wade in to the war on women with Augusta. It is striking to me just how political the president wants to make everything. The war on women coming home to the Masters. Who freaking cares?”
“I would love to be a member of Augusta National one day after I get my private jet, but at the same time I don’t really care. And I don’t care that the Masters is a male-dominated event. I don’t care that women aren’t members of the Masters. Frankly, I kind of like the idea that women aren’t members of the Masters. Good lord, I don’t want to hang out at some women’s event.”
You tell ’em, Erick! Gosh! You’re a member of the party that advanced feminism by nominating Dame Sarah Palin the Wolf Huntress of Winkington for vice-president. Plus, you’re married to a woman and some of your best friends are women! See? Totes not sexist!
Who gives a shit that it’s the twenty-first century! Nobody wants to hang out with a bunch of broads at the Masters! Who cares that a black dude wasn’t permitted to be a member of Augusta National until 1990. (Yes — 1990.) Who cares about those silly women and their ladies’ tees.
Hey ladies! Go hang out at the LPGA with your pink visors and your monthly bleedings. We don’t want your kind around here, criticizing our jackets for being such a hideous shade of green, and crying hysterically everytime someone yells “Fore!”
Besides, Erickson probably has Ginni’s best interests at heart. I mean, being the CEO of IBM probably doesn’t give her a lot of time for having babies and darning her husband’s socks. She’s got bigger things to worry about than being excluded from some boys’ club, like making sure dinner is on table when her man gets home.
Women are so annoying with their demand for equal rights, aren’t we? When does it end?! Before you know it, we’re going to be demanding to use the men’s bathroom.
RELATED POST: Is it Time to Expand the #StopRush Campaign to #CNN?
[cross-posted at The Raw Story]
LittlePig
Erick Ericksdottir has a RADIO show?!
Damn, just when I thought I couldn’t get more discouraged.
redshirt
The sign clearly states this Tree House is for BOYS ONLY! NO GIRLS ALLOWED!
KG
I still can’t really care about this. Sorry, I just don’t care. I tried, but at the end of the day, it just seemed like a stupid thing by a stupid club that I really don’t have the desire to give to bad fucks about.
LittlePig
Oh, a 6 to 9 radio show out of ATLANTA (WSB-AM). That explains a lot right there.
Marcellus Shale, Public Dick
the problem is, the issue is already too red hot for rometty to apply for membership and be turned down. i am guessing she either came to an understanding already, or isn’t interested.
Rick Massimo
I swear it’s like a 12-year-old’s tantrum. He doesn’t even know why he’s mad. He just knows he’s supposed to be.
rikyrah
OT: Steve Benen is up to Volume TWELVE of chronicling Willard’s lies
it’s his longest column to date on this subject.
Chronicling Mitt’s Mendacity, Vol. XII
By Steve Benen – Fri Apr 6, 2012 2:46 PM EDT.
David Corn covered Mitt Romney’s speech to the Newspaper Association of America on Wednesday, and came away gobsmacked — shocked not only by the Republican candidate’s dishonesty, but by the larger context.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/06/11058547-chronicling-mitts-mendacity-vol-xii?lite
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
So somehow Obama saying it is making it political, but Mittbot saying it doesn’t.
Joseph Nobles
Erick Schmerickson hates Romney. We know this. Now he’s in the sad position of having to defend him as the presumptive GOP nominee.
Hypothesis: whenever Mitt and Barack agree on something, Erick (and other Romney-hating pundits) will take out all of his anger and disgust with Romney on President Obama. Then Erick will offer a throw-away defense of Mitt Romney, probably along the exact same lines as here (avoiding Democratic non-controversy).
I’d call it the Romney’s Whipping Boy hypothesis, but it sounds too ghastly. I’m open to suggestions, since I think it’s a phenomenon we are going to see a lot of during the campaign.
PurpleGirl
Ginni Rometty has achieved a remarkable position and IBM has been a sponsor of the Masters’ for years. She should be made an honorary member out of respect for her achievement and to honor IBM for their support.
Anything else is a crock. And it should have been automatic when they drew up the list of CEOs. She/IBM should not have had to ask for it. She can attend or not but the membership should be automatic as she’s the CEO.
Catsy
Not that I disagree that the Augusta exclusion rule is sexist or that Erick^2son is a first-order douchewiper, but what Augusta is doing really doesn’t fall into the category of an “equal rights” issue except insofar as it’s an example of the dogged persistence of sexism as a cancer on our society.
