If you want to see just how hoplessly trivial feminism has become, you need go no further than reading Martha Burk’s piece (which, unfortunately, requires registration) in today’s Wall Street Journal.
It’s about the Masters Golf Tournament.
Yeah, she’s still on that kick.
Burk, you no doubt recall, aspired to be the liberator of the Masters Tournament. She lobbied to open the doors to millionaire women. Now it’s for millionaire men. Quite a civil rights issue, isn’t it?
What’s interesting in Burk’s piece, though, is that its language is pure 1960s and 1970s prattle. Remember it was popular to regard U.S. business as an impenetrable conspiracy with interlocking boards that “ran” America.
“The titans of business will gather this week, but it won’t be at a summit on Wall Street,” writes Burk. “The coming-together will be at a town in Georgia where the main attraction is a ‘gentleman’s club’ exclusive enough to garner members by invitation only. Augusta National Golf Club, which openly and proudly discriminates against women, will produce its Masters Golf Tournament with considerable help from the masters of corporate America. After two years without sponsors, the tournament will again be underwritten — by stockholders and customers of IBM, SBC and ExxonMobil. The companies will spend between $7 million and $12 million for the privilege of sharing four commercial minutes per hour on the air. Even so, CBS will lose money on the broadcast, giving its stockholders — male and female alike — the opportunity to pick up the slack.
“With the return of corporate sponsorships, there will no doubt be a return of corporate entertainment. Citigroup, Coca-Cola, Bank of America, and others will spend up to a million dollars apiece on lavish meals, liquor, housing, transportation, and gifts to customers….”
Sure, it’s quite possible that guys at the club sometimes disobey the no-talking-bidness rule’just as it’s more than likely that female execs cut deals that exclude guys in nails salon of the Four Season’s.
Such is life.
It takes a lot of doing to feel ripped off because some middle-aged men are playing golf in Georgia. But, clearly, Burke manages.