Or, "I'm on Fire." O_o Seriously, Bruce. Desire as stalking and date rape, go you.
I'm a woman, and I understand how I think. And I analyze the living hell out of everyone I know. And most of my friends are women. So, I kinda think I understand women because I think they are people, and I like understanding people.
But, I also date women.
DUDE.
WOMEN. WHO THE HELL KNOWS WHAT THEY THINK.
Trying to date women is . . . :insert flaily muppet hands here: . . . It's this ludicrous thing. And I want them so much, women. And getting them to want me back? Is like this crazy puzzle. Nrrg. Women.
I think you and Bruce could have a profound and productive discussion on the subject, because I imagine that second-to-last paragraph is EXACTLY how his thought process goes a lot of the time.
Yeah, that's what I get from what little I know of his songs. The "mysterious other" school of dating, where one is always trying to figure out how to make the black box do what you want without being able to see what the rules are . . .
I wish I had something intelligent to say, but my brain is burned out.
You are very smart, and this is a possible placeholder for more substantive comments later.
The only comment I do have (which is only half-related) is that, sometimes, when my dad tells me stories of his misspent youth, I kind of wonder if he was secretly a Bruce Springsteen character. Between the Catholic school and the drinking and the working class New Jersey factory culture and the "how the hell did you get away with that?" Luckily, my father was somewhat better on the women front, I think.
I listen to "For You" a lot because I have obsessive-compulsive tendencies, and I think you could fuel a whole womens' studies semester class out of the issues in that song. I mean, he's got that whole thing about treating her like a child, but then there's the thing where he's going to save her, but she is also powerful like a locomotive. It's all very confusing, though maybe if I go back and re-read your Brucemas about it you already talked about that one.
I've just stumbled onto your journal (I honestly cannot retrace my steps...), so I hope you don't mind me chipping in...
I'm a huge Springsteen fan, and, like you, am a little bothered by the women in his songs, but I've explained (rationalized?) it to myself because the songs are SO personal, and SO autobiographical, that it wouldn't really make sense for them to have a strong feminine voice. Does that make sense? He's writing what he knows - and he knows what it's like to be a Jersey boy, not a Jersey girl. And, like you said, "I'm on Fire" aside (and THAT'S the song that makes me a bad feminist, because date-rape-y or not, I think it's hot), I don't think there's much active misogyny in his work. It's more just that he gives such incredible, poetic insight into his male characters, and that makes his average treatment of the female characters seem weak by comparison. Or that's what I would argue.
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I'm a woman, and I understand how I think. And I analyze the living hell out of everyone I know. And most of my friends are women. So, I kinda think I understand women because I think they are people, and I like understanding people.
But, I also date women.
DUDE.
WOMEN. WHO THE HELL KNOWS WHAT THEY THINK.
Trying to date women is . . . :insert flaily muppet hands here: . . . It's this ludicrous thing. And I want them so much, women. And getting them to want me back? Is like this crazy puzzle. Nrrg. Women.
Rolf the Dog is my favorite Muppet, by the way.
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You are very smart, and this is a possible placeholder for more substantive comments later.
The only comment I do have (which is only half-related) is that, sometimes, when my dad tells me stories of his misspent youth, I kind of wonder if he was secretly a Bruce Springsteen character. Between the Catholic school and the drinking and the working class New Jersey factory culture and the "how the hell did you get away with that?" Luckily, my father was somewhat better on the women front, I think.
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I enjoyed Brucemas - thanks for posting it again!
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I'm a huge Springsteen fan, and, like you, am a little bothered by the women in his songs, but I've explained (rationalized?) it to myself because the songs are SO personal, and SO autobiographical, that it wouldn't really make sense for them to have a strong feminine voice. Does that make sense? He's writing what he knows - and he knows what it's like to be a Jersey boy, not a Jersey girl. And, like you said, "I'm on Fire" aside (and THAT'S the song that makes me a bad feminist, because date-rape-y or not, I think it's hot), I don't think there's much active misogyny in his work. It's more just that he gives such incredible, poetic insight into his male characters, and that makes his average treatment of the female characters seem weak by comparison. Or that's what I would argue.
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