I love my washing machine – a sturdy, reliable, oversized contraption with a stainless steel drum that doesn't chip like most enameled ones. But never have I looked upon it as my liberator! Well, not any more than my car, refrigerator, microwave oven, cooking range, garage door opener and sundry other household conveniences. And in computing comparative liberating power, it is difficult to assign a higher rank to the washing machine than to education, modern medicine, electricity or even indoor plumbing. But the Vatican has declared that the washing machine (!) deserves special veneration for unshackling women from their oppressed existence.
As International Women’s Day is celebrated, the Vatican had a novel message for the women of the world: give thanks for the washing machine. This humble domestic appliance had done more for the women’s liberation movement than the contraceptive pill or working outside the home, said the the official Vatican newspaper, Osservatore Romano.
“In the 20th century, what contributed most to the emancipation of Western women?” questioned the article. “The debate is still open. Some say it was the pill, others the liberalisation of abortion, or being able to work outside the home. Others go even further: the washing machine.”
The article is entitled, “The washing machine and the emancipation of women: put in the powder, close the lid and relax”, taking its name from the Washy Talky, the Electrolux bilingual-talking washing-machine launched in India seven years ago, which would remind the absent-minded housewife how to use the appliance.
The Catholic Church was never likely to laud the pill for its transformative power on women’s lives. Since Pope Benedict became the leader of the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics, he has published a religious document condemning contraception for “negating the intimate truth of conjugal love, with which the divine gift [of life] is communicated” and has urged pharmacists to refuse to dispense the morning-after pill. The Osservatore Romano held the pill responsible for polluting the environment and contributing to male infertility.
Accidental Blogger 
5 responses to “Wash, Rinse, Spin and Liberate!”
I wonder whether the Washy Talky ever took off in the Indian market. I think the Maid Gossip Talky version may still far exceed it in popularity- why settle for mere boring reminders when you can have the latest on the shenanigans in 3 neighboring households:)
I’m sure the washing machine must have been a heaven-sent gift for all those priests and the loads of laundry they had to do laboriously before its invention. “Deo Gratias, indeed, for it hath freed us from the tyranny of those notoriously foulmouthed washerwomen!” (Dean, I would be much obliged if you could Latinize the last line completely.)
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This Cardinal needs not his vestments but his brain washed thoroughly.
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He already has had his brain washed, maybe he needs a ‘dirtying’ dip in the waters of compassion, as opposed to silly dogma;)
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In a very (very) short story, John Cage wrote:
Once
I was visiting
my Aunt Marge.
She was doing her laundry.
She turned
to me
and said,
“You know?
I love this
machine
much more
than I do your Uncle Walter.”
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Chris:
No argument here. Compared to the husband, the washing machine is definitely a greater liberator!
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