I had this conversation with a woman who publishes well in feminist theory.
WM: What does it cost to have a house professionally cleaned?
PZ: A house the size of yours? About $90-120, I would think. The going rate seems to be $15-20 per person per hour, and I estimate it would take three people two hours, or two people three hours, to clean your house. But don’t call a franchise, call an individual – prices are lower, and your money goes to the actual workers.
WM: Oh, I couldn’t pay more than minimum wage. It would be unfair to other poor women.
PZ: Allá tú, mujer honesta. Buena feminista eres, y solidaria.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 
What??!?
In a way, this proves exactly what we were talking about before: that you don’t have to believe something in order to study its tenets.
Among other astonishing things, the Whiteman’s bland assumption that she has total control over the negotiation is remarkable.
oh geez. it never ends…
Never ends – I know. Depressing hunh?
S – yes, although this person is also supposed to *be* feminist – an elitist feminist, I guess. (Hillary?) IRL she is one of those incredibly self serving people who manages to mask it – at least enough so as not to be called on it.
T – yes, good point. Key. That’s why she’s one of Da Whitemen, I suppose. Perhaps indeed this is the main characteristic of whitemen – they assume they have total control.
No one whose house is being cleaned for them by someone else has total control over the situation. This is why people are so hot on using the franchises: because the workers are often bonded and there is someone to sue. Just let a random person clean your house? Too little control.
There are compromises: like you could ask someone you know who employs someone directly whom she employs. But that would require you to admit that you employ a cleaner, which is also a sort of tense issue for many feminists I know.
So *that* is why the franchises. It makes sense. You have cleaners but avoid coming face to face with your class position because it is just another service you buy, like cable tv.
I have cleaners whenever I can afford them. I got hooked on them from my first one, to whom I was asked to give a job – I wasn’t looking and wouldn’t have thought of it. She was very good at it but had trouble staying employed because her philosophy was that she was “working, not serving” (I quote textually). She had more dignity than most people who employed cleaners could tolerate.
My view is that you can evade facing your class position by not having cleaners, but your actual position doesn’t change.
Maybe you could send her an email and tell her, she’s right, the min. wage is “unfair.” Let her know what the LA living wage is and how that makes a lot more sense! Heh.
I actually did that, and it pissed her off! I’m paying $20/hr. now and more than 10 years ago I was paying $12-$15. My view is that it hasn’t gone up that much – one shouldn’t complain. She wants to pay the minimum. My neighbor the Marine wants to pay $8.50, because that’s what male laborers out in the sun and rain get. I say (a) they [the men] should also be paid more and (b) house cleaning has all this psychological interface with the one living in the house, so it really should be decently paid.
Ahhhh, geeez. Another “liberal” market worshipper. I can’t stand it. “I couldn’t pay more than minimum wage…” Oh, that is so much baloney. I’m sorry you had to witness that. I’m glad you outed the “feminist whiteman” here.
Once when I was in a “third-world” country, a travelling companion informed me that paying more for products or services than the “going rate” meant “spoiling” the experience for everyone else because once “the locals” learned how much more Americans could pay, they’d just overinflate their prices. An argument ensued.
😉 I’m sure the feminist whiteman is simpering through her department’s halls as we speak. Her office smells heavily of roses and potpourri which is, I have noticed oddly, also a characteristic of white feminist bookstores in these latitudes.