XINRAN XUE, a Chinese writer, describes visiting a peasant family in the Yimeng area of Shandong province. The wife was giving birth. “We had scarcely sat down in the kitchen”, she writes, “when we heard a moan of pain from the bedroom next door…The cries from the inner room grew louder—and abruptly stopped. There was a low sob, and then a man’s gruff voice said accusingly: ‘Useless thing!’
“Suddenly, I thought I heard a slight movement in the slops pail behind me,” Miss Xinran remembers. “To my absolute horror, I saw a tiny foot poking out of the pail. The midwife must have dropped that tiny baby alive into the slops pail! I nearly threw myself at it, but the two policemen [who had accompanied me] held my shoulders in a firm grip. ‘Don’t move, you can’t save it, it’s too late.’
“‘But that’s…murder…and you’re the police!’ The little foot was still now. The policemen held on to me for a few more minutes. ‘Doing a baby girl is not a big thing around here,’ [an] older woman said comfortingly. ‘That’s a living child,’ I said in a shaking voice, pointing at the slops pail. ‘It’s not a child,’ she corrected me. ‘It’s a girl baby, and we can’t keep it. Around these parts, you can’t get by without a son. Girl babies don’t count.’”
The Economist has recently published a couple articles on “gendercide” and the 100 million “missing girls” that have been killed, aborted or neglected, primarily in Asian countries. [Article 1, Article 2] The statistics quoted in these articles are just shocking. A combination of the traditional, misogynist preference for boys, ultrasound technology and smaller families are resulting in millions of girls being literally wiped out from large sections of the planet. The hatred of women in this world knows no bounds – and it is increasing. Why everyone is not committed to a feminist movement to end sexist oppression is a mystery to me. If you’re not a feminist female or a pro-feminist male, ask yourself why.
I fear the only reason governments will tackle this problem will be because of supply and demand – when there aren’t enough females (or merely vaginas and wombs) to go around, then they’ll have to do something. The underlying misogyny will go unaddressed.
The people engaging in this behavior are of course too stupid to foresee the consequences of their actions. And it’s not just uneducated peasants doing this – middle-class, well-educated couples in China, India and elsewhere are aborting female fetuses in large numbers. By 2020, “China faces the prospect of having the equivalent of the whole young male population of America, or almost twice that of Europe’s three largest countries, with little prospect of marriage, untethered to a home of their own and without the stake in society that marriage and children provide.”
It’s ironic that the families engaging in this kind of behavior will ultimately ensure their own destruction. When their precious sons grow up, they will have no one to marry or impregnate and the family line will die out. There is justice in that and I look forward to the day when the people doing this reap what they’ve sown. You can’t fuck with Mother Nature. In the end, she always wins.
Ugliest man in America and talentless hack Howard Stern, and his sidekick, disgraceful excuse for a human Robin Quivers, have launched a vicious, hate-filled, misogynist, racist attack against Gabourey Sibide, who was recently nominated for an Academy Award for her lead role in “Precious.” Quivers and Stern are outraged and disgusted that Sibide should be allowed into Hollywood, given that she’s [as Stern describes her], “the most enormous fat black chick I’ve ever seen.” I picked up this story from FishBowlLA, which writes: “Of course, fat actors have been working in Hollywood since the film industry began. But they’re usually white and male, the sort of folks Stern prefers.”
“Everybody is pretending that she’s a part of show business,” Quivers says on the show, totally incredulous that someone who isn’t a size 0 white woman is allowed to appear in a film and at the Oscars. Of course, Quivers is part of show business because she’s a traitor to her race and gender and lacks even a single shred of integrity. Sibide got to Hollywood through her talents, unlike Quivers, who sold her soul to a white dude.
I write a lot on this blog about The Obesity Epidemic™ (soon to wipe out America, much the same way an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs). On this tape of Stern and Quivers, they insult Sibide relentlessly, but they are careful to add that she needs to lose weight for her health or she’s going to die. It’s a perfect example of The Obesity Epidemic™ in action – hate-mongering (often mixed with sexism and racism) disguised as concern for a person’s health.
On the tape, Stern introduces a clip of Oprah talking about Sibide at the Oscars, saying, “Here’s Oprah telling an enormous woman the size of a planet that she’s going to have a career.” The sad truth is, Howard Stern is right. Hollywood is run by the Howard Sterns and the Robin Quiverses of the world – hateful, shallow, ignorant people. Gabourey Sibide is unlikely to ever have a long career.