Augusta is a private club. They have the right to set their own membership criteria. And nobody has the right to be a part of it any more than they have a right to be a part of our Sunday tabletop game. What we do have a right to do is be disgusted and help expose them to public scorn for their throwback policies.
Also, this pretty much sums up the most honest description of what this rule absolutely amounts to:
Mike Lamb
@KG: I used to not care that much even though Augusta is patently sexist and, to no small extent, racist. But my opinion changed when the head of Augusta proceeded to lecture Tiger Woods about how to treat women (and yes, Tiger needed multiple lectures, there were just more appropriate vehicles). Now? Fuck’em.
Linda Featheringill
I think the whole kerfluffle is funny. Since that particular golf club is out of reach for 99% of us because of economic reasons, we won’t be affected by the outcome. We can look at the question from an intellectual, reasonable position.
It is my intellectual, reasonable opinion that Augusta sucks and has taken an indefensible position.
Egg Berry
Just out of curiosity, are there any other male-only clubs that have major golf tournaments?
David Koch
I don’t even like women in the workplace or in the army.
Santorum 1416!
Richard
I wonder what proportion of the membership is comprised of fat, pasty,old men who can’t make it past 20 yards without using a golf cart.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@David Koch:
You left out the colon.
JWL
The PGA needs Augusta more than the country club needs it, and those people are not about to dance to anyone’s tune. If change is effected, it will be Golf Inc. that cuts the tie, and not the other way ’round.
Legalize
I don’t really give a shit about this story either. It’s a private club that wouldn’t want the likes of me there even though I’m a dude.
But I do enjoy wingnut tears and butt-hurt.
So I’m with the Prez. And evidently Willard. And also, too, Walnuts.
Catsy
@Linda Featheringill: Rometti really is the completely awesome part of this. She hasn’t done anything except excel and rise to a traditionally male-dominated position by merit alone–probably above and beyond the call of mere merit, considering what it often takes for a woman to “prove” herself at that level.
Excluding her when every single one of her predecessors in that role was invited automatically makes it crystal clear that there is nothing underpinning this more defensible or highbrow than “no girls allowed in the treehouse”.
Comrade Dread
If IBM hasn’t pulled all of their funding already, they should.
Catsy
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
That’s usually the case with santorum.
Polar Bear Squares
Is this the tough guy who talked about waving his wife’s shotgun at people because of the census?
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2010/04/02/89848/erickson-acs-shotgun/
Can I hit him with my grandmother’s waffle iron to knock some sense into him?
JGabriel
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Erick Erickson:
The women of American are devastated. They can barely keep the tears of mirth from rolling down their cheeks.
.
Cacti
So, if Augusta National admitted a token female one-percenter, is that really a victory for equality?
Anoniminous
I can understand why some men wouldn’t want any icky gurls* around when they tee-up their balls and whap ’em with a (very expensive) stick.
Might give them ideas.
Footnote: (since I can’t use an asterix, TYWP!) And their cooties. Also. Too.
redshirt
@Catsy: Drums!
Corner Stone
Really interesting leaderboard at Augusta so far.
General Stuck
Everything is allowed in the culture wars. Fat republican rich guys, and women can both get out their yaw yaws and shake it like they wont.
Private clubs hosting a national iconic sports event get no favors for what’s on paper and inside an all peckerwood clubhouse, when they climb out onto the national stage.
This is not my most pressing issue, not being a feminist, though sympathetic on the big stuff like equality of pay and other related meta things. It is fair game to go after for those feminists to make a stink about. And I admit it makes me smile a little to see those fuckers squirm under the national media glare, in those cheesy green symbols of stoopid.
edit – Oh, and Erick the Erickson is a giant lump of shit.
butler
As if we needed more proof that Erick doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about:
“The Masters” is a golf tournament. It has no members, it has participants (and yes, in theory, a woman could participate if she qualified, since you don’t have to be a member of Augusta National to participate).
Furthermore, “The Masters” is not a “men’s event”. Women are allowed as spectators, workers and even broadcasters, just like men.
Augusta National Golf Club is a country club that does not allow female members who aren’t married to male members. That’s a stupid, sexist rule, and the idea that someone would celebrate it is even stupider and more sexist.
But again, women are not banned from the facility. So if Erick ever does manage to become a member at Augusta he’ll probably be shocked to find that there are icky girls there in his manly man sanctum.
Snowwy
Is very simple, folks. Instead of going after the chuckleheads at Augusta, encourage IBM to drop its participation in the club. Permanently.
