Letters to the Editor
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My Personal Rape Schedule
I try to get in at least two a week on my lunch hour. But not on Wednesdays - that's when I go to my trainer. And Fridays are my Vinyasa class.
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Feminists discover Larry Flint school of journalism
How does this discussion continue on? Simple "Tough Titties", "Full Frontal", "Rape Schedule" "Mardi Gras Boob Flashing". Take all of that out and this discussion doesn't exist.
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Please come to Boston for the springtime...
And good luck Ms. Valenti! It's all flip-flops and wonder-bras here with the best and brightest of our nation's young women.
I grew up in the 70s, and sort of expected women to at least act like they were equal, or wanted to be. And like many men, I eventually got turned off by the "all men suck all the time" meme. Now I find myself in my 40s in practically a seller's market because, hey! I'm not an asshole! Or at least not a great big one.
I work in IT. The women in my department have no trouble figuring out how to fix things, how to make things work. But out there in the mostly white, college-educated, middle-to-upper middle-class user community? Why those pretty little things with the haircuts and the shoes and the bags just couldn't possibly figure out how to plug in their keyboard. Much less carry a computer all the way across the room to another desk. Heavens no! They'd get the vapors, I swear.
Just this lunchtime I saw a young woman literally standing in front of the door, waiting for her male friend to open it for her.
You've got a long way to go, and a long row to how. And 100 shades of lip gloss.
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Greed, Fear Mongering, and Miscommunication
First of all, let me say upfront, that I don’t believe that gender equality has been remotely achieved, particularly outside of the U.S. But let me just pose one hypothetical question…if it actually was achieved would the women’s studies departments of universities close shop? Would broadsheet and the entire feminist publishing wing (and consequently the anti-feminist writings) just suddenly dry up, job done!
There is a certain element of feminism for which it is both profitable and self-perpetuating to continually stir things up.
Add to this the fact that we live in an age in which the media (of all sorts) is hell bent on convincing us that we live in a society that is seconds from descending into Mad Max level anarchy. Despite the most brutal gun slaying in recent US history, we still see editorials on CNN’s front page saying that without guns we’d be slaves to roving gangs of violent thugs that would some how acquire the weapons we are depriving ourselves of. Even in this interview Valenti herself points out that stranger rape is a remarkable occurance…yet this forum has spent God knows how many letters having a ludicrous conversation about the appropriateness of women walking the streets alone at night.
If you continually see the world as a threatening place, you will continually assume a defensive posture, and the defensive posture will alienate those who might otherwise befriend you.
Before I get lumped into a boat with the trolls, let me clarify my position: I completely believe in equal pay for equal work, complete reproductive rights, and tolerance and safety for all. I think there are truly terrible things going on in the lives of women in impoverished companies and I think that it is a travesty what the Supreme Court is doing to reproductive rights. As a guy with liberal attitudes about sex, I am always shocked and disappointed to see men like the poster that suggested that a woman who sleep around has entered “the whore-zone”, and every time Brightstar posts, I kinda want to give him a weegie….
BUT, having said all of that, I see so much of modern American feminism as railing at windmills. Fights about semantics and internal fighting dominate so much of the conversation. Not that many people in general and women in specific even want to be chemical engineers, pilots, or plumbers. Not all adult women are horrified to be called a girl, and even Valenti acknowledges that “Herstory” is absurd.
And most importantly ladies, at some point your dad probably thought your mom had nice tits. As did your grandfathers towards your grandmothers all the way back to the chimps (or Adam and Eve for you Red Staters). We are not “culturally indoctrinated to fetishize breast” we are biological wired to want to look at them…stop trying to make us feel like there is something wrong with us for responding. You have biological urges that we are supposed to respect all of the time, but following ours makes us animals. 99.9% of men are not going to rape you. We just like looking at you. Be flattered.
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Does anybody think (like me)...
... that the "rape schedule" is the biggest load of crap ever written at Salon?
... that so-called feminists like Ms. Valenti have to distort the most elemental logic in order to get some new (ridiculous) idea which allows them to sell some books?
... that the "I am always a victim of society" thing (aka whining and whining) discredits feminism?
... that feminism has some good points that hid behind all this crap?
Or I am the only who think that?
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Don't look at the femmes
Years ago I lived in an area of Boston known as Bay Village. It was very homosexual area, but I could walk to work, so it was convenient. My younger brother, who lived with us got hit on all the time when he walked home from his girlfriends. However, he never got raped. But, none of us would walk by the lesbian bar on Tremont Street nearby. In the summer the bull dykes and the femmes would hang out on the wide sidewalk in front. The femmes in general were pretty little things with skimpy dresses. The bull dykes wore a sort of uniform, Levis and motorcycle jackets, with stout chains through the epaulets. We all strongly believed that if we looked at a femme in any way that could be construed as interest, we would be quickly beaten with the chains. So we always crossed Tremont to pass by, even though it was about six lanes wide.
Anyway, even us macho guys have to be a little careful in certain areas at certain times.