Sunday, October 24, 2010

Bothered

I was going to post a book review. Seriously, I was. And then I got on Twitter and went to the #SpeakLoudly page. And I found an article. 
It shouldn't bug me so much. Seriously, I hear comments like this every day.
But .. . . I'm bothered.
In fact, I'm really bothered. Bothered by this
I am a firm believer that girls can do anything guys can. Dude, it's never even seriously occurred to me that we couldn't. And I hear comments like this every day. 'No means Yes.' Sure. Yeah. When a girl says no, she really is saying yes. Of course. Comments about rape are thrown around the classroom daily. Girls are demeaned and boys are smacked and life goes on. 
Debate rounds lost? The people were 'raped.'
A girl gets pregnant? 'Slut.'
And if a guy gets a girl pregnant? Player.
It's not news. It's a double standard, blah, blah, feminist crap, whatever. Right? That's what a teacher said once. Feminist crap. Double standard -- just means women need to work harder to prove it wrong.
And don't get me wrong.
Girls can do everything guys can. Working hard will reverse a double standard; I believe that fully. Maybe I'm naive or young or whatever you want to call it, but I believe that girls have every opportunity in the world. 
That doesn't, however, mean that they should be treated like that. A double standard is one thing, but this? This is blatant disrespect, flagrant idiocy.  At Yale, of all places. A place where the smartest are cultivated to be smarter. Right? 
What crap.
A slap on the wrist. Is that really what those boys deserve? No. But they don't deserve expulsion either, because come on -- what would that fix? It's not their fault we live in a society where movies, musics and television tell us this sort of thing is okay.
 No. Let them read Speak, The Mockingbirds, let them go to sessions where crushed and hurt girls tell their stories. Let them talk to their closest female friends, their sisters, their girlfriends. 
Not just these particular boys. 
All of them. Hell, all of the girls too. Because we don't get how dumb we are sometimes. We've trivialized something that should never been made littler than it is. 
Ack. 
More book stuff later. 

2 comments:

Colene Murphy said...

Well said!

Unknown said...

I completely agree with you. That Yale incident is outrageous - I can't believe they didn't get punished harder for it.

Even in Australia, sexual violence is super overlooked. The whole nature of "asking for it", etc, and consent is just...urgh...makes my blood boil.

Good for you, girl! You stick by your guns! :D