In Touch With Jeannine-A Mature Woman's Viewpoint

50+'Fabulous' Definition

2007-05-17T15:27:00.000-07:00

Ladies, just what is our definition of being 50+Fabulous?

As a young woman in my twenties, I was fast friends with a woman who had just turned fifty. She told me honestly, there was no way she could enlighten me as to the empowerment that she felt, on attaining 50 years of life lived. At the time, at my tender age, I failed to fully grasp her meaning.

When I reached the age of 50, I recalled my friend's words, while in conversation with my youngest daughter, a young woman in her twenties. My daughter carried in her, and expressed, the feeling that I must, of course, mourn the passing of youth, that I certainly felt sadness at the diminishing of what she referred to as 'my beauty'. How, she wished to know, could I bear it?

I was, to say the least, shocked, that my daughter held so shallow a sentiment, as to the meaning of the advancement of a life being lived. Youth? Looks? I rarely thought of either, as my adventure through life progressed. It is a fact that on occasions when I was asked my age, I actually had to pause a moment, and recall just how many years I had then been around. Age, as a determining factor in my life, held no meaning for me. It's yet the same for me now, at the age of 56.

50+'Fabulous' is very much how I feel, physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. It is with humble gratitude, to whatever powers that be, that I have 'grown' through life, instead of merely 'going' through life. I am, most certainly, so much more than I was, as a total human being, now, than what I was years ago.
It is in the accumulation of wisdom, gleaned from life experiences, knowledge and education pursued, and owned, interests followed or newly developed, the ability to love, and the heart-filling realization of being loved, the courageous facing of trials and tribulations life delivers, while never allowing one's heart to grow bitter and stale to the joys of life, that defines 50+'Fabulous'.

---Jeannine Schenewerk

Open Letter to eons.com

2007-02-22T15:19:00.000-08:00

(Written from within the eons.com community,
and sent to their Feedback Department)

Imagine my delight, when I first learned of eons.com! A 'Neighborhood' for the over 50 crowd, hyped as our generation's answer to MySpace.com.

Imagine my disappointment, to find eons is but one more of the sites springing-up all over the internet, targeting the maturing majority. Plenty of ads, little games, ho-hum Trivia, and cookie-cutter articles...did I mention the ads?

I registered, I logged-in, and my 'Home' is nothing more than the standard form-fill-in profile, that I've seen used by every other site. Absolutely no freedom of imagination, or originality, to be found at our 'Homes'.

I move on, and find the usual Group Topics, some quite restrictive in that they demand nothing be posted off-topic. Let's face it, this can get boring, quickly, and from the looks of some of the Topics, boredom has led to no-show members, equaling no-posts.

Networking? Many people here would like a venue, such as a real Home page, for mentioning their services/merchandise, interesting hobbies, etcetera, in which their over 50 peers might have interest. Many here would love to be able to not only discuss music, videos, etcetera, but also have the site-ability to share these with the community. Not to mention, how much more interesting posts would be, if HTML and images could be used, within them. The internet is still a visual media, after all.

What we're left with, is more or less, a listing of Blogs, and same-old-same-old Group Topics, we've seen, and read, a million times. Maybe a million and then some...considering we've been around awhile.

Well, time for me to head on over to MySpace.com...a friend tells me there are some great videos up today.

---Jeannine Schenewerk

3 Over Age 50 Women Nominees!

2007-02-19T14:10:00.000-08:00

2007 Academy Awards
February 25, 2007
'Good Luck Ladies!'

2007 Best Actress nominees:
Dame Judi Dench-Age: 72
Dame Helen Mirren-Age: 62
Meryl Streep-Age: 58

It's definitely worth a mention, that three of the five 2007 Academy Award nominees for Best Actress are women over the age of fifty! Not only are they up for the prize, but, they earned their nominations with performances of anything but 'your-sweet-old-granny-like' characters. Huzzah!

A side-note here...Both Dench and Mirren earned nominations for roles in the dramatic offerings, 'Notes on a Scandal', and 'The Queen'. These are British film offerings, my friends. Ms Streep's nomination comes from her comedic performance as the 'Bitch Boss' in 'The Devil Wears Prada', another usual Hollywood fluff-forgettable comedy.

Earth to Hollywood...Ya gonna let the Brits so out-do ya!!! When ya gonna start making dramatic films that offer really Great parts, for mature gals? The Ladies on this side of the pond deserve venues to showcase the honed talents of the mature actress.

--Jeannine Schenewerk

'Anything!'

2007-02-13T16:44:00.000-08:00

In today’s society, infamous behavior reaps attention, fame, and too often, great wealth. Americans can’t get enough of tabloid-style headlines concerning the infamous. Who cares what’s happening around the world! Real news worthy reports? Nah! Give us important stories, stuff we care about, like Paris Hilton’s sex video online, or the picture of Britny Spears, flashing her privates, or who’s divorcing who in the Ga-Ga Land of celebrity! These are the stories salacious, voyeuristic, Americans want!

I’d be willing to bet, if you asked an elementary school class this question today:

‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’

The number one answer would be a three-parter, ‘I want to be famous, I want a lot of money, I want to be on television.’

If asked what they would do, to earn the fame, the money, the media exposure, I bet they would answer, ‘Anything!’

I heard of Anna Nicole Smith’s death, in the company of my grandsons. As the news channel we were watching flashed the latest update on this major, on-every-news-network story, my sixteen-year-old grandson asked, ‘Aren’t her main claims to fame that she posed nude for Playboy, and eventually married some rich old man?’

I replied, ‘Well, in a nutshell, yes.’

My grandson nodded, and said, ‘Only in America, Grams, only in America.’

Revlon's Vital Radiance Line-Good-bye!

2007-02-06T07:42:00.000-08:00

So there I am, looking to buy one of the REVLON, Vital Radiance cosmetics, and whoa! they're gone! Pulled off the shelf, at my local pharmacy! I run a check, and discover the line is now dis-continued, as of the end of 2006! You can still find the products, but, as a cosmetic line, it came, it went...

