A Treasure Found at Home

i’ve never been an ‘angry’ feminist. i don’t think accusing everyone who happens to be walking past of disagreeing with you is really the way to change minds. i know, that’s hyperbole. but i do think that *looking* for anti-feminist behaviour is the fastest way to find it in places it doesn’t really exist.

however, i have always felt free to tell people they were being silly when they said i couldn’t (A)sort books, B)play trombone, C)walk to the cafe alone, D)all of the above) because i was a girl.
(answer: D)

for the most part i thought my peers were fairly well in line with what i believe about women being people first and female as an aside. over the past year or so i’ve started to look at that assumption more closely. i was floored when a friend of mine told me he didn’t think twice about my sexual preferences, he was sure i was only into women. obviously so because i didn’t giggle or flirt with all the men in the room; i didn’t dress sexy. apparently it just never crossed his mind that i didn’t do that because i didn’t want to sleep with any of *those* men for a variety of reasons beyond their sex (for example, he is married), or that i didn’t want to be seen as a sex object. that i asked him about his work and had what i considered a pretty decent conversation about science i thought would signal that i was intelligent, not gay.

i’ve also noticed a number of women in my community doing things i interpret as objectifying themselves. for months i’ve been wondering if i’m the only one who sees this. am i crazy? am i oversensitive?

maybe, but i’m not alone.

today i should be getting a copy of a book recently published in paperback. (man, i love amazon.) i heard this woman speaking on npr the other day and i wanted to crawl into the radio and curl up by her feet to listen to her talk. and then treat her to a nice dinner as a thank you for saying the things she’s saying out loud.

the book is called female chauvinist pigs: women and the rise of raunch culture. you can find a concise summary of the subject matter here on wikipedia.