Working My Nerves

Every once in a while a little rain on our parade does a world of good to remind us of how much work we need to do to make this world a better place. A few things have been working my nerves this week:

1. I read a review of this ridiculous book titled Save The Males in a magazine marketed toward young professional women. I am repulsed by the content in the book because it plays into this trite idea that young professional (read: heterosexual) women must "settle" in order to find a man (of course it is our sole reason for being).

As if finding one who is subpar is better than nothing in order to make ourselves "complete". I am still reeling from that outrageous sexist article Marry Him in the Atlantic a while back. I am sick of so-called feminist imposters masking their retrograde rants as pieces contributing to some sort of post-feminist movement progress.

Vomit-worthy.I am sick of this promotion of cultural panic because those who hold hegemony aren't maintaining as firm a grasp as they did before. The bottom line is that patriarchy and imbalanced heirarchies still exist. The proof is in the pudding when patriarchal women are writing articles promoting the idea that feminism is harmful. Moreover, I'm upset with these women who have benefited from movements for equality now who are fighting against it because they naively think they have "arrived".

Why is there this panic resulting from the fact that traditional kinship structures have changed, providing more women with the agency to raise and provide for their children without depending on a man. Why panic because more women are going to college? I am not suggesting that we privilege women's rights and interests over men. I am merely pointing out that I am not really losing any sleep over the idea that men in our society need "saving" from "feminism, girl coddling, and male bashing" as argued in Katleen Parker's book. The fact is that "feminism, girl coddling, and male bashing" is not systemically embedded into every piece of our culture and institutions like gender inequality is in our country. The only people who need to be saved are these writers who need a wake up call from what I perceive to be their delusional fever dream.

2. Another situation that i'm fired up about this week is the outrageous outing case in Memphis. High School Principal Daphne Beasley made an announcement over the PA system mandating that teachers provide her with the names of all “hetero and homo” student couples on campus. After she collected the names, Principal Beasley then publicly posted the list in her office. As a result, two young men Nicholas and Andrew – suddenly found that the whole school was buzzing about their relationship. Making matters worse, Principal Beasley called Nicholas’ mom to inform her that her son was gay. Ms. Beasley also informed his mother that she did not approve of homosexuality and refuses to tolerate it in her school. Fortunately, the ACLU is working on seeking justice in this case. I am also happy to report that there is a national letter writing campaign to force the Memphis school board to take action against Beasley and harrassment in area schools.