I liked the products...and, I thought the Vital Radiance campaign great, with the website featuring REAL women, age 50 and over, and the models our age, displayed on the site. A shame the line had to be sacrificed, due to REVLON's continuing revenue down-slide.

REVLON has always been my favorite moderately priced cosmetic line. I am no big-buck spending gal, when it comes to makeup. I've tried products from the more expensive lines, and found I actually preferred REVLON's offerings. I shall continue to purchase their products. I'll merely switch back to the REVLON Age-Defying line.

A shame though, the line had to be canceled, because of the wonderful manner in which it was being marketed. Women 50 and over, actually being models for cosmetics for women 50 and over! An entire site, featuring images of women, our age, modeling makeup, tailored for our age group. Thanks, REVLON, for making the effort!

Developing Drugs According to Profitability

2007-02-01T12:37:00.000-08:00

First posted: 10/26/2005
Worth a repeat posting.

'Thirty years ago, the retiring head of the Merck pharmaceutical company (Henry Gadsden) told Fortune magazine that he was distressed that the market for his company’s drugs was limited to only sick people. If he could make drugs for healthy people, he would be able to “sell to everyone”. That dream is now coming true.'
-Excerpt from Selling Sickness: How the World's Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies Are Turning Us All Into Patients-by Ray Moynihan and Allen Cassels

One would need live in a hole in the ground, on some far distant planet, to not realize what has transpired in this country, concerning prescription drugs, and their permeation of our society. Over half of Americans today, are taking prescription antidepressants. I would not argue that for many people, plagued by serious depression, drug therapy has proven invaluable. Yet, today, antidepressants are being handed out to help people manage common, ordinary life experiences, which may and possibly should be, handled un-medicated.

The recent lowering of the threshold for high cholesterol, in 2004 by a U.S. expert panel of nine members, (eight of the nine members were on drug company payrolls, according to Selling Sickness authors) has resulted in trebling the U.S. market for the new cholesterol-lowering drugs (statins), to 40 million (one in every four) adults. Excellent marketing of new drugs that have almost non-existent benefits for anyone without an existing heart condition! Yet, if attention is paid to the advertising hype, one would be led to believe by taking statins, everyone could benefit!

We've all seen the television ads, the ones wherein some prescription medication is presented, with absolutely no information concerning it, save for a voice-over telling us, 'Ask your doctor if it's right for you', or, some words to the effect of intimating our lives will be enhanced, if we merely pop this or that pill. I caught a promo for the doctor/hospital televison drama, House, wherein an ill child asks the main character, a doctor, if he, the doc, would like a hug, stating the hug would make the doc feel good. The doctor character replies, 'There are pills for that.'

Literary Woes

2007-01-26T14:22:00.000-08:00

I love to read. I've had this love for the written word, from the moment my childish mind wrapped itself around the concept of, letters=words=sentences=paragraphs=chapters. Once I had the key, I unlocked the doors of the worlds of book after book.

My early childhood reads consisted of the works of the Brothers Grimm, Frank Baum, Lewis Carrol, Jack London, Louisa May Alcott, Robert Louis Stevenson, Daniel DeFoe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Washington Iriving, to name but a few. There were no educational age-guidelines set in place, at that time, as to what a child of eight, or ten or eleven might be able to read and comprehend.

I cut my reading baby teeth on some of the finest works of literature ever published. To say this set high, my standards, as to reading material, sought after, during my lifetime, is an understatement. I read these works before reaching the advanced age of twelve. Imagine my surprise at discovering Irving’s, Legend of Sleepy Hollow, is material touted today by educators, as best introduced to students, only at the twelfth grade level. Meanwhile, elsewhere, schools are promoting works stamped classics, by mere virtue of their common popularity, and not due to any obvious literary value. This is but another example, of the continuing promotion of the mediocre, so rampant in every aspect of our society.

Is this not a sad truth concerning today’s teaching of the young? It is only by presenting our youth with examples of the extraordinary, as opposed to the ordinary, in literature that we may hope for future literary gems. Have we fallen so low, have we become so saturated with mediocrity, that perhaps, we no longer have the ability to distinguish worthy from worthless? I wonder upon which works of literature the majority of today’s elementary educators cut their reading baby teeth. I wonder.

New Year's Resolution

2007-01-04T14:29:00.000-08:00

I'd like to wish everyone a very
Happy New Year!

Pardon my lack of posts, in the past weeks, my friends. The Holidays take up time, and immediately after Christmas, I came down with a major cold, or flu, or virus, or some such nasty little bug, and have been absolutely miserable. Nothing like toasting in the New Year with a hot mug of Thera-Flu! Eyeeew! I'm now on the mend, and lacking the wad of cotton bunting that seemed to be muffling my brain, during the worst of my sick spell, I am now able to think, and post.

I began thinking about the gift of this New Year, and of course, thought about what my resolutions for it will be. As I've matured, my yearly resolutions have become fewer. I find most of them are concerned with 'To be', in other words, they all seem to be prefaced with those two words. In the recent past I've made such resolutions as, 'To be' more understanding...'to be' more open-minded, 'to be' more flexible, in my thinking, and doing. This year, my main 'to be' is my hope 'to be' more forgiving. Oh, not in my dealings with others, but with myself.

How difficult it is, my friends, to grant to ourselves, what we would not hesitate for a moment, granting to others. Any life, lived long enough, holds some regrets, some actions we would take back, some poor, rash decisions, we've made, if only we had the ability to do so. And words, my friends, oh! the words spoken in anger, in pain, in moments of dire human stress, that one speaks, and once spoken, can not be unspoken! We have all suffered those moments, done the deeds, spoken the words. In some cases we have asked pardon, from the ones to whom our actions, our words have caused unhappiness, emotional pain. If we've been very fortunate, these human beings have given us their pardon. Yet, how often we refuse to grant ourselves a personal pardon.

