I
1. I’m afraid it would deliver the unintended, unfortunate message that feminists are old, fat and slovenly.
2. Women, being smart and savvy, no doubt understand that roughly 75 percent of all men wearing those shirts are doing so solely to improve their chances of getting lucky.
So you won’t see me in one, but I do believe in most everything feminists believe, and with equal conviction. I am certainly not one of those people who look for any excuse to stereotype women in any way, which is why I am very troubled by two recent developments.
Development One: In advance of a public debate about rape, activists at Brown University created a “safe space” that women could go to if the subject made them feel anxious. According to the New York Times, it was a room equipped with coloring books, bubble blowers, Play-Doh and “a video of frolicking puppies.” Development Two occurred on Twitter during a national conference for young women. An organizer tweeted out a request that people in the audience hold their applause, substituting “jazz hands,” which is apparently a silent affirmation achieved by raising ones palms, fingers splayed and wiggling. Why the switch? Because raucous clapping and “whooping” were triggering anxiety in some attendees.
So, I started Making Harsh Judgments, which bothered me. As I often do when I need help with understanding female things, I have invited ...
Gina: Oh, please.
Gene: Shh. I haven’t introduced you yet.
Gina: Hi, I’m Gina Barreca, a professor and expert on feminist literature. Gene calls on me not when he wants to better understand something, but when he needs my cred to cover his butt when he’s afraid he’s about to sound like a total misogynist. Presumably he will now ask me something.
Gene: Yes. Please defend these two things I have just discussed. Tell me why they don’t reflect badly on young women.
Gina: Sure. My answer is in two parts. Part one is to note that I do not endorse the modern Delicate Flower way of life, which, by the way, is not limited to young women. The story of the Princess and the Pea is exactly what it is: a fairy tale. You aren’t a more worthy person just because you are easily upset. If you feel the pea, you find it and get rid of it, or you sleep on the floor. You don’t make yourself a terrible houseguest by whining about how uncomfortable you are. If you want to sit at the grown-ups’ table and use metal cutlery and drink from anything apart from a sippy cup, then you bravely face your fears and anxieties; you don’t demand the world accommodate you. That’s point one. Point two involves these events reflecting badly on young women. Do you personally identify with any particular ethnic or religious culture?
Gene: Culturally, I am Jewish.
Gina: And are you any particular gender?
Gene: Checking. Hang on. Okay, I am male.
Gina: Fine. Please defend Jewish males in light of the loathsome and detestable crimes of Bernard Madoff and Julius Rosenberg.
Gene: That’s a ridiculous and insulting question.
Gina: It certainly is.
Gene:
Gina:
Gene: Okay, thanks.
Gina: Nice talking to you, doll.
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