November 16, 2015

Ruth Bader Ginsburg gives Gloria Steinem her rap name and Gloria doesn't like it.

From a NYT interview of the 2 women (who are sitting together in RBG's chambers):
Philip Galanes: Let’s start with a glaring inequity. Only one of you has a rap name.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: I like the way mine began. A second-year law student at N.Y.U. was outraged by the court’s decision in the voting rights case. But instead of just venting her anger, she took up my dissent.

PG: Happily, there are rap-name generators online.

Gloria Steinem: They have those?

PG: Yours, if you want it, is GlowStick.

GS: We may need to work on that.
Imagine getting your rap name from Ruth Bader Ginsburg and not laughing or saying something positive. What goes on in Gloria Steinem's mind? Nothing with "stick" or anything that could be construed as phallic? Or, just, nobody's going to be assigning names to me — I and I alone define myself?

Anyway, the results are in: Ruth Bader Ginsburg is more fun than Gloria Steinem.

35 comments:

Sydney said...

Maybe I'm misreading it, but it looks to me like the interviewer gave Gloria Steinem her rap name. I don't see how RBG in any way gave her a rap name.

David Begley said...

How inane.

How does such a ridiculous conversation even take place? Answer: Ancient liberals acting cool.

Unknown said...

"Anyway, the results are in: Ruth Bader Ginsburg is more fun than Gloria Steinem."

pretty low bar.

Paco Wové said...

...and Althouse gave Steinem her Typo Name.

Wilbur said...

An itchy back rash is more fun than Glow Stick.

rehajm said...

Justice Ginsburg, 82, led Ms. Steinem, 81, into her wood-paneled chambers, with its stately traditional furniture and blue-chip modern art by Mark Rothko and Josef Albers (on loan from the National Gallery of Art and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden)

Holy shit how does that work? Did RBG check them out with her library card or something?

rehajm said...

WhoaManz

Stein 80Sumpin

Toxic Glory G

Byke R. Fish

That's Not Funny

Derp said...

There is a bigoted trope out there that feminists have no sense of humor.

mikeski said...

What goes on in Gloria Steinem's mind? Nothing [...]

Sounds about right.

Sebastian said...

I'm confused. When W assigned people names, that was not fun, but when RBG does it (not clear she did), that makes her "fun"?

Ann Althouse said...

"...and Althouse gave Steinem her Typo Name."

Oh. Sorry. Fixed. Thanks.

Sean Gleeson said...

Yeah, I have to take Steinem's side in this. See, "Notorious RBG" is good because it is instantly recognizable as a parody of a real famous rapper's name, and also hints at a truth about Ginsberg (i.e., she is notorious). If anyone had suggested an equally good nickname for Steinem (like maybe "Feminem"?) that might have been fun. But the interviewer blew it. "Glow Stick" is really lame.

Robert J. said...

#shrewculture

Laslo Spatula said...

You would have thought Gloria would have gotten past her Daddy Issues by now, but -- nope -- she's taking them to the grave with her.

"Daddy, Daddy! I'm smart, too! I'm smart like a boy, Daddy! I'm smart like a boy!"

Something like that.

I am Laslo.

Gahrie said...

Anyway, the results are in: Ruth Bader Ginsburg is more fun than Gloria Steinem

Ebola is more fun than Gloria Steinem.

Nurse Rooke said...

The first commentator, Sydney, has gone unanswered, but I had the same question, even after I went to the NYT link to check: Philip Galanes give Steinem the nickname, not Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Did Sydney and I misread? Did Althouse? Or something else I haven't thought of?

Laslo Spatula said...

"Daddy, I'm not your Little Girl anymore! I am a Grown Woman, and I write things, big things about important stuff, and people respect me! I write things just like a Man does, Daddy! I'm important, and you no longer can make me Cry! You hear me, Daddy? Do you hear?"

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

"I'm sorry, Daddy! Please don't be angry at me! It's just that the world is so Unfair, and it hurts me, it hurts me Bad! I never want to do anything to disappoint you, Daddy! Sometimes I wish I was your Little Girl again and I was Safe and Protected and the World wasn't such a scary place! When I was little your arms were SO big! What should I do, Daddy? What should I do?"