So, for this New Year of 2007, resolve, with me, 'To be' more forgiving of ourselves. For my friends, we are often too cruel to ourselves. We too often refuse to grant to ourselves, that which we grant so freely, so easily, so lovingly, to others. Treat kindly, your 'self', be unto you, as you would, to others, seeking pardon, forgive.

A Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives

2006-11-14T16:57:00.000-08:00

A good friend apprised me of a Michael Moore offering, over at Petition Online. It appeals to this liberal-minded Grandma. Mr. Moore addresses many issues about which I have had real concern. Regardless of your political affiliation, the Pledge makes for good reading:

November 14th, 2006

To My Conservative Brothers and Sisters,

I know you are dismayed and disheartened at the results of last week's election. You're worried that the country is heading toward a very bad place you don't want it to go. Your 12-year Republican Revolution has ended with so much yet to do, so many promises left unfulfilled. You are in a funk, and I understand.

Well, cheer up, my friends! Do not despair. I have good news for you. I, and the millions of others who are now in charge with our Democratic Congress, have a pledge we would like to make to you, a list of promises that we offer you because we value you as our fellow Americans. You deserve to know what we plan to do with our newfound power -- and, to be specific, what we will do to you and for you.

Thus, here is our Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives:

Dear Conservatives and Republicans,

I, and my fellow signatories, hereby make these promises to you:

1. We will always respect you for your conservative beliefs. We will never, ever, call you "unpatriotic" simply because you disagree with us. In fact, we encourage you to dissent and disagree with us.

2. We will let you marry whomever you want, even when some of us consider your behavior to be "different" or "immoral." Who you marry is none of our business. Love and be in love -- it's a wonderful gift.

3. We will not spend your grandchildren's money on our personal whims or to enrich our friends. It's your checkbook, too, and we will balance it for you.

4. When we soon bring our sons and daughters home from Iraq, we will bring your sons and daughters home, too. They deserve to live. We promise never to send your kids off to war based on either a mistake or a lie.

5. When we make America the last Western democracy to have universal health coverage, and all Americans are able to get help when they fall ill, we promise that you, too, will be able to see a doctor, regardless of your ability to pay. And when stem cell research delivers treatments and cures for diseases that affect you and your loved ones, we'll make sure those advances are available to you and your family, too.

6. Even though you have opposed environmental regulation, when we clean up our air and water, we, the Democratic majority, will let you, too, breathe the cleaner air and drink the purer water.

7. Should a mass murderer ever kill 3,000 people on our soil, we will devote every single resource to tracking him down and bringing him to justice. Immediately. We will protect you.

8. We will never stick our nose in your bedroom or your womb. What you do there as consenting adults is your business. We will continue to count your age from the moment you were born, not the moment you were conceived.

9. We will not take away your hunting guns. If you need an automatic weapon or a handgun to kill a bird or a deer, then you really aren't much of a hunter and you should, perhaps, pick up another sport. We will make our streets and schools as free as we can from these weapons and we will protect your children just as we would protect ours.

10. When we raise the minimum wage, we will pay you -- and your employees -- that new wage, too. When women are finally paid what men make, we will pay conservative women that wage, too.

11. We will respect your religious beliefs, even when you don't put those beliefs into practice. In fact, we will actively seek to promote your most radical religious beliefs ("Blessed are the poor," "Blessed are the peacemakers," "Love your enemies," "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God," and "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."). We will let people in other countries know that God doesn't just bless America, he blesses everyone. We will discourage religious intolerance and fanaticism -- starting with the fanaticism here at home, thus setting a good example for the rest of the world.

12. We will not tolerate politicians who are corrupt and who are bought and paid for by the rich. We will go after any elected leader who puts him or herself ahead of the people. And we promise you we will go after the corrupt politicians on our side FIRST. If we fail to do this, we need you to call us on it. Simply because we are in power does not give us the right to turn our heads the other way when our party goes astray. Please perform this important duty as the loyal opposition.

I promise all of the above to you because this is your country, too. You are every bit as American as we are. We are all in this together. We sink or swim as one. Thank you for your years of service to this country and for giving us the opportunity to see if we can make things a bit better for our 300 million fellow Americans -- and for the rest of the world.

Signed,

Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com

(Click here to sign the pledge)
A Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives

Petition authored by Michael Moore
www.michaelmoore.com

My thanks to Mary Dwyer, for the heads-up, concerning Moore's petition.

'Smart Women'

2006-11-14T13:09:00.000-08:00

If you haven't visited YouTube.com, take a trip over and peruse the site. What a great venue for aspiring filmmakers! Videos and audios created by the EveryPerson. There are some gems over there, so take a tour, and go mining for a few.

One of my faves is a video that appears to have been an ad for a leather company. It is entitiled, 'Smart Women', and I think the gals will thoroughly enjoy it...Turn up your speakers, to enjoy the soundtrack:

On Thanksgiving

2006-11-13T12:51:00.001-08:00

'Over the river and through the wood,
To visit the Grandkids we go!
We well know the way,
and can honestly say,
There won't be any snow...'

The 23rd. of November will find my husband and I surrounded by the people we most love. Once again, our family will come together to celebrate Thanksgiving Day. There will be laughter, and good conversation, cookie baking, pie making, and a feast prepared, for the enjoyment of all.

Thanksgiving has always been a favorite celebration of mine. Uncluttered by the stigma of commercialism, Thanksgiving stands in quiet simplicity. A day when family and friends gather to break bread together, and offer thanks for what they have harvested, at the end of another year. At one time in our history, the harvest for which thanks was given, was the gathering-in of crops. Food, life-stuff, planted, grown, and finally, reaped, and stored away. A guarantee against hunger, in the coming winter months. Today, the harvest for which we give thanks, most likely will be of a different nature.