Sean Penn says Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is a model democrat and that those journalists who label him a dictator should be imprisoned.
Ah, the irony. You gotta love it.
In the article in which these idiotic comments appear, the Guardian describes Penn as an “Oscar-winning actor and political activist.” They forgot to add “abuser of women.”
I went to see Hairspray on the West End last night. It was fabulous! It’s ending its run at the end of March and going on tour. I may go see it again. I don’t normally like musicals (all that singing and dumbing down, ugh) but this show manages to be mainstream and fun, while also maintaining some of the subversiveness of the John Waters film. How many mainstream plays/films/books have a fat female heroine at the center who is filled with confidence and doesn’t want to lose weight? So refreshing. And it deals with racial issues too, making a point about all different forms of marginalization. In the show, Micky Dolenz (of the Monkees!) plays Tracy’s dad and Brian Conley plays Tracy’s mom. Conley totally lost it during one number and started laughing. It was so funny. Must have been the enormous fake boobs he was wearing.
If you haven’t seen it and you can get to London – don’t miss it.
I didn’t see the Oscars (were they even on here?) but I guess the big news is that Kathryn Bigelow won for Best Director, the first woman ever to do so in the history of the Academy Awards. Of course, this is just a reflection of how little power and influence women have in Hollywood. While I guess it’s a positive thing that the glass ceiling has been chipped in some small, symbolic way, I couldn’t help but think of this passage I just read in the new translation of Simone de Beauvoir’s “The Second Sex”:
“Women’s actions have never been more than symbolic agitation; they have won only what men have been willing to concede to them; they have taken nothing; they have received.”
I think this applies here. I don’t see any major reason to celebrate. What would be better is if women withdrew from Hollywood in protest over sexism – women refused to act in films (without women’s bodies, where would Hollywood be?), women refused to work behind the scenes, women refused to fetch coffee, women refused to see films. Bring Hollywood to its knees and then demand the changes you want. Don’t wait 82 years for them to throw you a scrap and then call it progress.
And with that…Happy International Women’s Day! xx
[The Second Sex- page 8; Borde and Malovany-Chevallier, translators.]
One of the big news stories here is the re-arrest of Jon Venables, who, along with Robert Thompson, tortured, sexually assaulted and murdered 2-year-old James Bulger in 1993. Venables and Thompson were both 10 years old when they committed this crime. I’m sure my American readers remember this, since the murder of Jamie Bulger was big news in the States when it happened, being one of the most shocking and barbaric crimes committed in recent decades. Even now, given how violent our world is, the murder of Jamie Bulger still stands out as something so horrific one can barely even think about it.
In 2001, after serving 8 years, Venables and Thompson were released from prison; the parole board, in their infinite wisdom, had decided the boys were no longer a threat. Apparently, torture and murder can be chalked up to mere youthful folly. What reality do these parole board members live in?
I have written many times on this blog that the justice system here, and in Europe in general, is way too lenient. The biggest problem is that it is focused almost 100% on the criminal, totally disregarding the rights of the victims and society. I know the American system has problems and of course, Europeans always point to the death penalty, which allows them to feel morally superior. Well, in my view, letting rapists and murderers walk free with little or no punishment is its own form of immorality, not to mention presenting a grave threat to the public. Just the other day, a guy who pushed a woman onto the train tracks was jailed for…drumroll…4 years, and he’ll only serve two of those. Two years for pushing someone onto train tracks, which was an obvious act of attempted murder. [And I doubt he'll even be deported once he serves his sentence.]
The case of Venables and Thompson is a perfect example of a justice system focused entirely on the rights of criminals. The two boys who savagely murdered Jamie Bulger were released from prison, given new identities and protection, all at a great cost to the taxpayer. Any of us could be living next door to these guys and not know it, since all that matters is their rights as criminals, not our rights to safety. Not surprisingly, Jon Venables has now been re-arrested, but the justice department will not reveal his crimes or his new identity. However, it’s being reported that his crime involves child pornography and he is also apparently an abuser of drugs and alcohol and has had a psychological breakdown in recent weeks.
