WWJD: What Would Julia Do?

Julia Sugarbaker is a hero of mine. The fact that she's fictional and only existed on a TV sitcom that ended over 10 years ago makes absolutely no difference to me. Designing Women aired during my late teens and from the start, I worshiped everything about Julia. She was sass, smarts and sarcasm. She was strength, spunk and savvy. And I wanted to be just like her. When someone underestimated her, usually mistaking her Southern charm for stupidity or her femininity for weakness, she never hesitated to set them straight. I envied the way she could speak her mind with sweet sarcasm as she put someone in their place, subtlety insult their intelligence and get her point across, simultaneously. Pure genius as far as I’m concerned.

The other day at lunch, while discussing the differences between men and women, I could’ve used a Julia Sugarbaker inspired response for my chauvinistic guy friends. Even without it, I managed to I hold my own, even if I lacked Julia’s finesse. Later, going over the discussion in my head, I started thinking of my all-time favorite Julia rant. While on a ski trip, the four couples get snowed in at their condo, nerves are starting to fray and the conversation, inevitably, turns to men and women. Mary Jo’s boyfriend, J.D., says something and whoo-boy...Julia just let loose with a great rebuttal. Game on!! It remains one of my favorite TV moments. After the original episode, I waited and waited for it to re-air. When it did, I recorded it and transcribed her speech (lame, yes, but in my defense I was about 15) verbatim. Eventually, it ended up stashed in a box of cards, letters and high school English essays, utterly forgotten until a few days ago when I pulled the box from under the bed to sort through it. Years later, I still love it. (Maybe I'll email it to the two Neanderthals I lunched with last week.) Anyway, I thought I’d share...

J.D.: "...yeah, well, there’s a gender war going on out there and you women started it!"

Julia: "Oh no we did not, but that’s a typical male attitude! Now the truth is, is that we women haven’t had enough power or money or confidence to start much of anything, but we sure as hell get the blame for everything. And I’ll tell you something else...I love men; I love this one (points to Reese) but you cannot ignore history. And history has shown, in general, it has been the men who have done the rapin’ and the robbin’ and the killin’ and the warmongerin’ for the past 2,000 years. It has been the men who have done the pillaging, the beheading and the subjugating of whole races into slavery. It has been the men who have done the law making, the money making and most of the mischief making...so if the world isn’t quite what you had in mind, you only have yourselves to thank!!"

And that’s why Julia Sugarbaker will always be a hero of mine. You go, girl!!