"... but suddenly we were living in a time when so much that was once considered fair game for discussion (education, biological differences, the benefits of policing) had become dangerous.... The #MeToo movement, which felt like a necessary corrective when it began, was starting to feel like an arrow pointed at our own agency. I couldn’t always tell the difference between activism and protectionism, valid critique and frivolous complaint. The notion that men were the ones who needed to change—not a bad idea, in my opinion—had a stubborn way of relinquishing women from the burden of their own choices and behavior. And though the area of expertise I’d staked out as a writer was the complications of women’s independence and the nuances of sex.... What was I, a rape apologist? A bigot? Some kind of moral monster?.... The unsavory truth is that I sympathized with many of these men.... But being sympathetic to these fallen creatures—a trait instilled by literature, my mother, and Oprah—had been declared a sin.... So this is my resolution as I trudge from this dark place: to speak out more.... Not because anyone asked for it, but because this is the career I’ve chosen, and if I’m not doing that, then what are we doing here?"
From "The Things I’m Afraid to Write About/Fear of professional exile has kept me from taking on certain topics. What gets lost when a writer mutes herself?" by Sarah Hepola (The Atlantic).
This makes me want to repeat something I quoted in the first post of the day: "The novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie recently predicted that the novels of the next 10 to 15 years 'will be awful … Art has to be able to go to a place that’s messy, a place that’s uncomfortable'..."
Posts
18 comments:
#MeToo has been good for people who like to say dangerous obvious things.
10-15 years? the Romans shut down all art that didn't justify the rule of the ruling class for a lot longer than that!
She sympathized with Brett Kavanaugh as well as with men who got drunk and raped women? That's big of her.
She lost me at "delectable" ...
Youtube offers me The Office: Women's Appreciation Day clips.
There are some nice lines, in the midst of stock illustrating how clueless men are as broad stereotypes, suggesting that some of the guys are meta-needling women about the crap they worry about.
As if worrying about crap was what women always do.
learn about self-publishing; pay for a domain and do what you want
"From 2015 to 2021, my private conversations were some of the best I’ve ever had. Taboo subjects have always been delectable..."
Translation: progs started getting hit by prog accusations, hurting the cause and some true believers. Even taboos are tools.
"... but suddenly we were living in a time when so much that was once considered fair game for discussion (education, biological differences, the benefits of policing) had become dangerous"
Made dangerous by progs, for use against deplorables.
"had a stubborn way of relinquishing women from the burden of their own choices and behavior."
Well, they are special. Feminism had always diminished women's agency: as long as the patriarchy rules, what's a woman to do?
"to speak out more"
This article is a start, but don't just speak out more about speaking out more: say something heterodox. Meaning: risk your good standing in prog circles, face expulsion by tweet.
"The notion that men were the ones who needed to change—not a bad idea, in my opinion—had a stubborn way of relinquishing women from the burden of their own choices and behavior."
Same with racism - that whites are the ones who need to change. FALSE (Blacks need to commit fewer crimes, and have fewer out-of-wedlock babies / less non-marriage sex.)
The HUGE basic problem with feminism is the desire to be against unwanted attention/ desire/ objectivization combined with an intense need to be a desired sex object to the desirable men.
Most men don't wear make-up, nor shave their legs or under their arms. Women, who want to be attractive, do.
I like feminine women, and love my lovely and lovable wife. Who's a med doctor and a PhD, as well as being a full Professor as well as a mother of 4.
"Equal Opportunity" is the right goal - but will result in unequal outcomes based on many differences between individuals.
Even taboos are tools? Taboos are a primary tool of control. In every society throughout history. Sometimes they serve a pro-social purpose, like the taboo against men hitting women or the taboo against incest or even the taboo against public use of profanity, obscenity, and certain deeply pejorative words; sometimes it's more purely control, like the present taboo against "gendering" someone as female who is publicly presenting as a woman.
(The taboos against insulting or offensive language are intended to promote civility, whether or not they do so. The taboo against assuming someone's gender doesn't go toward greater civility, it seems to me, even though it's presented as "respectful"; it goes, instead, toward reminding everyone that no matter what you think based on the evidence of your senses and your rationality, you might still be both wrong and offensive, and deserving of public correction. It's more akin to the witch test where if she drowns she's innocent and if she floats she's guilty - damned if you do and damned if you don't.)
I was raised in a pre-Vatican II Catholic tradition, but my mother was Slav and my father mostly Irish/Scot, and I had impressed upon me both the idea that I must tread a very narrow path to gain the kingdom of God, and that absolutely no knowledge in the world was forbidden to my exploration. The obvious contradiction of this duality of life remains with me still.
When asked what I wanted for Christmas one year by my young son, I responded that I wanted an internally consistent contradictory ambiguity. When we opened our gifts, and I asked him if he'd gottem me what I wanted, he gave me a small box with some aftershave and said, "I'm not sure if I can tell you whether I did or not." Best present ever.
Pre 1960 adultery was a crime and having sex outside marriage was considered too risky for many. Then along came the pill and free love followed by recreational drugs as aphrodisiacs . That toothpaste is not going back in the tube. The Judeo-Christian sexual immorality rules are still the only cure.
The problem of course is the rise of orthodoxy, of absolutist thinking. It used to be that a good % of married couples met at work, but now that is strictly off-limits because companies do not want the lawsuits. You can't even tell someone they look nice. BUT the solution of keeping men and women more apart at work is also sexist. Can't have a company male golf outing for example.
Whew, I guess it's good I'm old. *They* tried to cancel Philip Roth last summer, or at least his biographer because Roth himself is dead. So I went about reading the bio and every Roth novel I could get my hands on.
A good litfic novel is ruthlessly honest, and Roth was honest even in his dishonesty. I'm sure his books will gradually disappear from libraries everywhere.
"the novels of the next 10 to 15 years 'will be awful"
Ditto the movies.
Example: Hulu.
I'm guessing the writer is a liberal, and is afraid of being cancelled by like-minded liberal peers.
Talk about delectable...
Jamie: "Even taboos are tools? Taboos are a primary tool of control"
True. But I meant to suggest that. among progs, they can be picked up or discarded as needed--i.e., they are not deeply embedded in the culture, even if they are situationally presented as sacred.
"...the novels of the next 10 to 15 years 'will be awful … Art has to be able to go to a place that’s messy, a place that’s uncomfortable'..."
Like comedy
The "taboo" label and characterization of trans-social behavior is an exotic and intoxicating flavor of the day.
Post a Comment