Feminists Are Sleepy, Says Naomi Wolfe
February 9, 2010 No Comments
Feminist power houses Arianna Huffington, Cindi Leive and Naomi Wolfe have decided that sleep is a feminist issue. If this is the next great battle for women I think feminists should just call it a night.
A study has revealed that women get, on average, 90 minutes less sleep than men. This led to the argument which goes something like this:
The problem is that women often feel that they still don’t ‘belong’ in the boys-club atmosphere that still dominates many workplaces. So they often attempt to compensate by working harder and longer than the next guy. Hard work helps women to fit in and gain a measure of security. And because it works, they begin to do more and more of it until they can’t stop. But it’s a Pyrrhic victory: the workaholism leads to lack of sleep, which in turn leads to never being able to do your best. In fact, many women do this on purpose, fuelled by the mistaken idea that getting enough sleep means you must be lazy or less than passionate about your work and your life.
I see their point but seriouly, get over it.
The problem is not sleep, the problem is the decision making process which prioritizes things over sleep.
Teenagers could make the argument just as well. Because they are biologically programmed to separate from their parents and engage in excessive social activity, they lack sleep when they are also forced to participate in school work, which is run on an adult schedule anyway, and engage with their families in a meaningful way. Because they are tired their school works takes longer and they are crankier which leads to more fights with their parents, and staying out later which leads to even less sleep.
Women only make 75.5 cents for every dollar a man makes.
The United States does not have maternity leave.
Rape cases are under-reported and domestic violence is still tolerated.
Is the fact that women who are lucky enough to have it all are sleepy a matter for feminist to wage a battle about?
No. But maybe I’m just too tired to care.