When my husband and I sit with our family, sharing a fine meal, on Thanksgiving Day, we will be reminded of how thankful we are, for our personal harvest. We are thankful for our children, for our daughters of whom we are so proud. For they are genuine human beings. We are thankful for our grandchildren, who continue to thrive, and grow steadily, in strength and beauty of mind, and heart and spirit. Our crops, well tended, our labors of love, caring, guidance, and teaching, proving well worth our efforts. We will reap the benefits of our bountiful personal harvest, for the rest of our lives.

From Our Home to Yours,
Happy Thanksgiving 2006

Copyright ©2006 Jeannine Schenewerk

Holland's Misogyny Relevant Reading

2006-11-08T09:09:00.000-08:00

Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice
by Jack Holland

I found an interesting article written shortly after the Amish school shooting tragedy, that tells it like it is, concerning misogyny, today. I am firmly convinced, author Jack Holland's book is a timely and relevant read, a blazing torch of truth, much needed, to illuminate the dark and dangerous undercurrent of anti-female attitudes prevelant worldwide.

'The disrespectful, degrading, contemptuous treatment of women is so pervasive and so mainstream that it has just about lost its ability to shock. Guys at sporting events and other public venues have shown no qualms about raising an insistent chant to nearby women to show their breasts. An ad for a major long-distance telephone carrier shows three apparently naked women holding a billing statement from a competitor. The text asks, “When was the last time you got screwed?”'

excerpt from 'Why Aren't We Shocked?' by Bob Herbert

Your Son and Misogyny

2006-10-26T11:32:00.000-07:00

Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice

by Jack Holland

So there I am, going through e-mail, and I get one from a friend about her 17 year old son. Seems he's found a whole new online pastime, aside from idling over at MySpace. He's an avid reader of many of the pro-misogyny sites littering cyberspace. He has proudly begun sharing these anti-female, women-bashing sites with his 14 year old brother. This young man mentioned the sites to Mom, and well, she had to look a few of them up for herself...What did she find? Here are a few links she sent me, and they're a pretty good sampling of what many of our young men are reading today:

http://whatmenthinkofwomen.blogspot.com/

http://thef-wordblog.blogspot.com/

http://www.mens-links.net/showlinks.asp?category=38

Mothers, teach your children well...

Misogyny by Jack Holland

2006-10-19T16:21:00.000-07:00

Misogyny
The World’s Oldest Prejudice
by Jack Holland
Published September, 2006

I have read author Jack Holland's Misogyny twice. My first read was a devouring of the work. My second read was a slower, and more considered one. An incredible undertaking, this honest, objective march through women's history. In his work, the author investigates the biological, religious, political and sexual attitudes, tainted with misogyny, that have aided in the suppression of women. Much of Mr. Holland’s book is a hard-read, because of the descriptions of the horrendous acts perpetrated against women, that he sets before us. Yet, truth is often not appealing. It is sometimes brutally ugly, in its raw honesty. Mr. Holland’s work is a gift to the world, and a very real contribution to furthering the cause of human rights.

The author sets before us historical evidence of the current of hatred displayed by men, against women, throughout the ages, unto this, our 'modern age'. That current yet pulses, as is evidenced by the continued prejudice, injustice, intolerance, brutalization and subjugation, examples of which, we see daily, around the world, as to women. Even in our so-called enlightened societies, that current is felt. Not as easily detected, perhaps, in countries where social laws have been implemented to curb discriminatory anti-female behavior and acts, not surface visible, but there, just the same.

Jack Holland states, in his Introduction to Misogyny: ' The hatred of women affects us in ways that no other hatred does because it strikes at our innermost selves. It is located where the private and public worlds intersect. The history of that hatred may dwell on its public consequences, but at the same time it allows us to speculate on why, at the personal level, man's complex relationship to woman has permitted misogyny to thrive.'

From ancient Greece and Rome, down through the ages, the author cites the evidence of misogyny. We read how female infants in Greece and Rome would often be abandoned upon rubbish heaps. Husbands would counsel their wives,’ If-good luck to you!-you bear offspring, if it is a male, let it live; if it is female, expose it.’ We scrutinize the Victorian Age, where we find an 1867 British Medical Journal description of a clitoridectomy, performed by Mr. Isaac Baker Brown. This procedure was looked upon by enthusiasts as a ‘cure’ for masturbation-induced ‘women’s diseases’, such as melancholia, hysteria and nymphomania. Down through the ages, Mr. Holland takes us, and he proves that the treatment of women, throughout history, must be considered the greatest abuse of human rights.

I have shared the book with my husband, and I have recommended Misogyny: The World’s Oldest Prejudice to both my adult daughters. I intend to set aside copies, to be given to my grandchildren. It is a must-read for anyone seeking some enlightenment as to the how and why of what has been the female experience, throughout history.

--Jeannine Schenewerk

Jack Holland's Misogyny

2006-10-11T13:44:00.000-07:00

Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice
by Jack Holland

I had an interesting e-mail from a visitor to my website, concerning my featuring of Jack Holland's work, Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice. She asked if I didn't think the subject matter of the book was outdated. Do we not, she queried, as women in our modern society, enjoy an equal standing with our male counterparts? She went on to state, that 'as western women, we have more rights today than ever before in the history of the world'. She stated that she believes 'controversial works such as Mr. Holland's do nothing more than attempt to fan the sparks of the dying gender bias debate/hostilities into flames of discontent'. 'We have', she further stated, 'put the struggle behind us. We are moving on, in the modern world, where men and women are now in accord, as to the fact of woman's equal importance, and right to be treated with respect. The majority of men in this country (United States) support women’s' rights and view us as equals'.

The first, and possibly most important fact to point out here, is this woman's omission of any statements concerning our sisters not residing in the western world. Interesting. From this I take it I am to assume, it is only females residing in the west, whose status is of any importance. A bit of the old, 'It's better for us, and that's all that matters!’ attitude.

