Posted by sean at threshold6n.jpmorgan.com on May 22, 2002 at 11:42:34:
In Reply to: Listening to kids is boring. posted by Jeweliet on May 22, 2002 at 10:50:35:
The problem with a large portion of the feminist movement -- and, don't kid yourself, because the only part of your message that didn't come across as a feminist diatribe against the entertainment industry's tendency to put the people who look best in front of the camera was the part when you said "I'm not a feminist" or whatever the exact line was -- is that if there's any opposition, it's immediately met with a really defensive "Shut up, you're wrong and you can't understand" answer. Well, yeah, if you don't explain it in a logical way, of course we can't understand!
The problem is that women and men have basically the same aestethic ideal, but women are so hung up with what they think that men want that they get obsessed with "dropping ten pounds", completely unneccessarily. And then they blame the entertainment industry. Should I go to a David Fincher web-site and tell him that Meat Loaf not taking his shirt off in "Fight Club" was clearly a sign that over-weight men are not desirable and that all men should look like Brad Pitt? No! Because I'm a rational person who recognizes that everybody has different things of value. Hell, should I start yelling at the porn industry for using men with bigger penises than mine? "How can I compete with Ron Jeremy?" Well, I could try and be a well rounded person ... work on my personality so I'm not so grating ... exercise, eat right ... know deep down inside that I'm as good as I can be so why should I care about what other people think or are anyway?
Nah, I'll just bitch. It's easier and far more fun.