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| Author |
Message |
lumen
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Backwash, backlash.
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Feb 28 03:10 UTC 2000 |
I was trained by my mother When I heard your complaints
in all the ways I didn't know whether
of chivalry, to empathize
etiquette, or rip your throat out,
and gentility but I did empathize
of the upper middle class. while wishing you'd shut the fuck up.
She would nitpick I thought I'd suffer
on my behaviors for the feminine cause
and tell me if I failed but you all decided
in my training, I wasn't worth keeping.
no lady was ever going I just bowed my head
Wondering if those overgeneralizations
To want me. included me.
She got mad if I didn't Some of you expected gentlemanly gestures
open doors for her. like it was required,
with little in return,
except nagging if I forgot.
She used to tell me I listened to all your body image
all the time problems, and then I thought
I was getting too fat. I wasn't good enough for any of you
since I didn't have a hunky enough body.
She didn't seem to care One of the nicer lot of you confessed
that her folks manipulated that I sounded like a diet-obsessed woman.
me with weight, too.
I trusted you. I gave you my love.
I walked into a trap without knowing it.
Now I wince whenever I think of terrible
stories you told about your abuse.
I even thought I was responsible for one of
you, because you let me drown in some kind
of hell for false accusations.
Now I'd go apeshit for you just to give
some of those pompous bastards what they
deserved.
I know I said some bizarre You don't know how much it hurt to be
things when I was mentally rejected. I didn't know how to approach
ill, *madre*, but I wish you, so I hid with women clad only in skin
you would on glossy pages.
have been more patient I knew I'd never learn, so I continued
with me. to try-- even read the relationship
I never could count on how articles in all the fashion magazines
I would feel, so I'd drown and sometimes in books.
in some stimulus just for
something When you decided to stay for a while,
predictable. I was always afraid I'd lose you.
Never thought some of you would think
She couldn't handle my the same thing
sister coming out, so I because I was some kind of fence-sitting
figured what she'd say about queer.
me. I didn't think I could ever trust the boys
anyway.
I tried to live what was right,
but you would call me a hypocrite
if I stumbled.
So I finally found a woman
who thinks you're all full of shit.
I guess I didn't expect another
can of nightcrawlers, though.
I suppose co-dependency dies hard.
And excuse me
if I feel like saying
some feminists should eat shit and die.
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| 8 responses total. |
orinoco
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response 1 of 8:
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Feb 29 15:15 UTC 2000 |
How do you intend the two-column bits to be read? Is this for two voices,
or one reading across, or what?
Interesting presentation regardless, though, and appropriate to the subject.
The ending's a little strong, and IMO a little misleading; you should pick
a word other than "feminists," or at least modify the phrasing a little,
unless you're trying to piss people off :)
"so I hid with the women clad only in skin on glossy pages"....._nice_
line....
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lumen
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response 2 of 8:
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Mar 1 00:33 UTC 2000 |
It's for two voices. It was hard for me to format it much clearer.
You're free to your opinion-- note the preceding key word "some." My
youngest sister is a first-wave feminist, and I don't have a problem
with that. However, I do have a problem with a lot of the modern
rhetoric and its bullshit notions of empowerment, especially among
those that complain the loudest. I am so FUCKING sick and tired
of 'men are so this' and that crap. I figured that if I tried to be
the best I could be, and be a good man, I wouldn't hear it so much.
But oh no. I got treated like shit. I still have to walk on pins and
needles so my mother won't yap so much. My wife is the first woman who
hasn't dumped me.. she has had to assure me a time or two that she
won't leave, even in spite of what I've done..
I hope female comics will kill those idiot male-bashing jokes. You
kick my ass, beware, I might just kick back.
fuck, I knew someone wouldn't understand
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orinoco
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response 3 of 8:
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Mar 1 01:44 UTC 2000 |
Clarification: I partly agree with the sentiment, partly disagree, and on the
whole would rather not get into a discussion of that issue in this item.
Suffice to say I sypmathize. So I have no personal objection to the line.
Rather, I was predicting that if you were to perform this or share it more
widely -- particularly if you were to perform it, since nuances get lost if
you only hear something once through -- a significant number of people would
misunderstand and get a little angry.
My prediction may also be wrong, of course. It's just a guess.
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russ
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response 4 of 8:
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Mar 1 06:14 UTC 2000 |
This does a great job of illustrating the frustration of being a
designated baddie. If I can take a stab at it, you are saying
something like racial profiling is to people of color as politically
correct feminism is to males?
Hmmm. Using that as an image, it might be possible to do some image
jiu-jitsu on people who refuse to examine their premises. You're
welcome to use this, though I might also.
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