Rinse and repeat every time a woman attains a position which would normally have the “benefit” of membership in that club. Sooner or later that old boys’ club will be irrelevant. Or non-existent.
Raven
@Comrade Dread: They, like Augusta National, do not care and I include Ms. Rometty in this. If you think this is some kind of surprise to her or the company you are dreaming.
And before I get all that indignant shit again, I think she should be a member.
Corner Stone
It looks like the sun has gone back behind some clouds for the afternoon.
Huh, off and on I guess.
JGabriel
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PurpleGirl:
Nah. What Rometty should do is withdraw IBM’s sponsorship and lobby other sponsors to do likewise.
,
Raven
@Corner Stone: It’s clear as a bell here and that is moving there way.
Catsy
@redshirt: I couldn’t not swing at the hanging curve.
Raven
@JGabriel: IBM does NOT care.
butler
Also, it should be repeated, Augusta is breaking its own precdent in defense of sexism. IBM is one of the few companies that sponsors the Masters since its so controversial because of the admission policy. That’s some impressive sexism there, to diss a fellow captain of industry who’s company gives you millions of dollars each year because she happens to be a woman.
Corner Stone
Tiger is just all over the course today.
David Koch
This is a fake issue concocted by David Axlerod to distract people away from gas prices.
Virginia Rometty is obviously involved with the White House in flaming this sham controversy.
But this partisan fabrication will not go unpunished, as conservatives have organized a boycott of IBM typewriters.
Steve
It’s worth noting that caterpillars are not allowed as members, either.
MikeJ
@butler:
Which actually makes it worse. It’s not like it’s a big locker room and everybody is walking around in towels. They allow women in, as long as they know their place, as the wife of a member.
If the clubhouse is already awash in œstrogen, why not treat women equally?
JGabriel
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Egg Berry:
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Not sure about male only clubs, but the golf club that is the Senate GOP is still whites only.
.
Corner Stone
“I see your Schwartzel is as big as mine.”
David Koch
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
You can never leave out the colon when discussing Santorum.
David Koch
I can’t believe people are complaining about this.
Would “Caddyshack” be as hilarious with women golfers, of course not.
Martin
@Egg Berry: The President’s Cup.
Probably not what you meant, but notable nevertheless.
Raven
@David Koch: Lacy Underall’s is on the tee!
Amir Khalid
Ginni Rometty is chief executive of I fucking BM, and there are lots of things that weigh more heavily on her mind than whether some little pissant boys club wants to let her in. Also too, other avenues for meeting people. Besides, the club is in Georgia, whereas her office is in Armonk, New York. I can’t imagine her prizing a membership all that much.
That said, there is a potential issue here for IBM. Like quite a few other corporations, Big Blue has a formal pro-diversity policy. If Augusta National refuses to offer her a membership because she’s a woman, and IBM lets slide a sexist snub to its ranking representative, then IBM’s commitment to that policy could get questioned — which might negate some of the PR value of their sponsorship.
But if Augusta National were to invite Rometty to join, that could defuse a situation that is already awkward for them, and could also get awkward for a key sponsor of their most prestigious event.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@David Koch: Someone at least needs to tie it back into the messiah reference I was trying to make.
JGabriel
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Raven:
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All the more reason for Rometty not to be spending IBM’s money on sponsoring Augusta. It’s not like IT, or even the profession of CIO, is dominated by golf fanatics.
.
Corner Stone
Henrik Stinson seems to have a really rushed tempo.
butler
@Martin: The President’s Cup is a tournament, not a club.
wrb
@JGabriel:
She’s just look petty.
Doubt she’d have gotten to where is is if that is something she’d do.
Corner Stone
Ahhhh…Tiger!!
Raven
@Amir Khalid: And if she hasn’t asked they haven’t refused anything.
Tiger with a loud GODDAMITT for the fans. That’ll raise Hootie!
Raven
@JGabriel: Send them a memo.
Raven
And while you are at it I’m sure Exxon Mobile will join you on the picket line.
GregB
Erick doesn’t care about women because he’s a goat fucking child molester.
butler
The point of being a member isn’t to play golf there (though lord knows I’d probably do awful things to play a round), the point of being a member is to say you’re a member, ie a Master of the Universe. Members include Bill Gates, Buffet, Welch, Pickens, Coors, etc. Granted, sounds like a high ratio of assholes, but its supposed to symbolize that you’re so goddamn rich and powerful that your maid looks down at the 1% in bemusment
Add that to the fact that her company is paying a shitton of money to this club so they can turn a profit on an event which most other advertisers won’t touch, and they won’t even extend their traditional courtesy to her?
