Letters to the Editor
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@brightstar
Now THAT was funny! Even my husband thought it was hysterical. I mean, we all know and love Brightstar for his insightful opinions on women, but this is a true classic!
Between the plethora of ridiculous nicknames for the penis, the fact that many men actually name their sexual organs, and that fellows such as Mr.Spitzer and Mr. Clinton made gigantic messes of their lives on behalf of their dicks, I am convinced that the entire male population is completely free of their penis! Or thoughts of their penis... or penis like thoughts.. Heaven forbid people view the massive collections of Egyptian, Greek and Western art and view all of those images of phallus as anything other than what they are. An appreciation for the geometry of the pole!
Seriously, you have to stop, I'm laughing so hard I think I pulled something...
To quote Robin Williams "Sure, men have two brains, but only enough blood to use one at a time."
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I prefer..
...the Cooter Chronicles. It's just slightly less stupid, though not by much.
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Hey, whatever turns you on..
"When is penis EVER discussed?
So those ads discussing "male enhancement" are for what exactly?
That is marketing of a farud being shoved AT men. Men do not talk about penis. They do not celebrate it. They do not lament not being able to say the word. They do not mull over the word 'penis' lovingly.
The same cannot be said for women with their 'vagina' fetish.
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Power issues
and that fellows such as Mr.Spitzer and Mr. Clinton made gigantic messes of their lives on behalf of their dicks
These are power issues, not penis issues.
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Masculinity Studies
Chapters didn't invent this. It's just keeping up with the times.
Masculinity Studies has been offered throughout the Academy for a good decade and a half. Women's Studies and Masculinity Studies are frequently offered together as Gender Studies.
Ask Bryce (no relation of Rebecca?) Traister all about it:
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/american_quarterly/v052/52.2traister.html
Also, Rebecca Traister, who do you imagine you write for?
I was reminded of this discussion called "The Devil and Rebecca Traister" at Frolic and Detour. Sample comment: "Traister is so full of herself and such bizarre and outdated 'ideals' that she probably actually believes her own crap."
Traister, your feminism nose-dived at "Obama boys and your presumption to speak for "young women" despite having conducted nothing save anecdotal research. I can't read your stuff anymore. I don't know who could.
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Nooners and Boxes
I can't be certain, but I got the feeling that you perceived all this vagina talk to be somewhat embarrassing. I know what you mean. I myself have the sophistication of a 9 year-old, so when anyone says "pussy" near me -- as in, "I want to eat your pussy," some little part of me cringes.
But fear not, Traister! It's okay to be silly about your nooner. It's okay to make a big, hairy deal out of your box. We are, as a species, absurd. So if Ensler and her gang were behaving absurdly, I don't think it's any worse than merely wishing invisibility and anonymity on a body part that houses both extreme pleasure and the root of life.
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Cranial Vaginal Inversion
Anyone who thinks blathering on about his or her genitalia is empowering is an idiot. Roll-playing talking genitals? Please. Like I told my daughter, anyone who would participate in this vagina nonsense has her head firmly planted up hers. And don't bother calling me a mean old guy, because I'm not. A guy, that is.
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Yeah where's the anti-Obama boys rant in this one genius?
Last night we saw what we've been trying to tell you from the start "the good ol' boys" rallying around Hillary Clinton to try and destroy her opponent merely for being younger and having the nerve to threaten the status quo (i.e. ABC and the Clinton machine).
See why the actual young men you decided to term "Obama Boys" might be in his corner now Rebecca? Geesh.
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Really? Really?
Really? After ten years we're still doing this? I am a woman. I am a professional. I am almost 50. I am happy with myself, my relationships, my work and my sex life. How is this any more helpful that Oprah's bizarre combination of desire for self-actualization and Jimmy Choo shoes? If you reduce me as a human being to my sex organs, you have damaged me, not helped me. If you reduce feminism to some silly celebration of being female, you have damaged me, you have not helped me. There is NO accomplishment in simply being female. Just as there is no accomplishment in simply being male. For God's sake, it's biology, it's something that happens to us, not something we choose. Choose to live a good life. Choose to not let people treat you in a way you don't want to treated. Choose to take responsibility for yourself in the world. And, please, leave me out of any description of womanhood that somehow implies I am special or precious because I have a vagina which is some how implicitly better than a penis. Yuck!!!
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I can't wait for the next big event to come to the Super Dome!
CHICKS WITH DICKS THE MUSICAL!
Tickets go on sale Monday!
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Biology is destiny????
I don’t define myself by any body part. The VM thing is at best just silly and at worst, it reinforces the idea that biology is destiny.
Initially, The Vagina Monologues may have had the positive effect of encouraging women to talk about things that needed to be talked about, but it has descended into wackiness. It trivializes women and reduces them to walking vaginas. Am I supposed to bond with other women just because we each have a vagina? Navel gazing is replaced with vagina gazing; how is that empowering?
About the odious comparison of New Orleans with a vagina…New Orleans was fucked… I don’t suppose that was the intended message.
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Why is this childisness considered impressive?
Lot's of women shouting "vagina"? A bra ball?
Somehow, I don't expect Salon (or hell, even Maxim) to do any articles champion men shouting "penis" or hosting a jock strap ball. Is this childishness and reductivity (I am my genitals) any sort of step forward?
Traister comments that "many women raised to feel shame or confusion about their bodies and their sexuality." What is she talking about? Is she talking about their homosexuality, or just their sexuality in general? If the former, well I'm gay, and I don't consider my penis the essence whatever social prejudice I've encountered. If she's talking about sexuality in general, don't most young people feel uncomfortable about sex?
Shame, guilt and confusion about one's body is a female experience? Try walking down a high school hallway (or worse, being asked to stand up in class) when you suddenly have an erection.
Most people feel shame and guilt and confusion about their bodies. That's partly because of our culture, but it also has to do with the fact that we have to learn to live in our bodies, and every culture has strict rules of socialization about appropriate/inappropriate acknowledgement of our physical selves.
And surely it's obvious that the opposite of patriarchy is not democracy. It's matriarchy.
It's sad that this sort of childishness is considered "empowerment" and that this play is taken to be a step forward.