Yes, I distinctly remember this one moment where I got that we were not all playing the same game. I had taken a guy home after picking him up at a party. The next day, when I was taking him home, he told me he had a girl friend. I guess the conversation was about how he didn’t want me to rat him out to his girlfriend? Anyway, I remember saying,
“Why didn’t you tell me that earlier? I wouldn’t have slept with you.”
and then it hit that that was exactly why he hadn’t told me.
and then it hit me that really the guys all along had been thinking I was not participating willingly in all of this, that they had assumed from the beginning that they had to hoodwink me into sex with them, and so for all those years when I thought we’d both been flirting and having fun together, actually, they’d seen me as prey and that when I had willingly engaged in sex, they’d seen it as a conquest.
So then I saw the truth, that we weren’t all just having fun, but I was being duped - not really against my will, but without realizing it because it seemed so bizarre to me that men couldn’t treat me as someone equally participating in wanting to have casual sex.
That moment changed me and my approach. I really sat down and thought about what I wanted and stopped thinking that I could engage in casual sex at all.
Not enough. I’ve been out at a convention this week so only keeping tabs on headlines, but the general group of people I am around IRL don’t pay attention to the news.
If it hasn’t impacted their retirement funds, it’s all good.
I did run into an old co-worker who was generally on the fiscally conservative side and was just disgusted by all that is going on.
And I did overhear a group of women chatting at the next table over about the hearings. And one of them was so appalled at her aunt siding with Kavanaugh.
So maybe there are some tough conversations going on, but they are all over due.
I’ve seen a lot of snark on Twitter about “partisanship”. I fail to see how this was about “partisanship”.
Actually, I fail to see how anyone could think this guy could judge much of anything in a professional capacity, but hey.
Also, it occurs to me this is yet another example of conservatives literally trying to drown out someone else’s speech. Ford barely got a hearing. Meanwhile, here in Ontario, Premier Ford has lackeys clap and cheer to drown out questions from journalists. Way back when Brian Mulroney repeatedly yelled “I love Canada” at John Turner during a debate, ensuring Ed Broadbent – always acclaimed as the best debater, even if people didn’t like his party – got drowned out.
And of course Trump is famous for interrupting.
This is about people breaking the rules of social conduct rather than face the consequences of their errors. And therefore compounding one social crime with another. I do not like it.
I was referring more to how those are the classic terms used to describe women who show the slightest bit of emotion, but that you almost never hear applied to men. Not partisanship, but that double-standard. And I am pretty sure that’s the jab Sam Sykes was taking, too.
As people said, imagine if Hillary acted like Kavanaugh. Or hell, imagine if someone like Condolezza Rice did that… it’s not political partisan, but pure sexism.
But like the song says: “Guys do it all the time and they expect us to understand / but when the shoe’s on the other foot, you know that’s when it hits the fan…”
a) the bad medical advice that is often dispensed (especially to women!) in hospitals, no less
b) the fact that the whole toxic masculinity isn’t limited to men screaming on the internet
c) the implied idea that boys are more important than girls
d) the idea that it would be a horrible thing for transition to occur
Fortunately, Cat Valente is not the type to fall for this, but you have to wonder how many more vulnerable women are being fed this bullshit, and because it’s coming from someone of “authority”, believe it.
As the whole Kavanaugh thing blows up, the conservatives in my feed keep on bringing up Clinton. I saw that Juanita Broderick is making the rounds at Fox.
I have to say, they have a point. If we are really concerned about how powerful men treat women, I think there was a lot of credible evidence that Clinton raped and groped women against their will, and he definitely lied about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. And she was really really young and an intern.
I’m not claiming that the conservatives are really concerned about women’s rights, They are trying to redirect the conversation away from Kavanaugh by invoking their favorite ploy - the hated name Clinton.
But I do wonder if we pick and choose who to be outraged by when it serves us.
I think liberals need to really sit and talk about Clinton’s misbehavior if we want to be consistent.