Sexism | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A growing trend in this country used to bother me--now it just pisses me off.
It's the portrayel of men as idiots who couldn't tie their shoes without a woman's help.
I saw a TV commercial involving drinking glasses. The glass had a picture on it...Flintstones or
something, doesn't matter. The man in the commercial is having difficulty putting the glass in it's
proper place. The woman takes the glass from him. There is a built-in shelf in the kitchen, where
there are 50 or so identical glasses stored. They all have the picture facing the camera. There is
one empty space, where she places the glass. The implication is that he couldn't figure this out
without her help. I've seen two-year-olds, dogs, chimpanzees, and trained chickens that could
locate the position where the glass went, but this man couldn't. I find this sort of thing highly
insulting. So where did it start? I personally blame Bill Cosby. The Cosby show potrayed him as a bumbling jackass (yet successful doctor--go figure) who couldn't do anything right without the aid of Felicia Rashad. Are there really people like this? Almost assuredly. But is it fair to say all men are like this? Absolutely not!! To do so is to stereotype men, and like all stereotyping, it shows the ignorance of the source. Some examples: I know a union worker who does as little as possible, and milks the company and the union for everything he can get. Are all union workers this way? Of course not. I know two men...one black and one white. The black man has a higher I.Q. than the white man. Are all black people smarter than all white people? Again, of course not. Mexicans are lazy, black people are theives, Chinese are bad drivers, Arabs own all the convenience stores...all these are ridiculous statements based on ignorance and bigotry. None of them are politically correct in this country. And yet, male bashing seems to be perfectly fine. Turn on the TV...watch a few commercials or sitcoms. You won't have to wait long to see this sort of thing. The media is flooded with it. I understand it's origin-- women were long considered to be second-class citizens, and it required some new laws and hiring quotas to even that playing field. Not that it is completely level now, but great strides have been made in that area. It is important to portray women as capable individuals, and to give credit where it is due. But it is unacceptable to belittle men in order to portray women in a better light. Try a little social experiment...at a small gathering (maybe 10 men and 10 women) have a woman say something negative about all men. The other 9 women will likely agree with her, and perhaps 5 or 6 of the men as well. Men have been so battered recently that we tend to degrade ourselves to avoid seeming like one of the "good old boys network". Now reverse it...have one of the men say something negative about women in general. Two or 3 might agree with him; 2 more agree but will not say it out loud; and the rest will join with the 10 women in verbally attacking the male who spoke. So what prompted this narrative? I got tired of hearing the phrase "ALL MEN". It is always preceeded or followed by a negative statement. Sure, I have character flaws. But I don't have the same character flaw as every other male on the planet. So you dated three guys or five or a hundred. Every one of them seemed nice until you had sex, but then they never called you. Or they were insensitive to a problem you had at work. Or they failed to meet some other criteria you have for the perfect mate. So what? According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are currently around 136,000,000 males in this country. If you date 100 of those, is that really an accurate sample of the entire group? Possibly, but it's not very likely. Men and women alike tend to have this mental picture of who we want to date. If those you date keep failing you in the same way, perhaps you should change that picture to include some traits you currently don't include, and to disregard some of those you previously considered important. You'll hear people comment that they prefer a mate with a certain eye or hair color. Suppose I meet a woman who is perfect for me in every way. I look into her eyes to speak of my love, and discover that they are blue instead of green. Should I run screaming because of her eyes, or hair, or weight, or height? That's fucking stupid. Yet some won't consider anyone who doesn't match their mental picture. So they end up going out with the same kind of person all of the time, and they run into the same problems. And what is the result? "ALL MEN are..." (fill in with your favorite insult) I refuse to shoulder the blame for some guy who did something that I have never done, or would never due. Or to be painted into a corner on what I would do in a situation that I have never encountered. DON'T STEREOTYPE ME!!!!! It is pure sexism, and it is worse than that which women suffered in decades past, because we all have been educated on the subject, and we all know better. If you have dated a mere 1% of the males in this country (136,000), I will allow that as a random sample. But until then, don't assume you can make a general statement about men based on the few you have known, or the TV shows you have seen. Wanna get to know me? Spend some time doing so, and you'll have every right to voice your opinion of me. Wanna piss me off? It's easy...just start a sentence with the phrase, "ALL MEN".
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music: Chopin's Funeral March background by: Ace of Space |