I am Laslo.

yoobee said...

Yeah, as others have mentioned, I cannot figure out how RBG gave Steinem that nickname. Perhaps because the interview was held in her chambers, she somehow was responsible? I dunno. I spent 5 minutes skimming the story and trying to figure this out, which is about 5 minutes longer than I should have spent. This is not a story I otherwise would have clicked through to read, so good job on generating clicks for the NYT, professor.

Laslo Spatula said...

"Daddy, sometimes I think you don't even listen to me! I have a Right to be heard! Women have thoughts, too -- Big Thoughts, just like a Man! Daddy, why don't you listen? Just once I wish you would say that you were Proud of me, as Proud of me as if I were a Boy! People have given me awards, just like they do in Football! Remember when we used to watch football together and I would sit beside you on the couch? I'm the Same Little Girl inside, Daddy! I'm the same Little Girl!"

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Laslo Spatula said...

Of course, all of my Steinem quotes could probably also be attributed to a certain unbalanced woman who wanders through here from time to time, crying for help.

Just replace "Daddy" with "Althouse."

I am Laslo.

Anthony said...

"Glow Stick"? What kind of rap name is that? That's a Burning Man nickname (for a noob, but it's at least in the right spirit), not a rap name. A better rap name would be Steineminem.

William said...

It seems that Ms Steinem and RPG have had useful and successful lives. I'm glad that they were able to overcome harsh comments by Gay Talese and Harvard deans to achieve this success. It does seem to me, however, that the perks and privileges of their lives far outweighed the challenges. Put another way, they didn't build that. Their lives fairly reek of white privilege. Smug bourgeoise. It's not just for male Rotary Club members.

William said...

Glow Schtick?

bleh said...

I fell asleep halfway through this short post.

robother said...

At least they didn't assign each other porn star names. (There's probably an app for that as well.)

Bill said...

Two old reptiles, one with a better sense of humor than the other.

Big Mike said...

Ruth Bader Ginsburg is more fun than Gloria Steinem.

I agree with Unknown, but frankly Gloria Steinem has been a humorless scold nearly all of her adult life. If she's not scolding men for being men, she's scolding women for not believing everything she believes and thinking exactly the same way she thinks.

"Women's right to choose," just as long as they choose what ever Gloria Steinem wants them to choose.

SeanF said...

Not only did Althouse err in assuming that it was RBG who told Steinem what her rap name was, but I would also call it an error to say that either RBG or the interviewer "gave" Steinem that name. When you say that someone "gave" someone else a name (or nickname), you're implying that the first person came up with the name. The name-generating website did that, the interviewer simply told Steinem what it said.

Also, it's an assumption that Steinem didn't laugh. The article transcribes the conversations, but it doesn't seem to indicate things like laughter or facial expressions at all.

mikee said...

Both are progressive liberals and "THAT IS NOT FUNNY!" is their default position on humor.

To assert otherwise is to not understand why fish need bicycles.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Unless "PG" is RBG your post's headline is incorrect, Professor.

Also, is this not cultural appropriation, the giving of "rap names?" And since she didn't play along/have fun, does that characterization play into the stereotype that feminists don't have a sense of humor ("that's not funny") or instead just highlight the various ways our society forces women to conform to (male?) expectations ("Oh, she should have a better sense of humor about things")? Being a good Leftist must take a lot of energy--of course maybe the answer is just "react with emotion in whatever way blames and/or attacks your ideological foes" in which case it's my fault for trying to reason through it.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Ginsberg's dissents aren't very good. She cherry-picks precedents, and ignores or mischaracterizes the views of the SC majority or the winning plaintiff. In some of her dissents, her Jewish worldview is behind her reasoning (in Hobby Lobby, she seemed to think that no religions have universal mandates), but she doesn't seem to realize it. When you've decided the constitution is a means to an end, your reasoning tends to rely on your personal prejudices and experiences.

Rocketeer said...

Laslo shoots...Laslo scores!!!

Rusty said...

Thereby proving femminists have no sense of humor and will eventually wind up, in old age, hoarding cats.


You're lucky, Althouse. You found Meade before it got to that stage.