Everyone like me who is outraged over this situation seems to understand something the justice system doesn’t. If you torture, sexually abuse, mutilate and murder a two-year-old baby, there is something wrong with you. There is something fundamentally wrong with you as a human being and this cannot be fixed by therapy, medication or anything else. You are a damaged person. A history of parental neglect, abuse and mental illness may help explain some of it, but it doesn’t change the end result. The fact that they were children when they committed this crime makes it even worse. How many children do this? Thankfully, very few, which just shows how extreme Venables and Thompson are.
People like this might be able to avoid committing further crimes if they are monitored constantly, but they should never be released back into society under an assumed name. Do these men have children? What a horrible thought. What about women or men they’ve become involved with? Do these people know what their partners have done? Because they have a right to know. No one should be given a clean slate after committing such a savage crime. Any parole board or justice department official who says these men are not a threat to society should be sacked, since anyone with an ounce of common sense knows these men are a threat and will be till the day they die.
The do-gooders out there, who focus 100% on the criminal and not the victims and all the potential victims in society, think it is unfair to punish these two men for the rest of their lives for something they did at age 10. Well, there are some things that are so horrible they cannot be made right, they cannot be made better. The murder of Jamie Bulger falls firmly into this category. If you commit a crime like this, then you cannot have a normal life. Sorry, but it’s just not possible. The government should not be participating in such a charade and using all of us as guinea pigs.
My parents are married 40 years today. Golly, 40 whole years! That’s a long time. Congrats, Mom and Dad.
When my parents were my age, they had been married for nearly 20 years and had 2 teenage kids. My life circumstances could not be more different from that. I’ve been thinking about that today. I don’t have much interest in marriage. I’m not against it and perhaps I’ll end up married one day, but it’s just not something I focus on. I grew up in a very conservative and religious place, where everyone gets married under the age of 25. They go on two dates with someone and they’re engaged. They pair up and marry people that they don’t even really know very well or care about that much. Then they have tons of kids. That particular region of the country has a very high anti-depressant and suicide rate, which is not a coincidence. So even though my parents don’t have this kind of marriage, growing up in that particular culture scarred me in weird ways. I’ve been running from it my whole adult life.
I’ve gotten to that age where people think it’s strange that I’m not married. I’m not sure when this subtle shift happened. When you’re young, people always say “you’re not married yet” but then at some point, they drop the “yet.” I’ve arrived at that point.
Recently I saw the film “Up in the Air” with George Clooney. It was a bit unsettling how much I identified with the George Clooney character. I’m not quite as cynical as him, but I recognized a lot of myself in that guy – someone who floats through life without getting too attached to places, people or things. This is not the ideal way to be. At the same time, I know a lot of people my age who are married because they’re afraid to be alone or because it’s just what people do – they get married. I’m so glad I’m not that way. One of the greatest strengths I have is that I’m not afraid to be alone and I don’t crave societal acceptance.
So anyway, this is a strange anniversary post, but there you go. My parents set a good example for what marriage can be. At the same time, they didn’t raise me to be obsessed with marriage. I didn’t grow up brainwashed into thinking my future wedding day with the fancy white gown and bridesmaids dresses was going to be the happiest day of my existence and my raison d’être. And I do think this kind of mentality is the result of widespread brainwashing throughout our culture. It’s so nice to have grown up without that kind of pressure and expectation. So thanks Mom & Dad and Happy Anniversary!
when you realize that doing a PhD was a mistake; when you realize that “English” is an increasingly irrelevant subject matter and a waste of time; when you realize that academia isn’t the place for creative people; when you realize that the cliche ‘those who can’t, teach’ is true; when you wonder what career you can do besides teaching, because you don’t like teaching anymore and aren’t good at it; when you realize that your novel is crap
when you worry that having a PhD will make you seem over-qualified for the receptionist job you’ll need to get when you graduate, since you’re not qualified to do anything else
When it comes to pop music, I am really behind the times, so don’t laugh. I’ve heard snippets of Beyonce’s song “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” but I never really paid attention to it until recently. This song was considered one of the “best” songs of 2008 and I’m sure everyone knows it but me. When I heard this whole song recently and read the lyrics, I was aghast:
If you liked it then you should have put a ring on it
If you liked it then you should have put a ring on it
Don’t be mad once you see that he want it
If you liked it then you should have put a ring on it
It? Put a ring on it? He want it? Women in pop culture are often treated as objects, as things, so now I guess Beyonce has internalized this way of thinking to the extent that she refers to herself this way directly. IT. This song is a perfect example of what is sometimes referred to as “the new sexism,” where what is undeniably sexist is suddenly considered “empowering.” Indeed, in researching this song online, it is repeatedly referred to as “empowering” and “feminist.” In a world where Sex and the City has set the bar for what is considered feminist, I shouldn’t be surprised. All of these things are a perfect example of the way that capitalism can absorb – and ultimately distort and attempt to destroy – movements for justice and equality, such as feminism.
