7:28 p.m. - 2008-03-31
DELICIOUS CHOCOLATE-COVERED PROCRASTINATION
I know that I just posted in this thing, but I'm back at the library, trying to write my damn paper, and it is just not happening. I've been skittering around the internet, reading various blogs and whatnot, and now find myself in way more of the reading than the writing mood. This post is nothing more than an unabashed attempt to fix that. Or possibly just to continue procrastinating for a little bit longer.
I have a new favorite thing. It's this:
Thanks Jezebel! I read you even though you are a mixture of pro-female pop culture analysis and occasional overly-judgmental bashing of women that don't live properly 'feminist' lives (ie women who leave their jobs to become *gasp* stay at home moms!).
This complaint isn't so much aimed at Jezebel as it is feminist media in general, but seriously, people. If you are going to go on and on about our 'patriarchal society'*, could we at least allow for the possibility that equality can be achieved in other ways than by pushing women to perform at the same hyper-aggressive standard by which we judge male achievement? For example, by stepping back and saying that perhaps all of this praise of hyper-aggression is in fact the problem. Yes, women can be just as cut-throat as men, but not all women are or should be. Likewise, all men are not this way, and neither should they be. Certain fields may demand it, and far be it from me to condemn ambition, but seriously. Most people are not Captains of Industry. They are just People with Jobs. Calm down. By defining feminist heroes as those who most successfully imitate our stereotypes of aggressive male behavior, we are simply reinforcing patriarchal stereotypes of good male behavior. Stop it, please.
Rant off. Thank you for your time.
*Which it is. Patriarchal. Nobody is denying that.
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I read CNN.com partially because I am a lazy fucker, and their website is an excellent way to get a quick overview of the day's news. Of course, if I want actual information/analysis I usually have to go elsewhere, but it's a good way to figure out what I'm looking for. I also read them because their headlines are excellent. I swear, whoever writes those things is either 1) loves his job, 2) hates his job and i desperately trying to make it more fun, or 3) smokes entirely too much of the ganja. There are no particularly good examples today, sadly, though there is this:
Company takes gay man's benefits for moving
This is the sad, but not exactly shocking, tale of how a gay man lost his domestic partner insurance benefits when the the couple relocated from New Jersey (which allows same-sex civil unions) to Idaho (which does not, plus passed one of those mind-blowingly stupid state constitutional amendments banning gay marriage). My favorite part of the article is when the employed/insured partner says "It didn't even dawn on us that this would have an impact."
Really? It didn't? He goes on to say "Here it is 2008, and people are still being discriminated against." Well, yes, that is true. What kind of bubble did you live in before, anyway? And where is it? Because I would like to go visit this entirely non-homophobic, and apparently news-media-free, section of New Jersey where you previously resided and were treated so well that it lulled you into thinking that the entirety of the United States loved the queers.
Also, it's an INSURANCE COMPANY. If they have a reason to gank benefits, they will. It's how they make (lots of) money.
I can think of nothing else to rant about. Damn. I guess its paper time.
-Britt
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