(no subject)
My opinions are in the black bold print, as if you all wouldn't be able to tell anyways. I saw this in another journal and couldn't resist. Here we go.
What if?
I was trying to imagine what would happen if women were equal, and I kept coming up with the same thing: numbers. Because when you come right down to it, not having the numbers keeps us from power, keeps up from shaping the world. It all comes down to proportion. Everything springs from proportion. (Women comprise slightly over 50% of the world's population. It is not a lack of females that keeps females from "shaping the world". Perhaps the U.S. should try a tactic OPPOSITE of China's. Let's start killing all the baby boys (because, you know, they'll grow up to be Andrew Dice Clay and just totally disrepectful, useless pieces of shit anways) instead of the girls like the Chinese, and then we will have the necessary numbers for world domination! Yes! Ahem. Try again, cupcake.)
Half the government would be female. We'd have a female president off and on, from both political parties. We would stop having to refer to women's rights as if they were somehow different from human rights. We would have to stop viewing the world through a male lens of power, ownership, and control. If a guy dared to make a nasty PMS joke at work, instead of dealing with one or two female glares, he'd have to deal with half his department and half his bosses glaring at him. Half the police departments would be female. The wife-beating cops would no longer be called to the scenes of wife-beating. The macho mindset that dictates the escalation of violence to show off who's got bigger balls would be changed. Rape victims would be believed. Rapists would be convicted by female judges and be defended by female lawyers. Half the doctors would be female. Half the teachers would be female, not most of them. Suddenly men would have to deal with having to kiss ass to get even basic rights. Suddenly men would have to face being outnumbered when they tried to be sexist. It would wear them down and maybe make them think. Of course many of them would resent it. They would form groups to talk about how oppressed they were. Maybe they would face male opposition----strong male opposition. (This is contingent upon all these women actually CARING enough to do said things. So we haven't had a woman president yet. Point being? I being president the only way women can, how was it worded? 'Shape the world'? Rapists aren't convicted by female judges currently? Will, looks like your beloved SVU episodes would be better off on the Sci-Fi channel, then. And i guess the majority of cops are wife beaters. And you know what? I think any guy who makes a PMS joke at work should be strung up on the city square at noon for all to see that he paid for his atrocious crime. Because, you know, PMS is a woman's get-out-of-jail free card to be a royal bitch once a month (twice, if you guys don't count out the 28 days!) But while she's being a bitch guys, make for DAMN sure you don't call her out on it. To do so makes you a backwards thinking sexist. Write that down.)
Everywhere little girls looked, there would be women making their voices heard. Men would be doing half the housework without being begged, nagged, or bribed. Sexism wouldn't disappear, but it would not be ignored or tacitly approved of, because women would have the money and the power to fight it and win. After a few big battles, all that would be left would be little battles. Laws would actually be enforced. Instead of a few women fighting big battles against a limitless culture, it would be many women---and many victories. (Fuck, I don't do half the housework without being begged, nagged, or bribed. But I jest. Are laws not currently enforced? Hmm. Good thing I had this brilliant piece of prose to enlighten me to the harsh reality that we women (yeah, all you guys don't matter) live in such an state of anarchy.
With representation would come perspective. Would any politician dare to say, as Clayton Williams did, that bad weather is like rape, to lay back and enjoy it? With numbers would come a change in debate. With simple numbers come some semblance of justice. With numbers would come ability. Women could fund research and have backup. If one voice was silenced, there would not just one more to raise up but dozens, hundreds, thousands. Sexist laws would not get passed. After a while, sexist laws would not even be proposed. (First of all, Clayton Williams, however politically incorrect, is quite witty. Heh. Anyway, I am interested to hear about these sexist laws. What can I not do that all you evil men out there can't? Get prostate cancer? Hmm.)
Can anyone imagine how a law that required a husband to get his wife's permission to do anything would be greeted by men? One of the biggest fears anti-feminists have is the fear that women will do to them what they've done to women. I frankly don't think that would be a big problem, at least from feminists---I can see women like Phyllis Schlafly being disgusted with men for losing the war and making it necessary for women to work. Her revolt against the ERA was all about sacrificing the rights of all women so a privileged, rich few could continue to live off men while paying lip service to the idea of woman as helpmeet. Schlafly herself ran for the Senate and went to college. Someone raised her children but it probably wasn't her. Like so many anti-feminists, she preached one thing for other women, but practiced another for herself. (Poor ol' Phyllis. She's probably getting a bad rap here. Boy, the term "anti-feminist" is used here with the same disdain that one would use "nazi", huh? I never felt so hated in my life. ;-) Heh. i think men would be smart enough to just NOT get married if there was a law in place that restricted them that much in the event of marriage. haha, but seriousl, though, such laws are LONG gone in this country, so you feminists oughta be appeased. Your plight has not fallen on deaf ears. *dramatic sigh* Jesus. What do you want???)
