"I am a daughter, too." Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gives brilliant speech about hateful speech directed at women

[Durgasarrow]

A few days ago, a fellow Congress member called U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez "A Fucking Bitch." Then, yesterday, he (Ted Yolo), went on tv and made a fake apology. At this point, Ocasio-Cortez had enough with this nonsense, and gave this powerful, measured speech that you truly must not miss. Every word is electrifying and true. Please enjoy!

I won't fault an impressive young woman for being a product of her culture.

She is a Congresswoman and has power and influence in regards to the legislature of our nation. Once she became influential in regards to my rights I became justified in being critical of what she does/does not support or endorse or her entertainment of lobbyists that seek to erase my sex-based rights. If she was some random young woman I would have zero to say about her or her beliefs but she is a legislator not some random young woman. Her naivete is destructive and her self-righteous pandering to men that want to define her out of existence is fucking stupid as fuck (she isn't stupid in any way but her behavior in this respect is).

But still I have hope for her because sometimes it takes a while to see the light - I just wish she didn't have the power to impact laws until she gets her head sorted.

I will not accept excuses based on being a product of her culture especially when her TWAW perspective has nothing to do with 'her culture'...

She shouldn't get a pass because she drank the kool-aid in college - this TWAW perspective did not come from her upbringing or culture it came from indoctrination, she is an ideologue that has power and contributes to legislation (as well as authors it) for all Americans.

She has some fantastic ideas but they are mostly immature and need to be developed, scaled, and tailored to this nation in pragmatically realistic models. My hope is that she will focus on the changes that will benefit all Americans and leave the dogma behind; she's intelligent, passionate, and strong-willed - if she uses those powers for good she could be a catalyst in changing this nation for the good.

I think her point about saying she was a daughter was to emphasis how ludicrous it is to use being a father of daughters as mitigation for being a misogynist to other people’s daughters.

Yep I understand that. I still think that referencing women only in relation to being 'daughters' simply reduces her argument to his level. Who cares that he has daughters - it clearly hasn't given him any insight, and the fact that she's someone's daughter doesn't make her more or less worthy of derogatory slurs. I understand she's countering his argument but it's a shame that she didn't extend it.

It's interesting that she champions the poor and disadvantaged. From what I see and hear, if you take children out of the conversation about rights trans people don't have, I'm not sure many of the vocal mainly men/TW trans activists are in any way economically disadvantaged. Odd that.

As ever, I may be wrong and often are!

However, her speech as a response to the misogyny she encountered on the Capitol steps was a strong one.

@tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz

Wow, that was an excellent speech. I've not heard her speak before, she's a very articulate lady.

As Callar says, I wonder what her thoughts are on trans rights at the expense of women's? Especially using her own words of "women as shields".

She was promoting Mermaids on Twitter. Even setting aside all and any reservations about Mermaids why punt a UK based charity to an overwhelmingly US following.

I don't like her- not just because of that.

I don't agree with all of her positions. I do think she was quite impressive in this speech and that it was a master class on how to address the insulting and demeaning language that is used against women every day.

I think that's why I feel like face palming ... how can you speak so clearly and sensibly as on that video and have drunk the Kool Aid and believe that TWAW? Jeez.

I can understand why people in the US are more supportive of trans people. I think that a lot of the arguments about trans people being incredibly oppressed are probably a lot more true over there. I can see that with someone like Trump in office, everything you do becomes an act of opposition. He polarises opinion and there is little room for nuance when you are fighting someone who is so very black and white.

Here in the UK, I am gender critical. I can quite well imagine that in the US, I might be a trans activist. They are two very different battlegrounds.

@CallarMorvern

Is it bad to be called a 'bitch'? And Is calling a woman a 'bitch' still offensive?

Is it acceptable to call a black women a n**?
Is it acceptable to call a lesbian a d?

Of course it isn't and the BBC wouldn't ask such questions.

What is offensive, is the fact that they think so little of women, to even consider that it was acceptable to ask if it was offensive to call a woman a bitch.

The BBC wouldn't ask such questions as most people learnt long before the internet was widely used these are unacceptable terms.

However the BBC has done news articles in the 21st century on why golli!!!! are offensive. As some popular music call women "bitches" they need to explain why in 2020 this is an unacceptable term.

She's good at impassioned speechmaking, and she's right of course on this issue.

But there is something about her I find inauthentic. The TWAW thing, I can see that might seem different in the US - but I also doubt the extent to which she would step up on speech issues, or democratic process issues, or about the problems of cancel culture. Maybe I' wrong and if so, good. But that's my sense of her and that's a huge issue IMO.

But there is something about her I find inauthentic

Yes, me too.