As to Jack Holland's work not being timely, and relevant, in today's society, I fiercely disagree! How can one imagine we 'have put the struggle behind us', when we have proof to the contrary, yet evident, in every aspect of our society? Does anyone deny more violence is perpetrated against women, by men, in this country, than is committed against their own gender? How many women and children are brutalized, daily, in our society, by men? How much of our western society’s entertainment involves the exploitation of women? Can one state, in all honesty, that women today earn as much as their male counterparts, across the employment spectrum? How often are women yet subject to being referred to by any number of disgusting, derogatory terms, none of which I feel comfortable including here?

'...women are uncreative, afraid of conflict and skeptical of change. Obviously, they would not have suffered such low status throughout the centuries if they had not deserved to.'

A dated statement, you say. A statement taken from something written a hundred, a thousand years ago. No indeed! Why this statement was made on February 11, 2006!

Why are Women Inferior?

Jack Holland’s Misogyny is a must read, not only for women, but for men as well. The book should be in every home, on every bookshelf, and read often, for the truth it states. In Chapter 9 of Mr. Holland’s book, the author quotes George Orwell, and presents us with a profound and relevant statement:

‘To see what is in front of one’s nose is a constant struggle’.

The World's Oldest Prejudice

2006-10-09T17:29:00.000-07:00

I'm now reading , Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice, by Jack Holland, and am impressed by the author's honest and intelligent presentation of the treatment of females, throughout human history. Often, writers' treatments of unpopular truths are veiled in apologies. Attempts to explain the why and how of deeply rooted, ancient prejudices and attitudes, concerning the female face of our human past, are not uncommon. Yet too often these attempts are subject to a writer's personal prejudices, and agendas. Rarely, are these attempts wholly objective.

Mr. Holland makes no apologies, nor does he attempt to justify what has been the historically recorded female experience, through the ages. He merely sets before us, Truth, with an eye toward objectivity, and a voice touched with humanity. I am convinced his book may well stand as one of the most important, enlightening works, of our time.

Excerpt from the book's forward, written by Jenny Holland:

'The (book's) topic was quite a conversation starter. A common response from other men, when my father told them what he was working on, was an assumption that he was writing some sort of defense of misogyny, a reaction he found startling. Another common response was surprise that such a book should be written by a man. To this, his answer was simple. 'Why not?' he would say, 'It was invented by men.'--Jenny Holland

Jack Holland Biography

Copyright ©2006 Jeannine Schenewerk

Misogyny by Jack Holland-My Next Read

2006-09-26T13:45:00.000-07:00

Misogyny
The World’s Oldest Prejudice
by Jack Holland
Published September, 2006

'My mother and I feel, as he did, that this is his most important work. He was passionate about it. He hoped it would become an instrument in the struggle to improve the lot of half — and therefore the entire — human race.'
-Jenny Holland-Author Jack Holland's daughter

‘The World's Oldest Prejudice is an important and timely book. While some may find its central tenets to be controversial, it was written out of a sincere desire to address the immense suffering of women worldwide, throughout time.’
-Jenny Holland

The fact of female subjugation and oppression throughout human history remains, in my mind, absolutely, the oldest prejudice in the world. Born in 1951, I felt its ancient presence even as a child, in the so-called modern world. It was there, in subtle manner, in my own home, evident in the attitudes of many of my playmates, and prevelant in their families. It was in the small town wherein I lived. It was in my school. It blanketed the wide world. It was something I could not swallow as righteous, not as a child, not as an adult, though I was daily force-fed doses of it, for the better part of my life. Never have I been able to quite put my finger on exactly when or why it became woman's destiny. My life-long fascination with history has led me to personal research on the subject. Yet, even today, at the age of 55, I can give no definitive answer to the queries I posed to myself, years ago. Exactly when, exactly why, exactly how did one half of humanity find itself relegated to a position of inferiority, subjugated by virtue of gender, and too often vilely, and viciously, victimized? And possibly an even more relevant query in need of answer, why and how can it yet thrive in our modern world? And we all know, it does yet thrive, very much so.

Misogyny-The World's Oldest Prejudice may be the work that answers, at least in part, a few of the questions I have, concerning the matter. I offer here a few excerpts from Jack Holland’s book. They have whetted my appetite for more, and thus, Misogyny shall be my Next Read:

From Chapter 1: Pandora’s Daughters

As well as burdening Pandora with responsibility for the mortal lot of man, the Greeks created a vision of woman as "the Other," the antithesis to the male thesis, who needed boundaries to contain her. Most crucially, Greece laid the philosophical-scientific foundations for a dualistic view of reality in which women were forever doomed to embody this mutable, and essentially contemptible world. Any history of the attempt to dehumanize half the human race is confronted by this paradox, that some of the values we cherish most were forged in a society that devalued, denigrated and despised women. "Sex roles that will be familiar to the modern reader were firmly established in the Dark Ages in Athens," wrote the historian Sarah Pomeroy. [1] "That is, along with Plato and the Parthenon, Greece gave us some of the cheapest sexual dichotomies of all, including that of good girl versus bad girl."

From Chapter 2: Women at the Gates: Misogyny in Ancient Rome

A difference quickly emerges between the misogyny of the Greeks and that found in Rome. Greek misogyny is based on fears of what women might do if they were free to do it. However, as far as is known, if women challenged men, these actions were confined to their private world and only made public through the realm of the Greek imagination. But from the start, Roman women openly challenged the prevailing misogyny and made public their feelings and demands. Roman women protested their fate and took to the streets. In Rome, the veil of their anonymity was lifted. Women enter the public sphere, and make history. They intervened in wars and stopped them; they took to the streets in protest at government policy and changed it; they murdered their husbands; a few trained and fought as gladiators in the arena (evoking worrying images of Amazons); they subverted the authority of their fathers; they even sought personal satisfaction in their relationships, and rejected their role as breeders of rulers; and, perhaps most disturbingly of all, they came tantalizingly close to political power. They provoked a backlash which mustered some of the biggest guns that literature and history have ever aimed at them.