The privileged women who were most opposed to feminism understood that it would require them to work and earn their own way instead of regarding men as meal tickets. That's the big reason so many so-called 'traditional' women were opposed to feminism. Equality was a come down for them. They were already well-off to begin with, purchasing false equality with money. These were the women who could fly to Sweden if they needed a safe abortion. They could buy anything that other women had to fight for or earn. They could freely express contempt of men. As long as you don't call yourself a feminist, you can bitch about men all you like. When a traditional lady does it, it's 'cute' because it has no sting at all. These women need men to pay the bills so they usually bitch to other women, and who cares what women say? Women who pay their own bills literally earn their own way. What men got from the system was power over women. I wonder how many of these ladies realized their mistake once the hubby divorced them for a newer model. (Hahahahah! Sweden! Yeah, I'm hopping the first plane to get this baby's brain sucked out before my reputation's ruined forever... I certainly am glad that I am not one of those poor women who CAN'T fly to Sweden. Suckers! Hehehe. This is laughable. I can pay my own bills, I do not have the financial means to fly to sweden tomorrow for a planned murder, and I don't bitch about men. This essay right here is living fucking proof that you guys have it MUCH worse, having to deal with the majority of women who buy into this 'I am woman, hear me roar' bullshit. I would like to take this moment to extend my apologies to those guys who, by the unlucky chance of being born with a dick are destined to be hated forever by my gender...)
Feminism isn't just about rights, it's about responsibility, and some women, frankly, are uncomfortable with that. Sexism does offer women lower standards, a ready-made role, and the ability to bash men to one's (powerless) heart's content. Instead of working on your mind, you just have to work on your body. Sexism also offers women a carefully-defined victim role. If you get victimized by a man and you've obeyed your sexist rule book and can easily be identified as a good girl, you might actually get vindicated. Being a good girl requires that you defer to men at all times, bitch about one or two of them in a cute and feisty way, and always present yourself as a docile, pretty ornament who's intelligent enough to be a challenge to men but not so intelligent as to be actually threatening. You should always defer to men and ask them to do things for you. They then bitch about it even though they say that if you do things for yourself, you're independant and uppity. Asking men to help you indicates that you're helpless and gives them a necessary opportunity to bitch about you. Having demanded you make yourself helpless so they feel strong by comparison, they then get you for that very helplessness. It makes them feel strong and manly all around. Starve yourself, too. The smaller you get, the more protective men will be of you. Also, you'll fit society's parameters for female attractiveness, even if self-starvation makes your breasts disappear and you have to buy some new ones. People won't respect you but they will sort of approve of you when they remember you exist. You'll be generic and have no identity, but the alternative is to have a pulse and be threatening. Anything more than complete docility and dependance is seen as threatening so it's really easier to be docile and obediant. Easy is what it's all about. (Since when are 'cute' and 'feisty' bad adjectives? Hey, if all you perpetually pissed off women don't want 'em, I'll take them. :-) Also, these feminists are so short-sighted... Which seems smarter to YOU? Flirting a little and getting something done FOR you or being all stand-offish and having to do everything yourself. Assuming that a particular guy really IS sexist, my view is LET him think what he wants of me. I know I'm smart (usually), ambitious, the whole nine yards. Let him think I am weak or ignorant or whatever. As long as he's still fixing my flat tire or opening a stubborn pickle jar for me, my objective is being reached, using any means necessary. Perhaps more feminists should read Machiavelli. (And less feminist, bra burning, you-better-hire-10-women-for-every-1-male-you-hire bullshit propoganda). They'd feel much more impowered... Well, so long as they skipped the parts that referred to the concubines. That's liable to start the soapbox right back up!)
If women were equal, men would be able to raise kids and stay home if they wanted to because women would make enough money to allow them. If women were equal, too, women would find that other women didn't especially want to stay home with kids--and that some men would love to. Men who didn't want to live up or down to masculine stereotypes could find other men to back them up. Children would thus be raised by men and women and little boys would grow up thinking that they might want to do the same thing, too. Boys would not have to be ashamed of playing with dolls or doing 'girly' stuff. After all, half the soldiers in the military are female. Half the world is female. How can you find half the world disgusting and non-human? (Hahahahaha, I love it! what happened to the "we need greater numbers"?? Now half the world IS, in fact, female. Wow. Isn't it amazing what can happen in a couple paragraphs? And men CAN find other men who back up them not living up to masculine stereotypes. These men are gay and largely think you're as nutty as I do. And men CAN raise children. I am a case in point, and surely not that unusual. I also am staying home with my kids... Uh-OH! Wait, I can't do that... that'd mean that I'd be one of those "meal-ticket seeking" women, right? Ooooh. Well, we can't have that. What is an anti-feminist to do? Oh yes, that's right. Say fuck you. Sometimes I am embarassed FOR women. Honestly.
Okay. There will surely be a backlash to this. (and the great irony is that i know most of the rebuttal will be from men, who are more interested in MY "well-being" than me. Hmmm. ;-) I couldn't resist, though. Hit me with your best shot... Fire away. :-p Haha.