I Will Not Be A Slump Buster, Buster.
Here's what I spent the day doing (well, not all that long, since 11am maybe): Reading Maureen Dowd's book Are Men Necessary? I would like to note now that I *am* feminist, but I'm not necessarily too thrilled reading a book with that title. I read it for book club this evening. It wasn't my choice.
I suppose I shouldn't feel compelled to say that, but I do. I believe in equality and everybody have the rights accorded to their own bodies, but that doesn't mean we need to be wondering if people are necessary or not. As far as I'm concerned that question is utterly irrelevant. It's not about if people are necessary or not. They exist and as such they are accorded rights because they exist. I don't want to be thought necessary because I am a woman. I know that Dowd means this somewhat as an evolutionary concern and looking at the problems of the Y chromosome. Okay, fine. If in the evolutionary time clock the male sex doesn't work out, I'll let the women, or whatever women turn out to be like, sort it out then. I don't think that in that kinf od time scale that women will necessarily look/be like what we think of as women today either. Nobody said that the X chromosome has to stay the same either.
Granted, there were times I felt Dowd made some good points... Most of the time I found her rambling to ramble *off* the path rather than stay *on* it. What worked for me were moments of poignancy, and many of those were quotes that Dowd used really well from friends and colleagues. So, do I compliment her on her taste in friends or do I compliment her on the way she applied her friends' comments? I will also say that I did appreciate that she, although obviously on the left, did not allow herself to be any party's apologist for philandering. Sexism and harassment were seen as impropriety that took place on both sides of the aisle. her brand of feminism also made sure not to make all women as victims, looking at the personal narcissism of Hillary Clinton and some of the problems that Geraldine Ferraro had. I thought that was well done.
On the whole however, it's not a book that I would have read otherwise. I might lament a lot of the relations that take place between men and women, but I'm not sure that this kind of book does anything for me. It seems to present questions, as it says it will, but it didn't seem to direct those questions anywhere new for me. Does it feel better in some small way to know that lots of women face these issues/questions? Sure, I guess so. Just, even though posing the questions is an important role, isn't trying to find some answers key too? I'd have expected someone as intelligent as Dowd to have done some of that, rather than getting a bit irritable about male/female dynamics socially, scientifically, and politically.
That being said... men are necessary. I don't want to live in a world without Mr. Darcy or the hope that I could actually meet a real and reasonable facsimile of him.
Lastly: Mom got a call from Rich today. When Dad gets home we will be picking up the puppy from them. So, it looks like we will have a 3month old chesapeake bay retriever puppy. Be pleased for me. This puppy will have a slight name change too. From Bailey (which we dislike because a friend of mine in high school had the same name.) to BINGLEY. That's right. My quest to name things after stuff in P&P will begin. We will most likely use "Bing" as the call name. Anyway, we shall see how that turns out. I'm not going to allow myself to get excited. Things may fall through yet.
I suppose I shouldn't feel compelled to say that, but I do. I believe in equality and everybody have the rights accorded to their own bodies, but that doesn't mean we need to be wondering if people are necessary or not. As far as I'm concerned that question is utterly irrelevant. It's not about if people are necessary or not. They exist and as such they are accorded rights because they exist. I don't want to be thought necessary because I am a woman. I know that Dowd means this somewhat as an evolutionary concern and looking at the problems of the Y chromosome. Okay, fine. If in the evolutionary time clock the male sex doesn't work out, I'll let the women, or whatever women turn out to be like, sort it out then. I don't think that in that kinf od time scale that women will necessarily look/be like what we think of as women today either. Nobody said that the X chromosome has to stay the same either.
Granted, there were times I felt Dowd made some good points... Most of the time I found her rambling to ramble *off* the path rather than stay *on* it. What worked for me were moments of poignancy, and many of those were quotes that Dowd used really well from friends and colleagues. So, do I compliment her on her taste in friends or do I compliment her on the way she applied her friends' comments? I will also say that I did appreciate that she, although obviously on the left, did not allow herself to be any party's apologist for philandering. Sexism and harassment were seen as impropriety that took place on both sides of the aisle. her brand of feminism also made sure not to make all women as victims, looking at the personal narcissism of Hillary Clinton and some of the problems that Geraldine Ferraro had. I thought that was well done.
On the whole however, it's not a book that I would have read otherwise. I might lament a lot of the relations that take place between men and women, but I'm not sure that this kind of book does anything for me. It seems to present questions, as it says it will, but it didn't seem to direct those questions anywhere new for me. Does it feel better in some small way to know that lots of women face these issues/questions? Sure, I guess so. Just, even though posing the questions is an important role, isn't trying to find some answers key too? I'd have expected someone as intelligent as Dowd to have done some of that, rather than getting a bit irritable about male/female dynamics socially, scientifically, and politically.
That being said... men are necessary. I don't want to live in a world without Mr. Darcy or the hope that I could actually meet a real and reasonable facsimile of him.
Lastly: Mom got a call from Rich today. When Dad gets home we will be picking up the puppy from them. So, it looks like we will have a 3month old chesapeake bay retriever puppy. Be pleased for me. This puppy will have a slight name change too. From Bailey (which we dislike because a friend of mine in high school had the same name.) to BINGLEY. That's right. My quest to name things after stuff in P&P will begin. We will most likely use "Bing" as the call name. Anyway, we shall see how that turns out. I'm not going to allow myself to get excited. Things may fall through yet.