Corner Stone
Can I just say that nothing pleases me more than not seeing that fucking thug son of a bitch Stevie Williams’ stupid fucking toothy face trotting the loop on my TV.
Forum Transmitted Disease
It’s just like the “No Broads Allowed” rule he maintains for his very, very obvious closet.
Brachiator
@Cacti:
Let’s see, now. The CEO of IBM a token?
The people of Augusta are obviously fools. It’s not just that it’s a boys only thing. Every previous head of IBM was offered a membership. The assumption was that heads of corporations, movers and shakers, would always be male (and probably white males at that). While the rest of the universe has moved on, Augusta is still stuck in a time warp.
It’s sexist and pathetic.
It’s also odd that there is a semi-official Balloon Juice assumption that one percenters are not real people, citizens, or don’t merit any consideration. But do you really want to suggest that women can be successful only so long as they stay in the 99 per cent? Or that they are not deserving of respect and the right not to be insulted by ignorant sexism?
Nancy Pelosi’s net worth in 2011 was $35.2 million, a long way from a Romney buck, but much more than Boehner’s measly couple of millions. Still, this puts Pelosi in the one percent.
wrb
@GregB:
That’s decent range.
Does he molest children while goat fucking?
Quite the picture.
gwangung
August has the perfect right to retain it’s no-women policy.
I retain my right to give them shit about it. And I’m happy to see other people give them shit about it. Entertaining all the way around.
Linda Featheringill
@David Koch: #40
LOL! Yeah, they probably are! :-)
Raven
@Brachiator: Augusta is a city in Georgia.
SST
Awesome post. Got some lulz from me.
lamh35
I find it kinda funny, that some people are like hey Augusta is a private club if they don’t accept women, then fine.
It a bit of a double standard, because if Augusta was still all white, I suspect people would be pretty pissed.
As someone said, up until now, the CEO of IBM have been made “honorary” members of Augusta. This woman is the current CEO of IBM. So the only reason she’s not gonna be given an honorary membership is because she was a woman.
Change woman to Black man/woman and somehow that makes it more egregious?
Yeah, she would be a “token”, but guess what alot of integration of this public clubs came about because of the first or “token” “other”.
Martin
@butler: The 44 Presidents themselves form a club. One without any women.
My point. Too clever by half, perhaps.
Corner Stone
@Raven: It’s almost as if people are willfully misunderstanding the situation.
David Koch
If they do allow women in at Augusta, then it should be based on some objective criteria, like breast size.
Raven
@Corner Stone: It don’t matter, it’s generating hits.
Forum Transmitted Disease
@Martin: Unlike Augusta (whose policy I frankly don’t have a problem with) the White House does not have a “no women allowed” sign on the door.
It’s the idiot electorate responsible for that state of affairs, not a set of rules.
butler
@Martin: Ahh. Got it. But then again, there is no restriction (anymore) on a woman being a member of that club.
Martin
@Brachiator: The one percentile income is about $520,000. Hit that number, and you’re 1%. Everyone in Congress is in the running if they can have a good year in the market, have a high-earning spouse, launch a successful book, etc.
Most pro athletes are in that group. Most well known celebrities are in that group. A third of all anesthesiologist are in the group. Need to remind ourselves that you don’t exactly have to be a hedge fund manager to earn the title. I’m sure there are at least a few commenters here that make the cut.
JGabriel
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Amir Khalid:
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And yet another excellent reason why Rometty should jettison IBM’s sponsorship of Augusta’s antediluvian male members only policy.
wrb:
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I think Amir’s reasoning adequately sidesteps any accusation of pettiness with respect to Rometty ending IBM’s association with Augusta, should she choose to do so.
.
Amir Khalid
@butler:
IBM’s CEO definitely does not need an Augusta National member card to validate her Mover & Shaker status. It could find — invent, if need be — some other event just as prestigious to sponsor.
If Augusta National (i.e. its male members) had any sense it would recognize that it gains nothing by keeping out a female Mover & Shaker, and only makes itself look foolish. It could redeem itself by inviting Rometty to join. If it won’t, then too bad for it; but the universe won’t grind to a halt.
Splitting Image
My $0.02 is that this is a tempest in a teacup, but the Augusta club is still being foolish. The appeal of such an exclusive club is that if you can get in, you can conceivably make up a foursome with captains of industry, financial titans, or, who knows, the President.
