When you look at the above picture — a group portrait of the Congressional freshman class of 2013 — what’s the first thing that pops into your head? Maybe something along the lines of “there sure are a lot of white dudes in that picture!”
Not if you’re “Emmanuel Goldstein” over at Roosh V’s Return of Kings blog. No, he looked at that same picture and thought: American women sure are a bunch of worthless attention whores!
Why? Because some of the women in the picture have the temerity to wear … bright colors!
[N]ot one man appears in bright red, blue, pink or yellow. For the men, it gets about as radical as a light grey suit … The women, on the other hand, have never met a gauche shade of neon they wouldn’t wear. Why are American women so hell bent on attention whoring, precisely in the places where they say they want to be taken seriously? Why do women ‘fight for equality’ by swapping outfits with Bozo the Clown? Why are old white women so desperate to show us their wrinkly cleavage?
I’m not exactly sure how you’re defining “cleavage” here, EG, but I’m not really seeing a lot of it in this picture. Well, none, really. None cleavage. I see one outfit, possibly two, that might under some circumstances reveal a small amount of cleavage.
Not that it really matters, as EG’s outrage is purely for show.
He quotes the late paleo-con Lawrence Auster, who also professed to be similarly outraged by women and their terrible breast-baring clothes.
The way many women dress today, with half their breasts exposed, is an expression of total disrespect for men. Men are left with three possible responses. To grab the woman, which is illegal; to ogle the woman, which is socially unacceptable; or to affect not to notice the woman at all, which is emasculating. A culture that normalizes such female behavior—i.e. not only not noticing or objecting to it, but prohibiting any objection to it—is extremely sick.
Really? Men suffer because sometimes they see cleavage and they’re not allowed to grope or drool? Oh, you poor, poor fellows! Should I prepare the fainting couch?
EG then turns to Laura Woods, the self-proclaimed Thinking Housewife, who once declared
revealing dress in professional settings [to be] a last-ditch effort by women to salvage their femininity. They are living daily lives of masculine aggression and drive. They are pressured to destroy their inherent selflessness and desire to serve. They make their breasts appear overblown, near-to-bursting balloons as a way of diverting attention from what they have become.
Near-to-bursting balloons? Apparently Woods has been watching too much office-themed porn.
Naturally, EG agrees wholeheartedly with Woods:
Hers may be the most potent explanation yet. I have surmised as much about the ubiquity of the color hot pink, as a microcosm of this drive, and it’s popularity as a marketing tool to women. It is an impossibly ugly, tacky hue, yet women love it. These women are not feminine in any meaningful way, yet they think that having a vagina is something to be proud of. Wearing hot pink is akin to liking an anti-Kony group on Facebook to feel like you’re doing your part to fight genocide.
Wait, what?
Wearing hot pink is akin to liking an anti-Kony group on Facebook to feel like you’re doing your part to fight genocide.
I’m tempted to stop here, because there’s no way he can get any dumber than this.
But then I remember that I forgot to mention the one man who EG sees as the “male analog to the women I describe.” That is, the male analog to those whorish congresswomen and their oh-so-revealing pantsuits. His name, EG tells us, is
Buzz Bissinger, a GQ contributor who later checked into rehab for a shopping addiction. … Oh, it turns out he’s had some homosexual encounters as well. I’d love to see a straight man test the bounds of ‘equality,’ and dress like these buffoons, and still keep his job.
Damn those bisexual men and their bisexual style privilege! Straight men truly are the mostest oppressed of the most oppressed!
Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of Mr. Bissinger, the male analog, evidently taken while he was on the job:
As you may have noticed, he’s not exactly the “male analog” to the pantsuited congresswomen above, given that in the middle picture there he seems to be wearing NOTHING BUT HIS UNDERPANTS AND SOME WRISTBANDS.
You don’t see that a lot in the Congressional Women’s Caucus.
Also the whole idea that you can get too old for magic is pretty depressing for a kid who’s starting to realize that it won’t be too long till they’re an adult. Again though, that’s not unique to Lewis.
@CassandraSays: That’s one of the reasons I love Labyrinth. The message there is not that she has to abandon her dreams and imagination, merely that she has to be the one in control of them, not controlled by them.
I’ve seen that trope done well, so that it’s clearly sad without there being any sense that the adult is being blamed for it happening. The ending of Great Yokai war is a good example, with the little yokai trying to get the attention of his former friend, who can’t see him any more since he’s an adult.
