Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Never Enough Outraged Mothers Department

Brendan Nyhoff has noticed that Rep. Nancy Pelosi is using the metaphor of a lioness to describe being tough as a woman. Apparently Brendan thinks it's silly. I'm not so sure. While not a huge fan of Pelosi, I do know that I relate to that metaphor greatly. Indeed, I've used the "mama bear" metaphor for many years now to explain how women are not automatically submissive or weak on defense. After all, you wouldn't dare breathe hard on a bear cub for fear that its mother will tear your throat out. The only difference between a human mother and a mama bear is that humans are socialized--domesticated, I'd go as far as to say--and so are not immediately prone to resolve dangers through pure violence. But don't presume that this domestication means we won't use violence when necessary. History is laden with examples to the contrary.

Brendan, I'd be careful calling Pelosi's metaphor "silly". :)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Heh. Even an Old Skool Imperialist such as Kipling himself acknowledged this fact in his immortal line- "the female of the species is deadlier than the male"... or something to that effect. My Kipling book is buried in a box somewhere, and the Bombay Sapphire is sapping my intellectual powers, so exact quotes aren't my forte right now.
Oh, and this is Ed, a.k.a. footyfoot, a.k.a. that dork from the old Dallas days.
Feel free to checkout my tawdry doings at the address above...

Unknown said...

Have done so--check your post on Hank III for some puzzling evidence. (NO NOT HIM.)

Great to hear from you again! And I'm glad that even an imperialist running dog like Kipling knew better than to mess with a pissed woman.

Anonymous said...

Likewise. Please do drop in periodically, if only to marvel at the wreckage you see. But it is Slackful wreckage, and that is what counts, eh?

belledame222 said...

*ROAR* chomp.

if only it were more often true, wrt Pelosi herself; less talkin', more chompin'.

but, yeah.

btw: Do you know Jean?

http://thesinkingfeeling.blogspot.com/

just thinking you might enjoy each others' blogs for several reasons, including the luv of the metal.

Unknown said...

But of course I know Jean! I met her on bitch|lab too!

\m/

BTW, I love "Fetch Me My Axe" and really need to check out your other blog as well!

belledame222 said...

Thanks! I don't update there nearly as frequently, but i do try to give it a somewhat separate feel from FMMA