If the club hadn’t overturned its racial policy in 1990, it would now be in a situation where the President of the United States was not eligible for membership.
As more and more positions in government and business are taken over by women, Augusta will find that fewer and fewer “elites” are eligible for membership. The cachet of membership will diminish accordingly.
They’d be wiser to get ahead of the game instead of breaking with the tradition of offering the IBM chair a membership, but like other people said, they’re a private club and if they choose not to be wise, it’s no skin off anyone else’s nose.
Amir Khalid
@butler:
IBM’s CEO definitely does not need an Augusta National member card to validate her Mover & Shaker status. It could find — invent, if need be — some other event just as prestigious to sponsor.
If Augusta National (i.e. its male members) had any sense it would recognize that it gains nothing by keeping out a female Mover & Shaker, and only makes itself look foolish. It could redeem itself by inviting Rometty to join. If it won’t, then too bad for it; but the universe won’t grind to a halt.
Baron Jrod of Keeblershire
And people wonder why I hate golf.
wrb
Sometime you know the topic of the next ABL post before the post appears.
Derbyshire makes a spectacle of himself.
Highlight of his talk to his children:
Baron Jrod of Keeblershire
And people wonder why I hate golf.
AA+ Bonds
That place should be permanently Occupied and turned into an anarcho squat
burnspbesq
@Catsy:
She might have gotten the job anyway, but it certainly didn’t hurt her chances when the only other real contender, Bob Moffatt, got indicted in the Galleon insider-trading scandal.
PurpleGirl
@David Koch: But this partisan fabrication will not go unpunished, as conservatives have organized a boycott of IBM typewriters.
Hahahahahahaha….. LOL
Amir Khalid
@wrb:
Wow, you’re psychic!
Valdivia
Valdivia + too many to count after cooking all afternoon for Passover.
Just wishing you all a good Easter and Passover holidays.
I am still outraged about the Wisconsin repeal of equal pay law. Assholes.
wrb
@Amir Khalid:
Damn. I thought I could see further into the future than that. Figured I was seeing at least 15 minutes beyond the present, not 2.
butler
Indeed she doesn’t. None of them do. I was refuting your premise that its just some pissant muni country club down in Gerogia so why would she even care? Its a big honor in its own twisted way, and its something that she’s practically entitled to as CEO of IBM.
It probably should, considering Augusta national is willing to take is money while at the same time pushing aside almost a century of tradition in order to diss their CEO on account of her gender. The Masters needs IBM a lot more than IBM needs the Masters.
Mike in NC
To recycle an old joke: Erick Erickson couldn’t get laid if he showed up at a women’s prison with a fistful of pardons.
Brachiator
@Martin:
Yep. Also, I suppose that at one time, membership at Augusta National reprsented wealth and prestige for male corporate leaders. There are a number of female CEOs and upcoming executives and other women of all kinds of merit. In a post yesterday, I linked to a 2010 list of the top women in technology. To suggest that women executives at Facebook, Apple, google, Microsoft, Xerox, HP, could not be members of the club is absurd. And this is just a slice of one industry.
So, by effectively unlinking any accurate notion of achievement and prestige from their resasons for offering memberships, the Augusta National folks only emphasize their desire to be seen as not only pathetic, but irrelevant.
Miss Mouse
I’m oddly on the fence on this issue. I consider myself a very strong feminist, but maybe because I have no desire to join a golf club my overall reaction is ‘Meh.’ I’m far more outraged about the birth control/abortion restrictions/women are sluts issues, perhaps because I’m a 20-something female so those issues hit far more close to home than my inability to join a random golf club.
As many other commenters have pointed out though, when I replace ‘no women’ with ‘no blacks’ it does strike a much more visceral chord, although I can’t seem to find the core of why bias of skin color in a private club sticks out more negatively for me personally than bias of wee-bits.
There are actually other clubs in the US that are far more strict than Augusta. My significant other has played several times in a club in PA that doesn’t allow women to set foot on the grounds at all- not even as spouses/guests. Not only that, for homes that have property up against the golf course, women are not allowed to be in the backyards when men are playing nearby. Now THAT seems nuts to me- that gets my feminist wings a flutter. I don’t know how they can enforce it- I imagine they must have to sign an agreement when moving in since it’s a private gated community.
electricgrendel
I like that the open sewer that is Erik Erikson, mouthpiece of an ideology that regularly politicizes things like Christmas card mailing lists, initiatives to make kids less fat, and the wearing (or not wearing) of flag shaped lapel pens says that the President “wants to make everything political.” It’s just either an astounding lack of insight, or performance art.
jl
A sensible assumption would be that it is intentional self parody, but the sad facts are that sensible assumptions are incorrect assumptions.
