***Senator Elect Scott Brown Confirms It: Chivalry Is Dead

Thank you Scott Brown, newly elected Senator of Massachusetts, for offering up your daughters at your victory speech last night.

First, as a Republican, you shocked the political world by taking the seat, then you shock everyone else with your outrageously inappropriate “wit”. It appears we have elected yet another questionable man into office. The men who stood behind Brown as he gave his speech last night were not laughing in fun, they were savoring dirty ideas and snickering at the filthy thoughts Brown planted in their minds about his own children. Shaming and degrading your own daughters on national television especially in your first address, is a new low, congratulations. Is it too soon to ask for your resignation?

The morning after, the presenters of CBS’s Early Show seemed equally bothered by his statements and actions, with Maggie Rodriguez stating, “My husband would be saying, ‘Just so you know, my daughter’s aren’t available until they are fifty...”and I was glad she said that, as fathers are supposed to protect their daughters; they teach girls what to expect from men, and what to tolerate--they are not supposed to joke about getting rid of them or pawning them off like some piece of artwork on the auction block, waiting for the best offer to be made. Thanks to Ms. Rodriguez for trying, but unfortunately, she softened the point by adding a comment she really didn’t believe, saying, “...that’s a pretty cool dad, I guess...” with a weakness in her voice that revealed her disapproval as she referred to a man who could make such jokes. We all need to learn how to respond effectively to men who behave this way towards women, we don’t need to be “nice,” we need to counter the perception of women that is created when things like this go down and are unchecked. Let the uncomfortable commentary land where it may, it was earned.

Belittling women might just be common place in the Brown household, given his interaction with his wife, Gail Huff, a Boston Media personality, and his daughters on the stage last night. As his wife playfully told him, “Stop,” he paid no attention and even made things worse by then holding up each daughter’s hand as if they were being bid on. How humiliating. Reading between the lines, you can expect he was being himself, and that she sees this side regularly. He is in his own world, more concerned with making a joke, looking like a star, and being the center of attention, than he is with protecting his family, showing how much he values them, and therefore, women in general. How sad this man has power-how sad we gave it to him.

If you’ve ever wondered how women end up with men who treat them poorly, it starts at home, and Brown has provided a good example to learn from. When a man like Brown is the father of your children, it sets women up to be objectified more than if they were strippers. When we put him in a public space and he demeans the women in his own life publicly, as if it were nothing, we expose the whole country to the dumbing down of women. By quietly accepting his disgraceful behavior when we disagree with it, we quietly and subtly set women up to play a lesser role, to live smaller than they are, and to tolerate mistreatment and disrespect by men-and we do so as they chuckle, smile, and elbow each other-after all, it was only a joke. Not funny.

If you’d like to see the clip, go here:
http://earlyshow.cbsnews.com
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6120114n&tag=contentMain;contentBody