From Chapter 3: Divine Intervention: Misogyny and the Rise of Christianity

The myth of creation as told in Genesis is now central to the belief of 2 billion Christians in 260 countries - that is, one-third of the world’s population have inherited a myth that blames woman for the ills and sufferings of mankind.

Unlike Greek misogyny, the Jewish version remained, as did Jewish religion, at the level of proverb, parable, and practice. Instead of philosophy, the Jews had extensive commentary and interpretation of the sacred texts. But the similarities in both the creation and fall of man myths are clear. As in the Greek myth, in the Jewish tradition God creates the first man, Adam, as an autonomous being who lives a happy, contented existence in the Garden of Eden. His only communion is with the divine. Eve, like Pandora, is an afterthought. She is created from Adam’s rib because God thought he required "an help. "

From Chapter 4: From Queen of Heaven To Devil Woman

The 1,000 years or so separating the end of the classical world and the rise of the modern witnessed the development of two seemingly contradictory processes: the beatification of woman and her demonization. The Middle Ages would begin by elevating women towards heaven and end by consigning many thousands of them to hell. In the latter case, however, the process was more than mystical or metaphorical. The flames were all too real. It marked an extraordinary period when the human imagination soared with the great spires of the Gothic cathedrals of France that seem to scrape the very floors of heaven. It was a period too when the human spirit was convulsed by outbreaks of mass hysteria, pogroms, and witch hunts that plunged it into some of the most hellish regions it has ever visited.

From Chapter 5: O Brave New World: Literature, Misogyny And The Rise of Modernity

As of 1600, in England, socially and intellectually among the more progressive countries in Europe, legally a woman had no rights at all, other than those recognized by local custom. Her father had charge of her until she was married, when she passed under the authority of her husband who took absolute control of all her personal property. As the law of the time stated: "That which a man hath is his own. That which the wife hath is the husband’s. "[2] Women could become queens in the 16th century, and like Elizabeth I command and inspire fear and respect, but by the beginning of the 17th century their status had if anything declined. Contemporary Platonists debated whether or not women had souls. [3] At the level of dress, always an indication of women’s status, their suffering was taken for granted. The late 17th century fashion was to encase women’s bodies in tight corsets. At the autopsy of one young woman who died at age 20 it was found that "her ribs had grown into her liver, and that her other entrails were much hurt by being crushed together with her stays, which her mother had ordered to be twitched so straight that it often brought tears into her eyes whilst the maid was dressing her. "[4]

From Chapter 6: Victorians’ Secrets

Misogyny is far from unique to Western civilization. That became clear as from the early 16th century onwards, Europeans began expanding into regions of the world with whom before they had little or no contact. They encountered complex civilizations at least as old and sometimes far older than their own and equally (if not is some ways more) sophisticated; meanwhile, in other, previously unexplored or unknown areas, they discovered cultures that were, at a technological and social level, more simple than anything they had ever seen. But one thing they all shared in common. Neither the primitive nor the sophisticated societies lacked for prejudices against women.

Banished from respectable literature, the depiction of sexual relations and sexual desire went underground to supply a flourishing trade in risqué novels and explicitly illustrated men’s magazines. In 1857, a word was invented to describe this material - "pornography", literally, writing about prostitutes or prostitution. But sex also enlivened the stage of the working class music halls, where the never-ending struggle between men and women continued to be celebrated in sentimental, comic and bawdy songs, sketches and recitals.

Chapter 7: Misogyny in the Age of Supermen

Hitler advocated abstinence from sex (as from alcohol and meat). He was also against masturbation. . . All sorts of mostly lurid rumors have accumulated over the years about Hitler’s sexuality. He obsessed about women, Jews and syphilis in his autobiography, "Mein Kampf", and five of the six women with whom he had any kind of relationship committed suicide, including his 23-year-old niece Geli Raubal, about whom he was pathologically jealous. "My uncle is a monster," she once said. [5] In September 1931, she was found dead in his Munich apartment, shot in the head with his pistol. The truth is that he was almost certainly asexual and while he seems to have derived some pleasure from the company of pretty young women, his behavior indicates a tremendous fear of women in general. [6] He liked to refer to the malleability of the masses as "feminine", showing his contempt for both the mobs that he roused with his speeches and woman with whom he compared them. The tragedy is that he would leave the bloody stamp of his obsessions, misogynistic and well as racial, on the history of the 20th century.

From Chapter 8: Body Politics

In the 1960s, the politics of the body entered the body politic.

For the last several thousand years, control of the body - that is, woman’s body - has been a central concern of many of the religious, social and political doctrines and institutions created by man. There would have been no need to write a history of misogyny if this were not the case. However deep within the male psyche are the wellsprings of fear and fascination that contemplation of woman causes, her dehumanization, either through elevation or denigration, was always (broadly speaking) a political matter. That is, the politics of the body was not invented in the 1960s. But it was not until the middle of the 20th century that women themselves had the power to shape how the politics of the body would be defined. At that point, a technological breakthrough and the resurgence of feminism combined to force the issue into the public sphere as never before.

From Chapter 9: In Conclusion: Making Sense of Misogyny

Misogyny still flourishes in some corners of Western culture. Where males feel humiliated and angry, women still provide the universal scapegoat. A 1990 rap song by the group called "Geto Boys" declared:

"She’s naked, and I’m a peeping Tom/Her body’s beautiful so I’m thinking rape/Shouldn’t have had her curtains open, so that’s her fate". In the verbal currency of Rap, women are "bitches" and "hos" (whores). Rappers are not the only proponents of misogyny in popular culture, and far from the first. Even during the 1960s and 1970s, a period remembered by many for its celebration of love and sexual freedom, pop groups such as "The Rolling Stones" had hits with songs like "Under My Thumb" and "Stupid Girl". In 1976 the Stones released an album called "Black and Blue" which was advertised with a picture of a beaten woman tied to a chair. However, hostility to women seems to be at the very core of Rap culture.

