There are two things I want to say about the spurned political/sports/whomever wife . . . way to go Jenny and where is the word SEXISM in all of this?
I whole heartedly agree with Time's portrayal of Jenny Sanford.
She has been the face of eloquence and poise during such an emotionally bruising point in her life. She has been able to be public without too much detail, and think well about not only her children, but her philandering Christian husband. Bravo.
However, aside from taking on infidelity with poise, I think the media coverage of any couple's infidelity completely misses a discussion about sexism and how far we have to go. For example, let's figure out to be a Tiger . . .
Apparently, you go to the gym, train, go to the golf course, train, travel to tournament, let off some steam (if you know what I mean), return to wife and children, repeat. However, what is missed in this scenario is that there is someone laboring, unpaid in our philanderers' absence. There tends to be a woman who is raising the children and keeping track of what is going on in the household to make sure that he can govern or play sports (or work in a law firm, work in a hospital, build buildings, teach kids, and on it goes). The "public" spouse need not bother their pretty little heads with what preoccupies the rest of us for most of the day - who will pick up Junior from school; Junior needs to eat dinner by 5 to make sure he's not a raving maniac . . . what should I cook that he and hubby like; oh dear, Schnookums is bringing over a pal from the office and the housekeeper isn't here today . . . I have to clean; better get Junior to bed so he is ready to learn in the morning; is the homework done; I hope he doesn't feel like making love, I'm exhausted! You get the point.
Bottom line: the philanderers are taking advantage of someone else's time and hard work to enjoy their lives to the max. Here is the sexism - because they are men, they are entitled to their wives' labor. Of course there's the emotional betrayal . . . after all, they swore in front of God,the State, family, and friends that they would be true to their spouses forever. However, these women often hold another job or have given up careers; contributions to their IRAs, pensions, social security funds; their own wealth; and now their emotional security after working their asses off for these men. How much would it cost for them to replace this lost labor? Perhaps this is what Tiger is dealing with this week in addition to his wife's wrath.
It is this entitlement that burns me (I suspect these wives as well). Women don't get socialized to expect this level of entitlement . . . indeed, we don't expect to demand anything in return for the labor we put into our relationships. Ultimately, perhaps THIS is what these men have to apologize for; however, shifting the assumption of entitlement is harder work . . . work they better start doing. And that's why I admire Jenny Sanford - she effectively told her husband he is not entitled to anything of hers anymore. And, in spite of the fact that I suspect she wouldn't identify as feminist, that is the feminist morality tale.
