Those not interested in gender politics, go ahead and move along

[sketchingbecca]

Time for a quick rant!

"Every so often, when I meet a younger woman, the subject of feminism comes up. Almost invariably, she will tell me she's not one, which leads me to grill her on her philosophy. And, just as invariably, it turns out that by my definition, she is a feminist after all.

Universal suffrage? Yes. Equal pay for equal work? Yes again

Comments

Re: I'm flattered (and feel silly for saying so)

[sketchingbecca]

I'm still trying to cultivate a true and sincere 'me', I think. (Thank goodness for three more years of college to experiment with! And then the rest of my life, of course, to hammer out details and add finishing touches.) I guess I've always been a sucker for romance, but I do have, to some degree, a discerning taste. I love stories of people who are equals in intellect or character (Darcy and Lizzy, Catherine and Henry from Northanger Abbey, Anne and Wentworth from Persuasion) or spunk and audacity (like in a supernatural adventure/romance novel called Soulless by Gail Carriger) falling in love.
I'm a huge nerd for Jane Austen, and it perplexes me when people don't appreciate her satire. Oscar Wilde is another favorite, but pretty much everyone knows he's brilliant.
I read Gatsby in high school, and I'm currently reading The Beautiful and Damned. Mostly, I just love the way Fitzgerald writes. He seems to understand how words can carry a feeling in their sound, as well as their meaning. Reading too much of him can start to depress me, since he is so very jaded, but it can be hard to put down.
Getting back to your original comment, what did you like about Wuthering Heights? It did dramatic very well, but I'm more of a 'witty banter' girl, not to mention most of the characters repulsed me.

Re: I'm flattered (and feel silly for saying so)

[ed_rex]

(Good grief! It's been a week since you posted the above; I hope you'll forgive me the delay.)

I'm still trying to cultivate a true and sincere 'me', I think. (Thank goodness for three more years of college to experiment with! And then the rest of my life, of course, to hammer out details and add finishing touches.)

If you'll permit me to point to my age as some kind of authority (but just for a moment; that's a very bad habit to get into, I know), I think the sincerity should be fairly easy - especially if you think of yourself as a work in progress. For myself, at 45, I still don't feel like I'm at the "finishing touches" stage, but rather, that I'm still adding new wings to the house.

What I liked about Wuthering Heights, basically, was its perverse creepiness. The characters were repulsive, but for me, that was the appeal. She wrote them so well that, like the proverbial train-wreck, I just couldn't look away. (Also, I heard an excellent reading of the dream sequence many years before I read the book that has stayed

(And I suppose I should admit that, that misunderstood giant story aside, I've somehow managed to never read any Wilde, a lack I really ought to fix one of these days!)

Re: I'm flattered (and feel silly for saying so)

[sketchingbecca]

It's true, they were quite a train-wreck. It was almost painful to read such terrible decision-making. Perhaps if I had gone into it expecting creepiness, I could have appreciated it more.
You've never read Wilde?? Goodness. I love The Importance of Being Earnest, and The Picture of Dorian Gray is a classic.