The Accidental Misogynist
American women are bitches. But don't take my word for it. I just read all about it in Harper's. The essaayist's Ukrainian excursion promised true love, so long as love true for you means not having to say you're sorry, since you apparently don't have to communicate at all. To wit, from the international marriage broker himself: You are not going to have to talk to them for half an hour and then have your testicles handed back to you! Let me tell you: over here, you’re the commodity; you’re the piece of meat. I’ve lived in St. Petersburg for two years, and I wouldn’t date an American woman right now if you paid me!
If only I'd known I was a commodity in the U.S.! A piece of meat. Why, how empowering! Except that now all the good ones are rushing off to the Ukraine in search of their own beefy slice of Nirvana.
At least here the rules are clear. There is no pretending that men and women are equal. I was at a debate event last year, where panelists discussed whether or not men and women are equal. In the course of the discussion, a woman on the panel against equality said: The Koranic verse is very clear about economic matters and we know from scientific studies that women excel in verbal skills, which is why we're so good at talking, and men excel in different kinds of skills and they are better in monetary matters.
No one even challenged that.
And recently I read about trauma in Egypt that resulted when a man there lent his wife to his boss, in hopes of a promotion. An Egyptian I work with tells me this is common practice, even though it often ends badly.
Then today (for me anyway, since I get behind on reading material that comes late to start with), a Time article about a U.S. soldier's rape and murder of an Iraqi woman. From the top:
Family members describe Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi as tall for her age, skinny, but not eye-catchingly beautiful. As one of her uncles put it, "She was an ordinary girl." So perhaps it was sheer proximity that made the 15-year-old so tantalizing.
TANTALIZING? One of the most biggest news journals of our day misses the glaring error in the lead graf? Equating rape with a sex act involving attraction? Oh, oops! Right, right, rape's an act of violence. I think I remember that. Our bad?
What the fuck?
It's this kind of more subtle putting down of women that I find truly frightening. So I guess that makes me one big fat American bitch of a feminist. Call the T-shirt company!
Labels: Harper's mysoginist
posted by Unknown @ 8:44 PM
2 Comments:
Yes sexism is alive and well not only in Islamic stayes but right here in the US of A...it is subtle...quite but there.
When a magazine of such prominence as Time finds it OK to publish an article with the "promiscuous so they deserve it" line we know that things are very much still the same.
It hits women in the job place, the market place and even in the dating place.
To be smart, attractive and sexy is never a good combo in the dating market...men cry out for the Brittany Spears of the world.
With all that said it is especially disturbing when I find it in other women which I often do.
What I appreciate about the sexism here though, is that it's right out there. No one pretends it's not. You can't get rid of sexism or racism with spin. I believe I must acquaint myself with my own, take responsibility for it, and try to do better. When George Bush took reproductive health information off of government web sites, and other pesky facts, like pay inequity between men and women, these realities did not go away. Without information, there can be no response. Without contemplation of that information, there can be no thoughtful response. Just reaction.
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