It is yet another reminder of the power of contempt for women to replicate itself in different cultures like an almost indestructible virus.

[1] "Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves," by Sarah Pomeroy, Schocken Books, 1975.

[2] The Weaker Vessal: Women in 17th Century England, by Antonia Fraser, Alfred A. Knopf, 1984.

[3] The Family, Sex and Marriage in England 1500-1800, by Lawrence Stone, Pelican Books, 1979.

[4] ibid.

[5] Kershaw, ibid.

[6] ibid.

Author, Journalist, Teacher, Poet

Jack Holland 1947-2004-Biography

Further postings concerning my reading of Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice.

http://intouchwithjeannine.blogspot.com/2006/10/worlds-oldest-prejudice.html

http://intouchwithjeannine.blogspot.com/2006/10/jack-hollands-misogyny.html

http://intouchwithjeannine.blogspot.com/2006/10/misogyny-by-jack-holland.html

http://intouchwithjeannine.blogspot.com/2006/10/your-son-and-misogyny.html

http://intouchwithjeannine.blogspot.com/2006/11/hollands-misogyny-relevant-reading.html

Required Reading

2006-09-15T13:04:00.000-07:00

My eldest grandson called the other evening. He had just finished a book I’d suggested and he wanted to discuss certain aspects of what he’d read. We spent two hours chatting away. Toward the end of the talk, some how the conversation turned to my death, and there was in his voice a sadness, when he said something about how he really wants me to live a very, very long time...My boy, my boy.

I told him that we have to put aside emotional feelings, a bit, when we think about death, especially the death of someone who has had the opportunity to live, for awhile, to grow into adulthood, live through the most vital years, and now is on the path of biological deterioration. Because, really, as I told him, we are all faced with it, if we live long enough. I told him it is something I am working on accepting, and hope to set an example to him, to his mom, to everyone, of how to reach the end of life, with grace, and a sense of coming 'full circle'. I told him we modern human beings try so hard to separate ourselves from the fact of death, that we do younger generations, and ourselves a vast disservice.

We all need to be raised to understand, and have it reinforced often, that death is a natural end to the biological entity, and one best faced, and realized early, so that the life we live is as full of learning and self development as possible. This fact should stand arm in arm with whatever religious or spiritual beliefs we are taught. Developing fully, as a human being is the reason for this thing we call physical life, not making money, or accumulating material things, or satisfying and gratifying physical urges and desires.

In doing some research, I recently came across the fall 2005 report from the President’s Council on Bioethics. I was really impressed by one section that is one of the most honest, human things I've ever read, as far as government reports go. I feel it is something everyone should read, why it should be required reading!

Differing Approaches at Midlife

2006-09-06T18:06:00.000-07:00

In recent conversations with someone my age, 55, the topic of how we intended to live the rest of our lives surfaced. I offered my thoughts on my individual lifestyle plan. I mentioned that of course, maintaining a good weight, eating properly, making certain I continued to exercise, endeavoring to live as healthy and active a life as possible, was my number one priority.

My companion then stated that for her, it was more a matter of enjoying what was left of life. As for diet, she wanted food that tasted good, fat content and carb count be damned! Exercise? She'd had enough of that in her younger years, and was surprised her joints were yet arthritis-free, considering what she'd put them through! She mentioned the number of great athletes, now in retirement, who could barely manage to stand, let alone walk. She brought up acquaintances, ones who had done it all...jogged, worked the weights, etc., who are now hobbling around on shot ankles, worn out knees, packing around bodies once toned and muscled, that now, due to an inability to maintain the previous level of exercise, have gone to fat.

I mentioned I was planning on a trip to the lake, for a good three to five mile walk, on Saturday. On my return home, I planned to prepare myself my favorite spinach salad. She said she would probably log at least a mile, herself on Saturday, making her way from her recliner, to the fridge, while watcing her favorite television programs. She intended to dine on BBQ ribs, and to top her meal off with chocolate fudge ice cream.

Oh well, to each her own...

Jeannine Schenewerk

Still Alive and Kickin' and Thinkin'!

2006-08-03T12:07:00.000-07:00

Alive and Kickin'-Yes, I am still alive! Had a note from one of my regular e-mailers, asking if I'd possibly vanished from good old cyberspace. No, just taking a Summer break, my friend. Replenishing the old reserves, both mental and physical, and generally loafing. During this time I'm following a few personal pursuits, ones that require a good deal of research, so do excuse the late replies to e-mail some of you are receiving. Come September, I'll be Jeany-On-the-Spot, with my replies, once more. And yes, I'm keeping cool. The heat and humidity we in the Atlanta area have been dealing with has been vicious!

General Statement of a Work in Progress

For the greater part of my adulthood, my will and effort, my concerns, were directed mainly toward my family. When my daughters attained adulthood and set out on their own, the aforementioned will and effort I began directing, to a greater extent, toward myself. There was so much I wished yet to learn, to know, and for lack of a better term, to ponder, concerning my self.

At the onset of my journey, I confess to often experiencing an uncomfortably nagging, twinge of guilt. Not unusual, for many mature women, who have spent much of their lives in the role of caretaker, and ever-present core of familial stability. Yet, I persevered, and I soon learned it was merely a matter of 'shifting gears', in one's life.

In the very beginning of my free-for-all, I found myself starved for new experiences. I reveled in interests that I'd long held, but had never allowed myself precious time to fully explore, during my tenure as child-raiser, and heart-of-the-home. During this time, I discovered in myself potential that I never imagined. I felt as the proverbial child in the candy store. Spread out before me, in tempting variety, lay the sweetest offerings, and I realized I need merely reach out to garner them for myself.

