2000 year old woman

the title of this post plays on the comic genius of brooks and reiner, not because i feel i'm quite at the point in my comedy career that i can challenge these masters, but merely as some form of consolation and distraction as i pretend that the country i live in is not really as archaeic and lacking in creativity than i fear it is.

no, i do not refer to the pending disengagement, the recent yad vashem bash (although i appreciated harry's take on it), or even our drivers' ongoing success in surpassing terror in killing literally hundreds of israelis a year.

i am talking about women in israel.

my feelings as to why i think israeli women are incredibly patronised and disempowered - so much so they dont even realize it - arent too coherent but i do feel that pseudo equalities such as army service seem to blur over the fact that many, many women in israeli society put up with and even help cultivate norms that are just simply unacceptable in other sane western societies.

i'm not sure whether it's: our very low ranking (especially compared to israeli men) health status; constant patronization through advertising ( i couldnt find a link to the appauling borderline racist telma adverts for some kind of health bar but when i do i'll post it); arseholes like a former boss of mine who'd refer to a room full of seasoned female nurses and health professionals as "banot" (girls), to lack of protest ; international women's day being marked at the university by makeovers and rape crisis booths (outlining the two main roles for women in israel) or the plainly misguided attitudes of women in tel aviv who feel they can dictate whats in about being cool and single and then return home to their long term boyfriends, but i cant get over just how women in this country not only contend with fifty's style 2nd class citizenship but seem to think that its all ok and even relish their role.

why this venom today you ask?

well as i waited to have my car washed, i was reading the weekend section of the israeli tabloid yediot. i happened upon the family section which this week was all about dressing up. no, it was not a special about what to do when daddy's a cross dresser, its the fun and wacky festival of purim this week.

anyway there was an "ask it" type section in the column which literally had me gobsmacked. in translation it went something like this:

this year my daughter wants to dress up as electricity.
how can i make such a costume?
--- mother who doesnt know how to sew

dear mother who doesnt know how to sew,
simply explain to her that electricity cant put on lipstick, powder, sparkles or blusher and she will go off the idea soon enough.

there's so much to make my blood boil here but i'm afraid if i write to complain she'll (gali@yeditoth.co.il) just tell me what temperature to set my oven at to get that boil just right.

truth is, that as i write this i realize its more than the women issue that makes me mad here. this is a typical example of israeli lack of sophistication or depth. costumes in the old country were all about creativity and originality. what an amazing idea - a kid is thinking about abstract concepts like electricity. its a great lead for a parent-child discussion which could then lead to a plethora of costumes that they could make together -- dress up as a an electricity bill (that would require a huge costume of course), a pylon or how about wearing a whole vat of sparkles and daring to go abstract???

instead this wonderfully imaginitive thought is crushed by an israeli family columnist ( i assume expert, eek) eager to encourage the nightmare that we see each purim -- kids sporting unoriginal superhero or disney type costumes which have been bought or made for them by their paretns so they can keep up with joneses as they take them to parties that they dont even know why they're having.

oy, i may need to vent on this more but alas alack the sabbath calls so for now i must sign off......