I’ve read a bunch of criticisms of the works of C.S Lewis. It’s been a long time since I’ve read the books myself, but the criticisms I’ve read have drawn that parallel because of the way she’s not allowed into “paradise” at the end and that they look at a bunch of his works to see common themes.
Gender policing on any level makes me want to facedesk, but especially when women do it to other women (because I’m on the receiving end a lot). I’ve seen women unfairly assume femme-ier women are stupid bimbos, but more often I see women AND men try to “fix” women who are not “feminine” enough.
Labyrinth is amazing, and not just because of King Tight-pants.
It’s the classic double bind – women are either too femmey to deserve to be taken seriously or not femmey enough to be attractive. There’s no way to win because the game is rigged.
Exactly, it’s a lose-lose sitch. Which is why I’m in no big hurry to conform to someone else’s ideal image. The only way to win that game is not to play.
I have stuff to work on, but I like who I am as a person. This is the cardinal sin against heteronormativity, I think (not needing constant approval and reassurance that you’re up to compliance standards). People do get awfully pearl clutchy…
This seems relevant:
She’s ready to sap and impurify some precious bodily fluids!
Also, there is some skinny/healthy shaming along with fat shaming in society that bothers me. It’s like there’s no middle ground. It seems like it’s only idolizing bodies like Kate Moss’s, or “real bodies” of women who are really into health and fitness, or “real women/curves” who are women who are slightly over weight or something.
If a woman doesn’t eat due to anorexia, she’s a shallow bitch. If a woman eats but only eats healthy foods and not junk, she’s also shallow who can’t ever “live in the moment” and enjoy treats. If a woman eats junk food and doesn’t care about her weight being perfect, she’s a shallow bitch because she doesn’t respect her body.
It’s impossible to please everyone when you’re a woman. I know that advice applies to most things in life, but it seems like there are about 2947463 ideas of how to be a “real” woman, but no one realizes that the idea that there has to be a “real” woman is toxic. Does she consider herself a woman*? Then she’s a woman. That’s all.
*idk much about trans stuff, so idk if this would be the correct definition of a woman. Like I’ve seen similar so I’m sorry if I left something out.
@Monster – yes, that’s how I read it too, and I don’t agree that there’s anything in the “purity” line of argument. I was nine when I started reading the books (actually my amazing third-grade teacher read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to us) and I’ve read them many times since (I’m fifty). Maybe I wasn’t looking, but I never saw Susan’s “fault” as being an adult woman. The way Jill (iirc, think it’s her) talks at the end, saying “Oh, all she wants to talk about is boys and parties”, it just sounds like a kid who hasn’t reached that teen level and think it’s all silly. It didn’t strike me as Lewis saying women are shallow or bad or whatever.
Also, there’s the little point that the reason Susan wasn’t there was because she wasn’t killed in the train crash. She didn’t believe in Narnia any more, hence wasn’t there because she was still alive in the Shadowlands. It’s not like she’d been barred. That leads to the other thing: remember how all the people from Aslan’s world came to the doorway, some coming through and some disappearing into the darkness? It wasn’t a matter of whether they’d believed in him or not, because Carlormenes got through, and so did some of the Dwarfs who’d been killed in battle, and who hadn’t believed in him.
I hate that last book, btw. All the destruction of a world, the poor dragon-like creatures who’d slept for centuries underground and then aged and died, that doorway – eugh.
@Cassandra – do you know the context for that Lewis quote on keeping one’s heart locked up? Is it meant to be a “don’t let anyone near you” or a “this is what you do to yourself if you are that scared of what love brings” statement? I thought it read more like the latter, that he’s saying yes, love is scary and does make you vulnerable, but the alternative sucks. Did he write it before or after his marriage and his wife’s death?
Kittehserf – I concur with you on the Destruction of Narnia scene at the end of Last Battle. Everything being destroyed because Aslan was done with it – but it’s okay, because the REAL Narnia is right here! Oh, right – until you decide you’re done with THAT one.
There’s a dark little short story titled “The Problem of Susan” that deals with the, well, problem of Susan. I think it’s by Neil Gaiman. Aslan does not come off very well.
Neil Gaiman writing on Narnia would be interesting … and yeah, dark prolly goes without saying!
