I Am A Girl: Discuss
I personally have mixed feelings on the subject. My dad used to think I was a feminist. I definitely disagree there. I just get annoyed when I hear stereotypes and when I see people of my gender fall into them so easily. It's the same with anything else though. But, I suppose I do have a sore spot when it comes to female stereotypes. I mean, I can hear a joke making fun of my race or someone elses and, as long as a know that the person telling the joke isn't racist(and sometimes even if I don't know- I know I'm not and that's good enough for me. Naturally, certain times call for discretion), I will usually find that sort of humour appealing. All the jokes about women seem to have to do with mood swings, poor driving skills or addictions to such things as shopping and chocolate. I don't particularly care for jokes about males either. They usually involve an average heavy-set couch potato type who lacks skills of observation. I guess I just don't find funny anything relating to gender.
Part of me gets very angry with myself for the natural suspicion that seems to dwell in most females regarding the other members of their gender. It rears it's ugly head in myself sometimes. Women do seem more suspicious of your average 'other female' than men seem of your average 'other male', don't they?
I want more female friends. I want more people worldwide to restore my faith in the general intelligence of both genders.
It would be strange if there was some sort of guided genital missile that targeted the genitalia of a certain race.
Would anyone like to sponsor me in the AIDS Walk in June? I am accepting checks and money orders of all sorts.
Part of me gets very angry with myself for the natural suspicion that seems to dwell in most females regarding the other members of their gender. It rears it's ugly head in myself sometimes. Women do seem more suspicious of your average 'other female' than men seem of your average 'other male', don't they?
I want more female friends. I want more people worldwide to restore my faith in the general intelligence of both genders.
It would be strange if there was some sort of guided genital missile that targeted the genitalia of a certain race.
Would anyone like to sponsor me in the AIDS Walk in June? I am accepting checks and money orders of all sorts.
posted by la fille du fromage at 12:15 PM
4 Comments:
I think that I agree with you somewhat. I don't like to hear racial jokes from certain people but from others it's just damn funny for some reason. I was going to say that I didn't like to hear racial jokes from people who really believed them (racists) but upon visiting my father in the south I met several very funny racists. I do not like when people truly believe their jokes about sexism. Although, last night we were at a silent auction to benefit the local elementary school, one of the items up for bid was a free oil change at a local garage. My wife pointed it out to me and my 11 year old son said, "Mom, we're men." I did find that truly funny because he didn't mean it as a joke, it was his natural response. Who can understand comedy? It is a complex thing indeed.
I guess (hope) I already count, and don't need to prove my unbound nature.
I think you should look up feminism in a reputable reference book. It isn't what you think it is. Or rather, it wasn't what it has become. It was an intellectual, philosophical movement that claimed that people's roles are thrust upon them by their environment. It's not so far off, I'd say. I'm not a feminist any more than I'm any other -ist or -ian. In my opinion, each person is equiped to find the truth of who they are without an outside doctrine to follow. On the other hand, the path they follow in their discovery may be´nearly identical to some existing doctrine.
You are an itelligent female, therefore females are intelligent. Make friends where you find them.
-Your friend in Sweden
It's all tricky. I worked with a few guys in Pennsylvania, and I genuinely felt an obligation not to laugh at their jokes (they made frequent jabs at women AND at folks of other races), because I didn't want it to appear that I agreed with their prejudices (these guys made it quite clear that their jokes were more than lighthearted whimsy). And yet, some times I just find offensive humor so FUNNY. Sometimes things are funny to me SIMPLY BECAUSE they are calculated to shock and offend. I can't speak for the rest of the human race, but I personally think that there is a place for this kind of humor. People will ALWAYS need to be shocked, startled, disturbed, offended, and scandalized if things are to move forward. And there will ALWAYS be people who are ready to be 'offended' at the drop of a hat. These people are on this earth to provide us with amusement. We are on this earth to make them think that their life has some moral purpose.
As for feminism, I think any enlightened person who believes strongly that there should not be any inequality in our world is a feminist. You don't have to be rocking the Gloria Steinem tip to be a feminist (not that there's anything wrong with the Gloria Steinem thing...I am very grateful, even on a simply professional level, for the abbreviation 'Ms.'). Anyway, whatever. Labels labels.
Which was of course my point. Fille, you are a feminist, although of the enlightened and not the ridiculously radical sort.
They can be radically ridiculous.The biggest fight I've gotten in with a feminist was when I insisted that it was not a measure of feminist advancement for women to purchase sex.
I know quite a number of people who insist that they aren't racists, but who most obviously are. I know others who say that they are racist, but would never treat anyone unfairly face to face. The latter sort are of course dangerous behind a desk or a vote, but the first sort cause much more immediate pain to others.
P.E. (I got an F in that): Jokes are funny if they're clever, and not funny if they aren't. Clever racist jokes told by innocent (unwitting) racsists or non-racists may be funny, but told by a conscious racist (one who would act upon his racism) they send chills down my back.
I feel too personally responsible for the outcome of any situation I am present in to laugh at its absurdity. All moment are steps in some direction. Later, among like-minded, is the time for laughing.
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