Working Girl

I am a working girl. I shake my money maker for a living, which as it turns out, happens to be a camera, which I don't shake as much as I gingerly transport to various locations to make pretty pictures for clients.

It's fun work, which is why I love it. I grew tired of crying at my desk at my last corporate job so I made a change. Best decision I ever made. That, and buying a juicer.

Now, just because it's fun, and not, say, curing cancer or cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, doesn't make it any less important - to me. It's how I make my living and people tell me I'm good at it, so it would seem I'm on the right track.

I mention this because... Yesterday I watched an episode of the Rachel Zoe Project - don't judge me - it's fascinating to watch such a tiny, frail creature walk and talk like a real human.

I'm sure I watch her show for the same reason I like watching Kell on Earth, The City and one or two of the Real Housewives - women making their way in the world. I dig it. I've been a working girl for over 20 years - I identify with independent ladyfolk.

There is a point to all this... stay with me...

During the show, Rachel and her hubby are in New York for fashion week, having flown in a few days early to enjoy the city before the shows start. She gets a phone call from Naomi "Slappy" Campbell who's doing a charity fashion show and wants Rachel to style it.

Of course she's going to say yes - IT'S HER JOB. Her husband starts whining and carrying on about how he won't get to spend any time with her after all. She seemed to feel guilty about taking the job, stuck between a slappy rock & a whiny hard place, whereas I don't know if a man would feel guilt about taking on the work, or just annoyed at having a whiny spouse.

Now, if the tables were turned and HE had some "important" job and a client called needing his services, maybe Rachel would whine about it, but it would be dismissed as her being a baby and get over it honey cause daddy's gotta make a living so go shopping and buy yourself a hat.

I couldn't help but be annoyed by his reaction to her saying yes to a huge job, especially when her entire business depends on that phone ringing (and a silly reality show where she repeatedly says "major," but you get my point).

Except for not having my own reality show and never saying "major," that's pretty much how my business runs. I am dependent on someone deciding to pick up the phone to call and hire me. I don't (yet) have the luxury of saying No. What I said No to was a dreary 9-to-5 slogfest that makes me want to light shit on fire and stab people in the neck with pens.

Anyway... my point...

I get the feeling that, in general, working women still aren't taken seriously, or their jobs, by men. Like we're just playing Worky Lady but our *real* job is cleaning up the mess in the kitchen after cooking all the food. It's irrelevant what that job is, whether it's building rockets or playing with bracelets.

I say this because I've dealt with this first-hand. There are days when I am slammed with post-processing after shooting a large job. This is work that cannot be put off or done only between the hours of X and Y. It has to be done when it has to be done, which I can never predict, and that's how the job goes.

There was one time when I got the whiny "how much longer do you have to do that" response to me having to miss out on some TV to finish a job. Yes, I do have to do this now and I don't know for how much longer so you're going to have to put your big pants on and get yourself your own lollipop.

I'm sorry - that sounds shitty - but it was disappointing to realize that what I was doing wasn't taken as seriously as some other sort of job like, playing computer games. Turn the tables and you don't ever see me hanging in the doorway with a droopy lip wondering when we can go out & play. I'm happy to do my own thing until work is done, which, for the record, happens at least 75% of the time, because daddy's gotta make a living and I'm happy to let him make the hell out of it.

My point...

Boys, in my opinion, still aren't comfortable with girls saddling up and doing their own thing. Some may be - I think I know a few who are - though I wonder if they'd be supportive and understanding of the demands of their ladies' jobs and not get a little whiny if it started to cut in to playtime.

Of course all of this is based on the bulletproof scientific data of my one experience and the Rachel Zoe Project, which is totally major.

Ooh! Newsreading!

Last night while watching my favorite local newscast the lead story was the *shocking* announcement that Katy Couric would be leaving the Today Show to become the first solo female anchor of a network news broadcast.

Isn't that amazing!? A solo female anchor on a network broadcast! Aren't you excited!? Isn't it fantastic!? Is anyone else aware of what year it is? Is anyone else wondering why it's taken this long for a woman to hold this job?

Every now & then something reminds me that it wasn't until 1984 that women were allowed to run the marathon in the Olympics. 1984. I'll never understand it. What a joke.

Lazey Stale

It seems like women, by and large, are still considered little more than breeding window dressings. Sure, there are women doing amazing things in the world - scientists, researchers, health care workers, mothers, teachers, etc. But it was a 60 Minutes interview that made me wonder if we're ever going to be thought of as people.

It was Lesley Stahl (Stale) interviewing Felicity Huffman. Lesley asked Felicity if motherhood was the best experience of her life. I was shocked, because as incredible as it must be to create and train another human being, is that really the BEST thing a woman can ever do with her life? Is everything else we might do considered frivolous and worthless?

To her credit and my relief, Felicity said "No, no, and I resent that question, because I think it puts women in an untenable position, because unless I say to you, 'Oh, Lesley, it's the best thing I've ever done with my whole life,' I'm considered a bad mother. And just when I said no you, you went back." And she did. Lesley physically pulled back in astonishment.

Stale went on to ask if Felicity thought she was a good mother. By whose standards are we going to judge that? Lesley's? The people who watch CBS? And what the fuck does that have to do with Felicity's success as an actress, which was the orginally stated SUBJECT of the story? So even though she's now enjoying success in her field, it still comes down to "are you breeding well?" because that's all that really matters.

And at one point in the interview she was asking how Felicity identified with the character in Transamerica, to the pain the character experienced in the story, and Felicity said what most people might say, that we can all identify with insecurity and being uncomfortable in our own skin. Anyone who's ever been 14 should be able to connect with that.

But it seemed like Stale was trying to be coy, hoping for deep, personal details that aren't anyone's business, like asking about a history of bulimia, which was acknowledged but it was obvious Felicity wasn't going to break down and confide in this boob. When Felicity told Stale she thought anyone could connect with insecurity, Stale said "Nooo" with incredulous gravity, like she was somehow immune to such human conditions. What an asshole.

Instead of telling Lesley to shove it & storming off, Felicity graciously finished the "interview" on a positive note. It's too bad that all Lesley could offer us was typical dreck, even asking at one point about the rumored cat fighting on the Housewives set, which is what I'd expect to see on E! Online, not 60 Minutes. Shame on you Lesley.