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  Penney Wise, or Penney Foolish?

  Posted Wednesday, December 17, 2008 4:43 PM | By Rachael Larimore

  Sometimes, Hanna, the self-parody is so much funnier (and sadder) than anything people can make up. The Daily Beast has a first-person account by Alexandra Penney, who lost her life savings in the Bernard Madoff scheme. Not only is she going to have to sell her cottage in West Palm Beach, Fla., (her second home) but

  I love beautiful things: high thread count sheets, old china, watches, jewelry, Hermes purses and Louboutin shoes. I like expensive French milled soap, good wines and white truffles. I have given extravagant gifts like diamond earrings. I traveled a lot. In this last year, I've been Laos, Cambodia, India, Russia, and Berlin for my first solo art show. Will I ever be able to explore exotic places again?

  Now, I have a measure of sympathy for those who lost their fortunes to Madoff. They did nothing wrong except to trust him with their money. I hope that our legal system metes out the proper punishment for him. (I will try to set aside my inclination to remind people that the first rule of investing is Diversify! Diversify! Diversify!) And normally I don't hate on people for enjoying the finer things in life. But when hundreds of thousands of people are losing their jobs or having their hours and benefits cut, and all of us are cutting back on expenses, neither can I get too worked up about someone having to give up her Hermes bags.

  That wasn't the only thing that bothered me about Penney's story, though. She recounts how, in the 1970s, she was married to "a talented industrial designer. We lived right off Park Avenue and had a son. But the chichi uptown lifestyle was not for me." So she gets divorced and brags about leaving without taking a penny, opting to work three jobs to support herself and her son. Because "I was a feminist and I would make it on my own." But isn't that as much foolish pride as it is feminism? She could have refused spousal support but taken child support and worked a bit less, enabling her to spend more time with her son.

  I realize I'm looking at this from the perspective of 2008 and not the 1970s, when she made her decisions. Was feminism that much different then, that motherhood was seen as secondary to being independent?

  Filed under: feminism, Alexandra Penney, Bernard Madoff

About Rachael Larimore

• Rachael Larimore is Slate's copy chief.

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