As far as inauthenticity is concerned, she does seem to have spun the story of her background:

moguldom.com/168625/does-it-matter-if-ocasio-cortez-isnt-really-alexandria-from-the-bronx/

She says some of the right things but there is something about her that I don't quite trust. I can see glimmers in this speech where she's coming from a genuine place, but others where the facial expressions seem a little too rehearsed.

Maybe she comes from a good place, and maybe there was more of a backstory to this that she didn't reveal, but I've seen an instance of her before trying to frame something as sexist behaviour, when actually it was part & parcel of how combative men in politics behave towards each other. Because it was directed at her one time, and she's a woman, she automatically framed it as sexism in what I believe was a calculated attempt at making her challenger look worse.That doesn't make certain behaviours ok, doesn't mean she has to accept it, but I feel uneasy about something being pulled into the umbrella of sexism in a possible attempt to make oneself look like more of a victim. There is something quite calculated about that. Sexism and misogyny are quite specific behaviours. Sometimes men are particularly aggressive towards women knowing they won't be punched in the face and that it part of sexism. Some behaviours though are just people - men being general assholes. Sometimes it's a mix or a bit of a grey area.

@Goosefoot @DidoLamenting Me too ^.

I was sold on Bernie Sanders, but not her.

I am not a fan of TWAW and I'm American--and I think there are a lot of Americans who feel the same way, BTW.

I think I watched the speech open mouthed at her hypocrisy.
I felt the speech was good, but she can’t be unaware of the countless women on Twitter told to suck a dick and die in a fire when they politely raise the glaringly obviously safeguarding concerns around TWAW.

Good speech but I don't trust her. It's her age and lack of experience. Hopefully she gets better with age.

Self serving hypocrite.
Absolutly everything that is wrong with the left right now.

"I don’t know who needs to hear this right now but one year before Alexandria Ocasio Cortez became the youngest ever congresswoman, she was working two jobs to support her mum, at a charity and as a bartender in the Bronx. She has been trolled for being working-class and not having enough experience, and she has openly admitted to regularly battling imposter syndrome in politics. She was the underdog that the media didn’t take seriously until she won and she is absolutely the type of woman we celebrate and work towards. And if you need any more reasons to love her, read this... 'Women like me aren't supposed to run for office. I wasn’t born into a rich or powerful family. My dad died when I was a teenager. I’ve waitressed my way through hard times and dealt with disappointment. The dress I'm wearing is from a thrift shop. The ring on my hand is my mother’s - a reminder of every floor she's mopped so that her daughter could have a chance.' So the next time you question if you can do something let’s just remind ourselves of everything AOC stands for."

Her politics have a distinct aroma of Marxism, so I'll be watching her upward trajectory with interest and not a small amount of concern.

I liked her speech on this. She did a good job of highlighting the misogyny often used against women in politics.

I don't really understand why AOC is considered working class. She grew up in the suburbs with a father who was an architect and had a privileged university education at a good, out of state, private university. She worked as a bar tender and waitress but that's not untypical of middle-class activists in expensive cities like NY.

She's clever, accomplished and articulate. But she's hardly a rags to riches story.

I admire and like people like AOC and Emma Watson, etc. They believe in human rights, aren’t afraid to call themselves feminists, and to speak up. I identify with them, as someone a few years older.

However as someone a few years older I can see now that actually they grew up pretty sheltered, protectes lives. They believe that it’s their duty to protect anyone with less privelege than them, and by the dogma they’ve learnt, that means trans women. Because be nice / gender >> sex. So they are honor-bound to fight on behalf of male people, despite identifying as feminists. Quite possibly have not experienced abuse by men first hand.

Well meaning, strong, outspoken, and on this particular issue, in fact wrong.

@ProfessorSlocombe

"I don’t know who needs to hear this right now but one year before Alexandria Ocasio Cortez became the youngest ever congresswoman, she was working two jobs to support her mum, at a charity and as a bartender in the Bronx. She has been trolled for being working-class and not having enough experience, and she has openly admitted to regularly battling imposter syndrome in politics. She was the underdog that the media didn’t take seriously until she won and she is absolutely the type of woman we celebrate and work towards. And if you need any more reasons to love her, read this... 'Women like me aren't supposed to run for office. I wasn’t born into a rich or powerful family. My dad died when I was a teenager. I’ve waitressed my way through hard times and dealt with disappointment. The dress I'm wearing is from a thrift shop. The ring on my hand is my mother’s - a reminder of every floor she's mopped so that her daughter could have a chance.' So the next time you question if you can do something let’s just remind ourselves of everything AOC stands for."

That seems to be laying it on a little thick.

Goosefoot

I was quoting from an article - the words and sentiments may not be mine ....

Indeed. Working as a waitress and wearing a dress from a thrift shop is hardly a big deal.

I still think it's a good speech. It needed saying and I don't really mind what her background is.

I have no doubt I would disagree strongly on trans issues. But let's face it, that speech was about women and how men treat them, no qualifiers needed.