I was just at the bank and as I was walking out a woman (20s) was walking towards me so I was going to hold the door open for her. When she noticed my gesture she snapped "no, I'm a feminist and you're just trying to look at my butt" so I looked at her and pushed the door all the way closed. She then asked me what I was doing. I responded "making everything equal. Open your own damn door" she then told me I was rude. I told her no, I'm equal.
The Dread Dormomoo and I were unsure of what promoted the more hilarity, the idea of Mike checking Chickie-poo out, or her uppance coming when he asserted equality. She clearly wanted her low-fat, artificially-sweetened cake, and to eat it too. Riatsila and the D.D. pointed out a few minutes ago that unless she has been Fighting the Patriarchy by opening doors for men, opening the car door for a man, and giving up her seat so that a man might sit, she is claiming "equality" without effort; wearing the label without the labor. Rather reminds me of bumper-sticker religious folks, whose claim to the title is adhesive-backed, but backed by little else. (Granted, this strawman brought to you by Facebook and the Freedom From Religion group.) It's like a term I learned this week..."Slacktivism", that concern for the Plight of Others Less Fortunate that overwhelms one, forcing the sharing of Facebook posts to raise Awareness.
Remember the critical mass of FB posts that brought enough pressure to bear on Boku Haram to release those Nigerian schoolgirls? Nope, neither do I. Awareness-raising does one thing...it puts something in your noddle. That is all. Like talk radio, when you share the post / listen and call in to a show, you feel like you have Done Something. Actually you have done nothing at all.
Chickie-baby. Oh, mercy. Her noddle is likely full of Simone de Beauvoir, Womyns Studies, and Down with The Patriarchy. No room left for The Niceties like being polite, or accepting a gracious (or even perfunctory!) gesture with grace. She is as much an Entitled Person as any welfare king or queen might feel themselves to be, entitled to be treated as her (invisible) convictions dictate.
Invisible? Well, as long as people are going to be checking her out, perhaps a bumper sticker on her person might spell it out more clearly for the rest of us. No use letting others be ignorant of what is important to you.
4 comments:
Chickie poo reminds me of a scene from a later Heinlein story. The heroine is given a seat by a apparently chivalrously inclined sort of a man on subway type of transport. So she makes sure he has an excellent view of her cleavage for the rest of the trip.
To her that was equal, an equal exchange. Something she wanted for something he wanted. Actually if I recall correctly, she felt she got the better end of the deal since providing the view didn't actually cost her anything.
Granted, such an exchange wouldn't have done much for your friend Mike, but it still would've been a lot more pleasant than dealing with little miss Feminism I'm guessing.
As to "slacktivism", there is an insipid song by John Mayer called "Waiting for the World to Change". In it John is singing about people criticizing him and his friends for not caring about the world because they aren't doing anything to make it a better place.
His rebuttal is to say that they care so much that they're waiting for the world to change. Yes, somehow true caring means not doing anything at all and just waiting for things to improve all on their own.
I know that sounds like a satire, but that's really what the song is about. And all indications are that it is sincere.
For quite a number of years now I have been holding doors open for a great number of people. So far I have yet to receive a word of admonishment. I've also yet to meet anyone who's described herself (or even himself) as a feminist, even in the least strident of tones.
Then again I do lead a sheltered life, so perhaps I'm not qualified to offer an observation. Also, if I wanted to observe a butt of someone of the female persuasion, I've long since learned to do so with the maximum of unobtrusiveness.
Happened to me once. Almost slammed the door on her. And I mean ON her!
Odd, even in Iowa City (Berkley of the Mid-West, literally... politically), I never ran into that problem. Maybe they wanted me to check them out? Most women aren't worth checking out. Especially since, at the time, I was with a woman who, mostly, handled that issue. And if I'm busy, or thinking about something, I wouldn't. Gotta be damn sweet for me to bother and, lets face it, most aren't. :)
If I had gotten something like that, I would just responded as I wrote here, or... if she was really that sweet, I would have told her and suggested I'll be checking either way, might as well get the freeby, and I will be... am... Then might have asked to meet up later.
If you get a lemon, make lemonade. No reason for offense. I really do enjoy life.
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