I'm not sure why I was thinking of this earlier today.
A while back, I saw a conversation that was begun with "Is it a sign of being from a patriarchal society when someone never puts the toilet seat down?" I think the original thought was sort of half-serious, but also a comment on what sort of interactions one expects to have with one's surroundings, what consequences one expects one's actions to have on the environment.
What fascinated me about it was the people who responded with something that I can exaggerate to, "Yes! Obviously! It's a conspiracy on the part of The Man to keep women falling into toilets."
I wondered then, and I still do, where the break point is where we can say "You're responsible for paying attention to where you put your ass."
On the flip side, I'm watching a bunch of men respond to the question "Do you have a problem with women not shaving their legs".
And there are a stunning number of people for whom this is some sort of dealbreaker, some sort of major big-ass deal which makes a difference to their interactions with people. And I sit here wondering, "Who notices these things? Who cares?" I wound up posting the story about my ex, whose brother's girlfriend was horrified that his wife didn't shave her legs. "Don't you mind?" she said, turning to him; he paused for a moment, and then said, "Well, I don't shave mine, either."
There's a lot of, "Oh, the stubble feels bad, I want smooth skin to touch" and some similar stuff, and that baffles the hell out of me. My skin is plenty smooth, and I never get stubble because I don't molest my poor token mammalfur. (Now, mind, I shaved my legs once or twice in, like, 1993, just to see what all the foofaraw was about, and after I got the bleeding to stop I said, "Well, that was stupid" and didn't take it up again. So I don't exactly have much in the way of grounds for comparison here.)
But there's also the whole, "What the hell? Of all the things to consider of paramount importance in possibly forming a relationship with someone, leg hair?"
What the hell is wrong with people, anyway?
04 January, 2007
Found conversational thoughts on sexism and what matters to us
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"Dw3t-Hthr" (Duat-Hether) is a title of various female temple officials in ancient Egypt. It means "Worshipper of Hathor" or "Adorer of Hathor".
2 comments:
I remember, way back in high school, I was talking to a friend about the fact that I never intended to change my name when I got married.
Him, all shocked, "but won't you love him? Why not, then?"
Me, in return, "what? Are you planning to change YOUR name when YOU get married?"
People get wound up over the silliest damn things. and, fwiw, I don't shave either. that's why there are PANTS! :D
I hate stubble too. It's one of the reasons (and they are legion) that I quite shaving my legs. You see, I inherited my dad's hairy genes, and I would have had to shave the suckers twice a day in order to mimic the approved hairless state. So after seven years of half-hearted efforts at hairlessness, I quit and embraced my furry legs.
And to judge from my mother's reaction of informing me that I am gross and disgusting, not shaving legs is apparently the worst sins a young female can commit.
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