chau·vin·ism n.1. Prejudiced belief in the superiority of one's own gender, group, or kindNotice that definition says nothing of men at all, but it's common to call guys chauvinists if they make any kind of statement or action that people consider offensive to women. So for the record, you gotta say "male chauvinist". It's also worth noting that the def'n of feminism makes no mention of females at all either.
Now, as some of you may know, I'm not a fan of hardcorefeministsts". And it's not because I'm a male chauv, though I've been called that in the past without legitimate justification. For example, last year I laughed my ass off when a female figure skater was dropped by her partner in a routine that I saw on TV. That might make me a complete prick, but it doesn't have any bearing on sexual superiority since I would've laughed just as hard if it was a man that fell. So when I was called a "chauvinist" it didn't mean much. The reason I don't like "feminists" is this: I'm more concerned with equality than which sex or gender has (or ought to have) more power in society.
There's no doubt in my mind that men have treated women unfairly for the lion's share of human history, and until recently there's never been much power given to women. In some senses that's to be expected, as men are generally larger than women, and can control them physically. This, in turn, lead to all sorts of inequalities and abuses of power in the world. Men saw women as lesser beings who deserved lesser rights, and created an establishment of government where men held all of the power. Women were thought to be less intelligent and less worthy of respect as well; just look at the presence (or lackthereof) of women in science prior ttheeh 1900s.
But many things have changed in the past century here in the West. Women were given the right to vote, bras were burned, glass ceilings have at least been raised somewhat, and women are generally accepted as being equally intelligent as men, if not smarter. Some people even think the world ought to be run by women, whicreallyly makes alot of sense. There'd be a hell of alot less war and hatred I bet, and more positive things in the world if that was the case. Then again, power corrupts whoever holds it, and women are no exception. Just look at fucking Condi Rice.
Regardless, the issue I wanna argue about is equality. A male chauv pisses me off just as much as a female chauv does. However, the M/C's influence and voice in society is somewhat more subtle than the F/C who screams at the top of her lungs. Maybe that's why the fem's get such a bad rap. While men exert their influence by maintaining stereotypes (like women belonging in the kitchen and pumping out kids, etc.) a fem's gotta go against the grain the get her point across. Subtlety does little to change the minds of ignorant people, and some dayeven ana shovel in the face won't help. I guess that holds true for alot of issues though...
Anyway, there's a few talking points I wanna hit about the rights of women, and expectations of men that we now have in society.
1) Sexual Harassment - stats show that the vast majority of women will be victims of sexual harassment at some point in their lives. No doubt this is shows a lack of respect and decency in the world, and it's something that should definitely be stopped. But how often do you hear of a man being harassed by a woman? Not very often, and there's a simple reason for it: men are expected to be the aggressors and women are expected to be the victims.
If a man walks by a female co-worker and slaps her on the ass, he could be looking at a lawsuit. But if a woman slaps a man's ass, nobody gives two shits. He would probably be laughed at if he took it to management.
2) Rape - the last point leads into this one for the same reasons. But there's a few things I bet ya didn't know about rape. For starters, some radical feminists claim that any intercourse between a man and a women is rape. (
Sounds pretty fucking ridiculous to me, but some people actually believe it.)
Putting that aside, it's true that men are far, far more likely to commit rape than women are, but that shouldn't diminish how serious it can be for a man who's raped by a woman. Imagine, for example, the ugliest woman you can, and imagine being tied to a bed (or otherwisincapacitateded). If she's starts messing around downtown, there's not much a guy can do - willpower only goes so far because our bodies do alot of things that we can't control. And if you don't buy that argument, you might find it interesting that studies have shown that some female rape victims actually produce vaginal lubrication when they're raped.
Does that mean they wanted to have sex? Fuck no! Anyone can see that. But if it's a man... he wanted sex. All men want sex and if they say that they don't, they're liars.
Something of a double standard there, don't ya think?
3) Speeding tickets - this just flat out pisses me off. A pretty blonde can get away with 120 in a 50 if she gets caught by the right cop, but even the best looking man gets a ticket and maybe even a trip to the courthouse. I blame the cops for being fuckheads, and society as a whole for letting this kind of thing to happen. And it doesn't only apply to speeding tickets...
4) Manners - men are expected to hold doors, to give up umbrellas, and to offer coats in the cold. And girls generally appreciate that kind of thing, as anyone should. But girls are rarely expected to sacrifice for guys. If a girl doesn't hold a door for a guy, she might be called a bitch, but oh, you can't
blame her. Well why the fuck not? I enjoy blaming people for anything that's blameworthy. Girls shouldn't be exempt.
And the truth is girls love it when guys are gentlemen, but there's the odd one who will bust out the, "I don't need your help. I'm a woman, hear me roar" type of shit. Just take the good deed for what it's worth. If a girl gave her that coat in the cold, ten-to-one says she wouldn't react the same way.
5) Humour - in my experience, girls can't take jokes as well as guys can. If a guy makes a joke about "bitches" girls might stir up a fuss, but guys don't get bent out of shape when a group of girls jokes about a bunch of "assholes" or "pricks". The odd off-colour joke isn't going to set the women's movement back 20 years darling. Then again, what I mentioned earlier about the subtle ways in which men exert their influence comes into play here. So I might be wrong entirely.
That's all I can think of for now, but if I come up with anything more I'll put it up here. I'll try to find some specifics that women might get pissed off with, but it's harder to do that since I'm a guy with a guy's perspective of the world.
Then again, that's to be expected.
Right?
After many months of waiting, the Joel Plaskett Emergency's Make A Little Noise DVD has arrived. I picked it up the other day down at the ol' record shop, but I only got a chance to watch the DVD portion of it tonight. It also came with a mini-EP with 3 new tracks, all of which are pretty solid. Nowhere With You is the best of the set I'd say.
