Don’t trust a man who claims to be writing about feminism.  We have agendas.  Now of course sometimes I fool people because they see “Leslie Barcza” and think I am a girl.

But I can’t be trusted.

There are several different struggles all going on at the same time.  Who’s to say which one is the most urgent?  I felt that when Obama faced off with Hillary Clinton –and what does it say that I had to give you her first name? —that it would have been a bigger deal had Hillary won the Democrat nomination & then the White House.  In most families, however emancipated they may seem, there is still that permanent underclass known as female.

I have a selfish take on feminism.  Every struggle is much broader than merely the fight of a class against its adversaries.  Women’s liberation is male liberation as well.  It’s the same with gay rights.  While I am as hetero as they come, I am outraged that I don’t have the right to be gay if I want.  Why should I have to show solidarity with morons who are homophobic? No way.  That’s like the coercive dialectic of fascism, where you had to shut up while Jews or gays or communists were beaten by thugs on the other side of the street.

Women’s liberation is my liberation as well.

It may not be news that Tina Fey’s book Bossypants is a wonderful piece of work.  The book came out in the middle of 2011, and i’ve only had the good fortune to find it this week, so absorbed reading it on the airplane today that i kept reading even when the turbulent ride was giving me motion sickness.  Laughter is a great cure for nausea.

I frame it with this feminist preamble, typing this with Bridesmaids playing in the background, occasionally yanking me away for a quick guffaw. I recently saw Young Adult, a film that has me thinking about the conversation surrounding women and success in western society, enjoying the discursive space won by the unexpected images we encounter in both Young Adult and Bridesmaids.  When we talk about one gender, we’re inevitably talking about both, in the same way that women’s liberation liberates me.

I’m not saying Tina Fey is a liberator, but as much as anyone can be said to be carrying the feminist banner within mainstream media, Fey is a fabulous candidate.  This is humour that makes me feel good about humour… is that an odd idea?  How delicious to read something that makes me want to think, pulling me out of the despair I sometimes feel when confronted by….

• Attack ads
  they have the dual effect of both destroying the credibility of the target candidate, while turning us into cynics who stop voting and become passive & fatalistic
• Social Media
  Shouldn’t they call it “antisocial media”? There was that party for instance when, about 40 minutes in, I noticed that the room was almost silent as most of the guests retreated into their Iphones, trying to figure out whether they were having fun or not.  I would not have been a very gracious guest, but I almost shouted “hey.!. Remember conversation?”
• CBC
  There’s the ongoing conversation about the CBC here in Canada, in the face of a Conservative Government that doesn’t seem to believe in what they offer.  While we still have a CBC –and Americans may think that the CBC is still a big deal—the CBC keeps getting smaller and smaller.   In the meantime, CBC brass seem determined to turn a unique and irreplaceable service into a bad copy of what’s already available from other media.  Something good may still be worthwhile diluted; hm, but i am drinking my Dalwhinnie neat.

Fey is adept in every arena (meaning not just films & TV but also, the varying types of writing she undertakes), with a sure touch.  Yet she is completely vulnerable, without any pretence.  Bossypants may not set you free, but it will set you laughing, and at this crucial time in our history it feels legitimate to say she’s fighting the good fight.

Thank you Tina Fey.