iuI'm scared. I'm exhilarated and absolutely flattered with the outcome, but just the same, I'm scared.
And now the issue's getting bigger. Mainstream's beginning to stir it up. I'll bet they'll soon connect it with *that* incident. Before we know it, we'll be accosted and attacked from all fronts.
Another rough ride for us, then. We better stock up our ammunition and be prepared for another onslaught of attacks and a full-fledge battle.
Then again, telling the truth is never an easy thing. They're affected, means there was merit to our arguments. We got to them. They panicked and resorted to a counter-attack and minimize the damage we've done...or perhaps to simply deny what we have claimed.
Can I be any vaguer?
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Dichotomy and racism in creative works
I just read Sophie Kinsella's The Undomestic Goddess. There was a time in the not-too-distant past when I really liked her, particularly for the chick lit Can You Keep A Secret?
However, having read two of her works, I came up with a pattern on her characters. And, like the many other writers before her, Kinsella employed a sort of female dichotomy in her books. The virgin-whore dichotomy, I mean. Even if it weren't so clear cut, unlike in others, where the message was glaring—the women fight over a single man, as if he were a sort of prize. Here, we see something else, more subtle, perhaps. The women who surround the heroine come across as stereotypes.
It's not the only novel, though. It's everywhere.
Okay, I am not making any sense. Or am I?
Oh, well. I just wanted to say that women empowerment nowadays is just an illusion that ought to be spurned. For if we are truly empowered, why are we branded as promiscuous or whatever when we don't behave the way the Virgin Mary supposedly did? Why are rape victims stigmatized and not the rapists? Why is abortion--for whatever reason or defense--inadmissible?
I'm not really feminist, at least not exactly. I just believe that men are not superior to women--they're just different.
So they have no right to dictate how women ought to behave. And we, as women, should realize that it is demeaning for us to employ patriarchal ideas in whatever we do and accept them as social truths. For truly, they are not.
AFFIRMATION
1. Men are not prizes worth enough to be fighting over.
2. Women are not delineated by being a virgin or a whore. That's like saying everything is classified in black and white.
3. Women are not objects. We are not trophy stuff to be won either. Flattering, you might think, but I say otherwise. Can you stand those skimpily-clad women in shows? That's a form of objectification. So are many advertisements we see on TV.
4. Abortion ought not to be illegal. There are numerous scenarios where it is, indeed, the only way out. Where it is justifiable. Not because it's legal, it means all women are going to do it, too. Legalizing it is only meant to keep women's options open.
5. Rape ought to be a criminal case so that perpetrators will be persecuted even if the victim refuses to file a case. The state can file the case. And there's nothing to be ashamed of in rape. We are the victims, the blame is not on us.
6. Is virginity a big deal? Somehow I doubt it. It's just reducing a woman to being a pussy, to put it crudely. We are thinking individuals, not mere vessels or sex objects. There's plenty more for us to be proud of than just being...well, you know it.
However, having read two of her works, I came up with a pattern on her characters. And, like the many other writers before her, Kinsella employed a sort of female dichotomy in her books. The virgin-whore dichotomy, I mean. Even if it weren't so clear cut, unlike in others, where the message was glaring—the women fight over a single man, as if he were a sort of prize. Here, we see something else, more subtle, perhaps. The women who surround the heroine come across as stereotypes.
It's not the only novel, though. It's everywhere.
Okay, I am not making any sense. Or am I?
Oh, well. I just wanted to say that women empowerment nowadays is just an illusion that ought to be spurned. For if we are truly empowered, why are we branded as promiscuous or whatever when we don't behave the way the Virgin Mary supposedly did? Why are rape victims stigmatized and not the rapists? Why is abortion--for whatever reason or defense--inadmissible?
I'm not really feminist, at least not exactly. I just believe that men are not superior to women--they're just different.
So they have no right to dictate how women ought to behave. And we, as women, should realize that it is demeaning for us to employ patriarchal ideas in whatever we do and accept them as social truths. For truly, they are not.
AFFIRMATION
1. Men are not prizes worth enough to be fighting over.
2. Women are not delineated by being a virgin or a whore. That's like saying everything is classified in black and white.
3. Women are not objects. We are not trophy stuff to be won either. Flattering, you might think, but I say otherwise. Can you stand those skimpily-clad women in shows? That's a form of objectification. So are many advertisements we see on TV.
4. Abortion ought not to be illegal. There are numerous scenarios where it is, indeed, the only way out. Where it is justifiable. Not because it's legal, it means all women are going to do it, too. Legalizing it is only meant to keep women's options open.
5. Rape ought to be a criminal case so that perpetrators will be persecuted even if the victim refuses to file a case. The state can file the case. And there's nothing to be ashamed of in rape. We are the victims, the blame is not on us.
6. Is virginity a big deal? Somehow I doubt it. It's just reducing a woman to being a pussy, to put it crudely. We are thinking individuals, not mere vessels or sex objects. There's plenty more for us to be proud of than just being...well, you know it.
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