wJan 9, 2009


That middle section turned out longer than I expected....

There is supposed to be steady snowfall throughout the day, and there's already a healthy coating on the streets and sidewalks.

My throat was mildly sore yesterday, but this morning I woke up because it was so painful to swallow. I've brought cayenne pepper, ginger powder, and honey to work, and plan to mix them all with some orange spiced tea and get rid of it! We'll see how that goes.



My LJ friend meganbmoore has posted an appalling link to a post made by a dude named Josh Tyler, who thinks that chicks only like Julia Roberts movies. Her post is here. Of note:
Even Wonder Womanwas only a success because men supported her. The old Wonder Woman television show was a hit because men tuned in. Men tuned in because Wonder Woman was hot and watching her rope bad guys with her golden lasso fulfilled some sort of hot chick, dominatrix fetish fantasy. Wonder Woman may be a girl, but her audience was never really comprised of women. Sure women may tune in from time to time, just as women go see movies like Spider-Man and The Dark Knight. But they are not and never will be the primary audience for those films. Catching bad guys is not a common female fantasy. Ask most women which movies they’re most looking forward to in 2009 and odds are that it’ll be something starring Julia Roberts. Ask men what they’re most looking forward to, and I guarantee Julia’s name will not be uttered.

There’s nothing wrong with that. Men and women simply have different interests. Men are interested in action movies with heroes blowing things up and saving the girl. Men are interested in imagining themselves as ass-kicking heroes. Women are interested in movies about relationships and romance and love. Women are interested in imagining themselves finding the right guy and dancing till dawn. Little boys play with guns, little girls play with dolls. Neither version of play is superior to the other, it’s just different. Nobody is out there trying to force men to get interested in movies about romantic weekends in Paris, so why are we so dead set on forcing women to get interested in movies about beating people up? There’s something unintentionally sexist about it, it’s as if we’re saying women’s interests are somehow inherently inferior, and to be validated they must instead find ways to be more like men.

WHAT THE FUCK. There is so much that is wrong with his post. Firstly, WTF about gendered childhoods?! I'm pretty sure that I did my best to let boys let me play football at recess when I was 8. I played with GI Joes and I loved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I also learned how to cross-stitch and made elaborate rooms for my American Girl dolls, going so far as to make them their own food by molding and baking clay. And then I would run into the backyard and make my own knives by scraping sticks against concrete. According to this guy, I must be some freak of nature with no gender! NOT TO MENTION MY MEDIA TASTES, and I think any readers of this blog know that I'm a huge fan of cinematic and/or animated violence.

You know what, though? In a way, he's right. I do dislike superhero comics about men (I have not read Wonder Women). I hate how they're mysognistic, and I hate how women exist only as a way to give the male protagonist angst (Spider-Man's Mary Jane), and someone to save. I hate how people's bodies are drawn in superhero comics, both me and women: Muscles are grossly exaggerated in men, while women have impossibly tiny waists with enormous breasts. I tire easily with superheroes who catch the same bad guys all the time, and superhero writers who try and stir up drama by dropping in another female character for a few issues, only to kill her off. I'd vastly prefer to read Strangers in Paradise, Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, DMZ, Runaways, or hey - how about Japanese manga with women kicking ass? Claymore, Fullmetal Alchemist, Sailor Moon, Chun Hyang, etc. How does he think that Buffy: The Vampire Slayer was so popular? Anyone who gives any consideration to their media consumption knows that a good story is one with believable emotions and characters we like watching. Do I like watching women getting tied up and whining until they get saved? No! Is that solely because I'm a woman? I don't think so. I certainly believe that men exist in the world who also tire of women being used as a plot device instead of characters.

And for the record, I am highly interested in imagining myself as an ass-kicking, gun-shooting, sword-fighting, ninja-star-throwing bad-ass. Imaginging myself twirling forever in the clouds the arms of a dude (even my boyfriend) sounds pretty damn boring.

Also, I know sometimes you guys get confused about original authors when I link to other places....meganbmoore is not the jerk....she is posting ABOUT the jerk. :)

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scribbled mystickeeper at 6:42 AM
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