As a long-time reader, I am dismayed week after week by columnist Heather Wilhelm’s tone. She writes as if she is constantly cornered in a room, brandishing a broken bottle and inadvertently taking jabs at the perceived enemy of the week. This week it was the phrase “the future is female.”
Wilhelm references that our current culture should be wary about ostracizing our young boys with messages that encourage girls to “dream big” and inform them that they can indeed pursue anything — astronaut, chef, or even (God forbid) the presidency.
I would like to point out to her that it is, in fact, because our history is so entrenched in the subjugation, demoralization and sidelining of women as a whole, that these messages are needed in the first place! If we are to continue moving forward in an era that still remains rife with institutional and cultural biases against our young girls (including real pay gaps that Wilhelm refuses to acknowledge despite the scads of data and studies that point to their existence), we may as well encourage them with ideas and phrases that will inspire them to continue the fight to have their voices heard, their abilities acknowledged, and their futures secured.
— Julie Engel, Oswego