None of my pursuits have greatly enriched me financially. Yet, as a direct result of them, I hold a wealth of personal fulfillment. I have grown above and beyond, and outwardly. Inwardly I am experiencing what I refer to as personal enlightenment. This is something I have not consciously set myself to do. Suddenly, or so it seems, I find myself thinking outside the enclosed, restrictive, area of 'the box', concerning absolutely everything in life.

My perspective on life, on this world in which we live, has changed. It is as though my eyes have finally opened, and I see clearly, what has always been before me, for the first time in my life. Much of what I see heartens me, as a human being. Yet, so much more fills my heart with despair, and I possess now, as never before, a greater sense of outrage. Such amazing advancements we have achieved, we humans, even in my fifty-five years of life. Yet, how stagnated we seem to be, in the one area of greatest import: Progress as human beings I often wonder when it will become evident, the only absolute cause of any worth, the only cause upon which our time and effort should be spent, is the cause of all humanity.

Enjoy Yourself!

2006-06-05T13:11:00.000-07:00

If there's one bit of advice I can give to women of a certain age, it's to give themselves permission to enjoy themselves! Us gals in our fifties have hoed the long row for years! We've worked hard, we've put in hours of service to others, often neglecting our own needs, that we may see to the needs of our loved ones. This is the time, Ladies, with children raised, with responsibilities now lessened, to just plain enjoy life!

Believe me, if you're a gal of a certain age who has no interest in developing a new career, after retirement, of beginning a new struggle, or expending energy climbing yet another mountain of achievement, you're not alone! Very few of us have had the luxury of working at a true calling in life. We've worked to live. Many of us have discovered that in truth, we've lived, only to work. Hey, maybe some of us just want to enjoy life now. Maybe I want to sit on the river bank, in the sun, and while away my day in harmony with nature. A waste of time, you say? It's my time to do with as I danged well please! I have no interest in amassing further amounts of material possessions. Caring for possessions took up a great deal of my life, more time than I really want to think about, to be quite honest. Advertisers are wasting their time, targeting me! I've worked at simplifying my life. I have no intense drive to continue the grind. What I do possess, is the intense desire to savor as much of life as possible, in the time I yet have to do so.

So, if you're approaching retirement, looking forward to it, and are being asked your future plans, feel free to answer, ' I intend to enjoy myself!'

Congrats to the Dallas Mavs!

2006-05-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

I have been thoroughly enjoying the 2006 NBA Playoffs! I think anyone who is a fan of pro basketball will have to admit, this has been one of the best playoffs we've seen in some time! Good games, great series play, close, down-to-the-wire finishes, over-time wins...I for one, did not want the San Antonio Spurs-Dallas Mavericks series to end! Good stuff, guys! Congrats to Dirk Nowitzki and his fellow Mavs, on their hard-earned series victory over the Spurs. I'm stayin' up way too late, catching the games, but, hey! I have all summer to recuperate!

See you all in June, after the Finals!

B-Ball!

2006-05-03T09:12:00.000-07:00

Pro Basketball...yes, I love it! The 2006 NBA Playoffs are going on, and that's where my attention is focused. So many late nights, but what the heck! It's game-time, baby! I feel like hanging a Do Not Disturb sign on the front door. And don't be surprised if you're constantly getting the answering machine, when you call.

You will find my husband and myself ensconced before our television, prepared to cheer on our individual teams. This can make for some interesting evenings, considering I'm a fan of the east coast teams, while he's a die-hard west coast enthusiast. Of course, I'm behind the Detroit Pistons, with hopes they will once again wear the NBA crown. Great team, the Pistons, with the emphasis on TEAM.

So bear with me, gang, until the playoffs are over, I'm on hiatus, from practically everything!

Are We Really Better-Off Today?

2006-04-10T11:27:00.000-07:00

I turned fifty-five over the past weekend. It was this fact that spurred me to think back, over my life, and consider how drastically different are the lives being lived by so many people today.

Here is where I suppose I'm expected to rhapsodize over the amazing advancements our society has made, during my lifetime, and how incredibly fortunate we are, to be alive, in this marvelous age. I won't deny that in the last fifty-five years we've seen many changes for the better. But I also won't deny, that we've seen other changes that have lessened the quality of life, for Americans today.

We are over-stressed, over-worked, and trapped in lives wherein personal relationships are suffering. Homes have become nothing more than shelters from the elements, and quality time with one's family is something that many people no longer realize. We live to work, as opposed to working to live. The cost of living continues to rise, job-security is a thing of the past, and if asked, most average Americans would tell you their long-term goal is no longer retirement, but being able to continue working, well into their Senior years, in order to survive. As one man put it to me, 'I'll drop dead, working.' So much for the American Dream...

All Work and No Play...

2006-04-07T15:03:00.000-07:00

We all do it...we all get in a rut. Too much same old, same old until we just need to get away. We need a little serenity, a little down-time. My husband is more than ready, and I must admit, so am I. So, that's what I'm doing, searching online for a destination for a little R&R. It needs to be some place close. We can only spare a few days at most, right now, from the day-to-day grind. It will need be after the upcoming Holiday...that's for family-time.

Chatuge Lake, North Georgia

I long for the peace of natural beauty...A lake, the mountains, the beach. With warmer weather now upon us, here in Georgia, the great outdoors awaits us. I can hear the ocean calling my name. For me, there's nothing like sand, sea and sun, to ease away tensions, and gift me with that relaxed, refreshed feeling. Yes, I think it's time for a trip to Jekyll Island...Long early morning walks on beaches free of tourists, and evenings watching the sun set, through those live oaks...A stroll, or carriage ride through Millionaires' Village...yes, it's Jekyll for sure!

Cottage, Millionaires Village, Jekyll Island, Georgia