I just remembered something Aslan says at the end of that book – that the whole world of Narnia was created so that group (the Pevensies etc) could “come to know him better” before they find out he’s really JC anyway (HUGE letdown for me as a kid, Aslan not being a lion anymore). Which is horrible: all those thousands of years of a world’s history, all the lives, were just a means to an end. And for what? It’s not as if Aslan demanded people worship him: Emeth the Carlormene is proof of that. So if he’s capable of judging people on their merits, why go through all that rigmarole?
@ Kittehs
Pretty sure it’s the latter. I’m not sure if he wrote it before or after his wife’s death though.
Thanks, Cassandra. It certainly read like a warning to those who want to hide away from love (or any feelings except rage, if we’re talking MRAs etc).
I just read a blog discussion of The Problem of Susan, with an excerpt. Don’t think I’ll be reading the whole story, somehow. Not that I’m a Gaiman fan anyway; I’ve only read Neverwhere.
I might read it, just because Gaiman seems to be somewhat of a fan (since there are references to The Screwtape Letters in Good Omens), and critiques by fans are often the most interesting.
If you’re interested in the blog discussion I mentioned, it’s here. Sort of spoilers, of course:
http://readingtheend.com/2009/01/13/the-problem-of-susan-neil-gaiman/
@auggziliary
It happens with just about everything. I have to choose between being seen as competent and being seen as likeable, in work situations. (Spoiler: I choose competence, everytime, and always will. I’ve seen what happens to the “nice” ones, and that isn’t always pleasant either.)
Not talkative enough? You’re a stuck up bitch. Too talkative? You’re too flirtatious. Do you openly flirt with people? What a bitch. Do you rebuff the flirtation of others? Still a bitch. Do you own your sexuality? Slut. Do you make every effort to avoid talking about your personal life and keep things to yourself? Either a prude or a closet slut. Like to go out? Probably promiscuous. Stay in? You’re a stuck up bitch or a prude/spinster.
At this point in my life, I’m waaay beyond caring what “people” say. I learned a long time ago that there’s no winning, that the point is to set you up so you can’t win, so you have to be your own advocate. It’s just disappointing to me to see supposedly “educated” people who are as backward and reactionary as these MRAs…
“Does she consider herself a woman*? Then she’s a woman. That’s all.
*idk much about trans stuff, so idk if this would be the correct definition of a woman. Like I’ve seen similar so I’m sorry if I left something out.”
For not knowing trans* stuff, that was perfect. Like, the perfect anti-TERf comment, summed up all on one line. They have this thing about how considering yourself a woman doesn’t make you a woman, it makes you delusional, unless you’re a womyn born womyn of course. So yeah, that little line is perfect.
I’m going to repeat what I said in the latest great religion fistfight in regards to the TERF folk – OK, say that for whatever reason you can’t see trans women as women. So? Why the need to make a nuisance of yourself on the internet harassing random trans women by feelings-dumping all over them? Why is it so important that they know that dammit you cannot and will not think of them as women! I’m not seeing why “I don’t believe you but it’s really none of my business so I’m just going to walk away” isn’t an option.
(Obviously not an ideal option, but surely better than making a nuisance of yourself, stalking people online, outing them offline, and generally acting like an intrusive asshole.)
I’m a trans* girl and I completely agree with it.
On a related note: I once gave out a survey to my public speaking class asking them about transgender-related things, and one of the questions was “Do you consider trans* women to be real women? Why or why not?” And one girl answered yes, writing something equivalent to what you said as her reason for choosing that answer. It really meant a lot to me, since she was the only one among the 22 students who provided that answer.
I’d chalk it up to Someone Is Wrong On The Internet Syndrome.
RE: Ally S
Sad, but not really surprising to me. (Then again, I seem to have gone back to being perceived female all the time. Alas, poor hormones, I knew ye.)
I’m sorry to hear that. =[ Sometimes surprises happen, though – one time, I was at an ice cream place in the airport, and I ordered a small bowl of mint chip. I already got my order, but someone else behind the counter said “What was your order, ma’am?” She quickly corrected herself and apologized, but I told her that I didn’t feel insulted at all. And then, with an awkward pointing-at-my-head gesture, indirectly told her about me being trans*. So then when I walked away she said “Oh, really? Well have a good day, ma’am!”
I highly doubt that something similar will happen again, but it was nice. ^_^