Things that are a billion times more important to me than a Super Bowl commercial

One out of every six women in the U.S. will be the victim of rape or attempted rape. Think of six random women in your life. Now do the math. For Native American women, it’s more than one in three.

Women represent almost 60 percent of beneficiaries of Social Security at age 65, and 71 percent at age 85. Twenty-five percent of elderly women have no other source of income besides Social Security. Almost 30 percent of elderly African American women live in poverty.

Women pay up to 50 percent more for health insurance than men – one of the inequities that the health care reform bill in Congress would aim to fix.

Here in N.C., one in five children lives below the poverty line.

Full disclosure: there’s not much that irritates me more than the jerk who pops up on a feminist blog to tell us all to quit our bitchin’ because at least we don’t live under the Taliban. Most of us have the intelligence to appreciate the privilege we have by living in a place like America (which is completely due to the work of past feminists and allies, not just something we were handed) while also pointing out the work we still have left to do.

That said – I refuse to get worked up over a 30-second commercial THAT NOBODY HAS SEEN YET, to the point where I’m drawing lines in the sand about who’s feminist or not feminist. Yes, CBS is full of it for airing this commercial having rejected “advocacy” ads in the past. Yes, I’m highly disappointed that a person like Tim Tebow for whom I have such admiration would associate himself with the bigots at Focus on the Family. Yes, his mother HAD a choice, and other women should have choices, too – a distinction that too many of the Tebows’ fellow anti-abortion folks fail to make.

But, if I’m going to sign a petition or boycott or a broadcast of the championship of my favorite sport (not gonna happen), it’s going to be over something that actually matters. For the record, I think my stance on reproductive freedom (i.e., for it) is strong enough to withstand 30 seconds of a former college football player.