On last night's season finale of Real Housewives of Orange County, Alexis Bellino—who hasn't exactly been known for her feminism or deep thoughts throughout her two-season career on reality TV—said that "the problem with America today" has to do with the fact that women are now able to run for president and do everything that a man can do. No, really. She said this.
Alexis then went on to extoll her traditional marriage by saying, "Everybody thinks [my husband] bosses me around. And it's OK because he is the man." In case you think that maybe Alexis was just a victim of some evil editing, she actually clarified her points in her blog this week:
I think America is going through a liberal movement, and the older, more traditional marriage values are becoming something of the past. Jim and I are one couple who still favor a more traditional marriage rather than a liberal marriage, and because we do, it makes my marriage an interesting conversation topic. However just because we have a more traditional marriage does not mean I do not make my own decisions. As you can see just in this one episode, I chose to wear the dress I wanted, not the dress that was Jim's first choice.
DISCUSSION
You can disagree with her views on faith and traditional marriage, but just because it's lost on her that she lives in an era where she can actually choose to live this way instead of it just being "the way things are", doesn't mean it's appropriate for us to jump all over her and tear it down. No matter how confoundingly, inexplicabley, backwards I* — err, I mean, "you all" may think it is. It's not what most of us would choose and I, personally, have a hard time understanding it.
Also, she should use something less charged than "liberal". By her definition, marriage in the U.S. has been liberal since Abigail Adams told John to "remember the ladies" in 1776. But hey, if the perimeters they have set for their life include plastic surgery along with saying grace, I can only hope they're happy and never in the market for a new sucker* — I mean, spouse.
Now, if you want to get into how she thinks gays are going to hell, well, yeah, the gloves will be off. That's just her being a giant hypocrite.
*I know, right, it's hard to defend this level of nonsense!