kalpurna

So the other day I read this article about this video by Beyoncé, and just, wow.

It's astonishing to me that Salon can line up a team of feminist observers and have not one of them grasp the actual point of this video, which is that men are given a kind of leniency in their work relationships that women are not. This video says that women have to turn down the blatant advances of their attractive and interested coworkers, while men are treated with complete respect when they flirt on the job - and then have the nerve to act like they don't know it isn't okay. Men get to adjust someone's grip on their gun and pat them on the shoulder and not get looked at changing. And the worst part is, they don't even know that it's a privilege.

This is one of the best (and easily the hottest) portrayals of male privilege I've seen from pop culture. It's definitely not about "wishing you were a lesbian cop."

SOMETIMES I JUST DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU, SALON.

In other news, Obama won by a landslide in Dixville Notch and Hart's Location, which is exciting not because they're good predictors (they're not) but because those are Republican towns. Dixville Notch hasn't voted Democrat since 1968. After 2004 I felt like I couldn't even speak to Republicans, that they were a different species. For most of my life the country's seemed like a pettier, shabbier, smaller place than it was in the 60s, an embarrassing generation with embarrassing leaders, and suddenly there's a reason to feel differently. Dear God, what a moment to be alive.

Tomorrow night, I'm going to be in Grant Park with strobelighted and the Obamas and the Bidens. Cross your fingers for us all.