The thing is so full of childish and crude special pleading and double standards, it is something more than preaching to the choir. Grabbing the choir by the throat and stuffing a moldy screed down their throats, is more like it. Seems like bad snark, and does not grow on you as you plow through the puerile drivel.
I hope the reactionaries run on these fumes all the way to the election, since I think this kind of stuff will only amuse or irritate any voter who can be persuaded to go Democratic.
Corner Stone
Wow. One of the craziest leaderboards moving into Saturday I’ve seen at Augusta in some time.
Brachiator
@Raven:
Synecdoche. Augusta for Augusta National.
@Miss Mouse:
Variations on a theme. Remember that originally, the GOP thought nothing of calling a male only panel to discuss the issue of women’s reproductive rights, setting in motion the events that led to the further attempts to marginalize and degrade women.
It’s not just about joining a club. Four previous heads of IBM were automatically offered memberships, recognizing their status and achievement. Somehow, this no longer matters when the head of what is still one of the most important companies in America is a woman. Absurd.
Brachiator
@Raven:
Synecdoche. Augusta for Augusta National.
@Miss Mouse:
Variations on a theme. Remember that originally, the GOP thought nothing of calling a male only panel to discuss the issue of women’s reproductive rights, setting in motion the events that led to the further attempts to marginalize and degrade women.
It’s not just about joining a club. Four previous heads of IBM were automatically offered memberships, recognizing their status and achievement. Somehow, this no longer matters when the head of what is still one of the most important companies in America is a woman. Absurd.
Corner Stone
You know, say what you will, but I just don’t give much of a shit about making a hard on case for multi-multi-multi millionaires. Of any gender.
Steve
@Miss Mouse: I don’t know that you need to be overly concerned that some golf club somewhere has a bigoted membership policy. What strikes me as more troubling, and maybe it strikes you the same way too, is that society seems more tolerant of “no women” policies than it would be of “no blacks” or “no Jews” or whatever. For whatever reason it doesn’t seem to bug people as much.
Miss Mouse
@Steve:
That’s exactly it, and that’s the point that I didn’t really get across in my first post. Society, myself included, does seem far more tolerant of ‘no women’ policies, and it makes me wonder on a personal level the reasons for my own apathy, especially when I consider myself to be firmly for women’s rights.
I’ve been unsuccessful in my own psychoanalysis regarding the reasons, obviously.
When you frame it as in ‘all the heads of IBM are automatically in and this woman is out just because she’s a woman’ I get much more fired up. When it’s framed more generally as ‘women can’t join Augusta except as a spouse’ then it doesn’t bother me nearly as much.
Snowwy
@wrb: Hey, you can do a lot in two minutes.
RSA
@Amir Khalid:
I’m kind of Groucho Marx when it comes to clubs, but… IBM says that their diversity policy goes back to “the mid-20th century, grounded in Equal Opportunity legislation and compliance (Diversity 1.0)”. You’d think that someone at IBM would have noticed between the 1950s and 1990, “Hey, our CEO is a member of a whites-only golf club. That can’t look good in terms of diversity.” Or between the 1950s and today, “Hey, our CEO is a member of a men-only golf club. That can’t look good in terms of diversity.”
Amir Khalid
@RSA:
True, but it does seem to me that nowadays this kind of close-one-eye hypocrisy is policed a bit more stringently in America, and more likely to attract shaming, than even a couple of decades ago.
ABL 2.0
@wrb: you got me! now how many fingers am i holding up? ;)
RSA
@Amir Khalid: Also true. That’s a good thing in most ways.
Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor
@Baron Jrod of Keeblershire:
As with many other things, Dave Foley summed up my feelings on golf ages ago.
Tony the Wonderhorse
re “Girls suck!”
ummm … never mind.
Rogers
Oh God. First the Derbyshire atrocity, now this. My credulity has hit the end of it’s tether. I momentarily considered that it was a bold imposture by someone who’d crashed the studio and commandeered the mike in an attempt to smear Erickson.They’ve LOST it– completely slipped the surly bonds of this universe and are now happily ensconced in their alternate one. Bon voyage mes amis…
Patricia Kayden
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
That’s what I couldn’t figure out either.
Are there all-female clubs that men cannot join? I guess if that’s the case, I don’t really have much to say about the Augusta National Golf Club’s all-male membership.