Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Because Feminists Actually Hate Everything

I normally attempt to publish a balanced blog in many aspects, including the overall tone and emotions that base the individual postings. Unfortunately though, since a good majority of my blogging subjects arise from unpredicted events or thoughts in my day, it is not always easy to sway or maintain that balance. Compounding that with the fact that my smartphone enabling me to not be on my computer 24/7, schoolwork being in full swing, and that I have been enjoying a happy and rewarding social life, means that I have not blogged in a while, so the negativity is surfacing to the top like the cream in a mug of coffee you've left out for too long.

I am a supervisor at RenXchange, the student arm of the Annual Fund in charge of receiving donations and connecting with alumni, at RPI. Being a supervisor entails charting the attendance of callers, assigning them through our calling program, SmartCall, prepping announcements, setting up games and selcting Jeopardy questions and other duties in the beginning of the night. When you have around 20 people entering the room, these tasks can take some time and thought, which is why we normally schedule two supervisors to work together.

On Sunday, I was scheduled to work both shifts, one during the afternoon and one during the evening with about a two hour break in between. Shortly after the first shift, my fellow supervisor texted me asking if she could be late for the second shift we were to work together. I responded that she could due to our loving, awesome relationship. I knew that this would mean that I would have to do all of the start of shift activities. I knew what I was getting into work wise. I was not aware of human behavior responses.

We select Jeopardy questions from an online archive of past televised games. Normally I do take the time to select and screen past games, but being in a bit of a rush due to a double workload, I clicked on and selected the first Celebrity Jeopardy game I could find. From the categories available in the selected game, I chose: City Nicknames, Shoes, Chick Flicks, Dorothys Rebeccas & Summers, Bad Hair Days and 4-Letter Anatomy.

Apparently I was actually selecting categories to push a radical feminist ideology down my poor callers' throats. While Dorothys Rebeccas & Summers did not register many complaints, but simply avoidance, the categories "Chick Flicks", "Shoes" and "Bad Hair Days" drew outcries of injustice from more than one male caller. I was accused of biasing the categories, of swaying the intellectual ability, of being unfair and picking "girly" categories. Apparently anything remotely female completely renders the male brain useless and incompetent. None of the male callers asked for clarification on the types of questions in each of those selected categories, even though "Bad Hair Days" dealt with the hair of both sexes and three out of five of the "Shoes" questions were about Harley Davidson, Chuck Taylors, and Nike.

None of my accusers seemed to comprehend that I had just done the work of two people, so it could be expected that quality might not be up to its normal par. None of my accusers seemed to be flexible to different categories or patience for me to find a new game, rather the overall message, through both phrasing and tone was that "female" categories are inferior to others.

When discussing this with Chelsea, she offered up her own anecdote of when she was deciding how to decorate her residents' doors. Selecting a superhero, she chose Wonder Woman and had to prepare herself mentally for backlash of why male residents had a girl on their doors. Remarkably for her, no negative criticism was voiced, save for the complaint that Wonder Woman does not seem to have many recognizable arch-enemies or villains. Her unspoken mental argument was this: if she had put Superman on everyone's doors, would the girls have complained? No, but somehow, if a guy has a Wonder Woman picture on his door it becomes a grave injustice against him, his gender and emasculates him.

It both perplexes and frustrates me that this ideology still exists in society, especially the educated bubble where I dwell. The flip side is even more frustrating. If I as a woman, speak openly about some injustice or something I find biased towards men, then I become judged for being an angry, feminist crybaby who wants the world handed to her on a platter. Whatever happened to both being equal? Feminism does not support superiority, nay, the very essence of it at its core is equality between the sexes, so then I ask, what is so threatening to men about anything female?

4 comments:

  1. I must say, despite what you have said, sometimes, some feminists do support superiority. This is what most men find annoying. Beyond that, the statistics, as you may appreciate, show that women are obtaining jobs more often than men in some categories. This is troubling to some men,but i would argue the majority still are indifferent. i think deep down, men find it frustrating that they cannot put women down, like they do men, as this is their main form of communication sometimes. Not that I propose that this behavior is beneficial, but communication inter sex is way different than communication between sexes. However, I am not sober right now, so you may choose to believe as you wish.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think society is still heavily sexist. On a seemingly unrelated noted I think this is why homophobia is still prominent. It's rooted in sexism. Society is more accepting of lesbian couples then gay men couples. This is because guys can't handle other guys being "dominated". Its beneath them to be put in that position. Homophobic guys freak out around gay guys because they fear the possibility someone will try to "dominate" them and that is just not manly. Ultimately this thinking is rooted in that men must always be on top and that relationships are about dominance and submission which is sexist thinking.

    Also this is Lizzy, I forgot I had a blogspot. I was going to use it as an art blog but I forgot about it. and I probably won't use it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lizzy, first off, I appreciate that my baby sister is grown up and having educated thoughts. I do agree with your commentary, but also would argue that the superiority complex associated with homophobia is due to a superiority over everything feminine since it is viewed as "lesser" or "weaker". Therefore, homeosexual men, are not really men and deserve to be treated with the same disrespect as women. Lesbians are exempt from this discrimination due to the steryotyping of "masculine" or "dyke" lesbians, and the point of sexualization. Since the idea of two girls making out together is "hot" then it is rooted in the desire of male sexuality and pleasure, so it is veiwed as "good" and exempt from disrespect to a degree.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I don't think lesbian couples get any free pass from sexist men. They are still subject to sexual objectification, and if they are viewed as particularly unattractive by these men, they will be looked down upon for that. Though I would agree that in general they are somewhat more "accepted", its not the right kind of accepting.

    I think sexism is very much alive in society, and its largely rooted in the fact that many men have a built in sense that they truly are "better" than women.

    Also, Katie, you need to tell these douchebags to suck it up and play the damn game ;)

    ReplyDelete