Like so much of what is considered “feminist” nowadays by the mainstream culture, “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” is an endorsement of conservative, heteronormative values that celebrate women’s subordinate place in society. This song could be played at the Republican National Convention, so perfectly does it embody right-wing values. Despite this, a great many women think this song is a feminist anthem.
It’s stuff like this that just makes me want to give up. Thank heavens I only listen to the radio once a year.
If you happen to be flying on Singapore Airlines, check out my photo in the Classic Romantic Movie Getaways article. It’s a photo of the grocery in Montmartre made famous by Amelie. It’s a terrible photo (which is why I’m not posting it here), but it’s currently circling the globe and I did get paid for it!
I don’t really care about sports that much, and I get annoyed with people who are whipped into a patriotic fervor over stuff like this, but I’ll make an exception today – because this is just too awesome:
The stadium was a sea of red-shirted home fans for what was being billed as one of the most-anticipated clashes in Canadian hockey history.
Banners proclaiming “Our home, our game” were displayed by partisan supporters who swamped the scattered pockets of USA fans.
…and then the Canadian team got their asses kicked.
Thanks to the BBC and their craptastic Olympics coverage, I didn’t get to see Evan Lysacek beat that whiny Russian jerk at the men’s figure skating. [What's up with the haircut, Russian dude?] I don’t care about the Olympics that much, but I do like the skating. It seems that the Winter Olympics are not popular here at all. Most of the coverage is on in the middle of the night and even then they just show bits of it. I guess because no Brits are really in contention, no one cares. Also, this isn’t really a snowy, wintery place. If they had the Spring or Autumn Olympics, where all the events invovled being soaked with rain, then the Brits would have something to relate to and want to watch. Snow and ice and mountains? Not so much.
Oh well. We miss out on a lot of things here. The Oscars too! Maybe people with cable TV get to see all this stuff, but I’m just a plebeian.
I do think the male figure skaters are awesome though (with the exception of that Russian guy), because we live in a world with such rigid, bullshit notions of “masculinity,” yet these guys are out there on international TV wearing sequins and feathers and skating to music. It’s a big eff you to all the macho assholes in the world and I love it. I love to see guys who have confidence like that, because you know they were probably beaten up a lot while growing up for wanting to figure skate. It’s what annoys me so much about the Russian guy with the hideous haircut – he’s basically saying Evan Lysacek isn’t manly enough to win the gold, because he didn’t do a quad. I’m glad this jerk and his neanderthal notions of what’s “manly” got a big ass whooping on the world stage.
For those who care about such things, my throat is healed. What hell I have been through this past week! Perhaps you know this feeling, but sometimes when you get really sick, it’s impossible to imagine ever feeling well again. I’ve been swallowing normally for decades, but just 3 or 4 days of a sore throat and I’m convinced I’ll never swallow or eat or drink again. Now I must figure out how to prevent myself getting sick again. I wrote in the comments of my previous post that I have lessened my workload somewhat, which should help, but I’ve got to do more.
John Mayer’s interview in the current issue of Playboy has made news since in it he said he isn’t interested in black women because, “My dick is sort of like a white supremacist” and then he compared his penis to former Klan member David Duke. His racism has already been covered extensively (and Mayer even offered a “tearful” apology), but I read the whole interview myself and wanted to comment on something else. [I won't provide a link because I don't link to porn sites, but if you want to read the interview it's easy to find online.]
In the interview, Mayer talks about his love of porn. In fact, he says that he prefers masturbation to sex. About porn, he says: “You wake up in the morning, open a thumbnail page, and it leads to a Pandora’s box of visuals. There have probably been days when I saw 300 vaginas before I got out of bed.”
There have probably been days when I saw 300 vaginas before I got out of bed. When I read this, I really wanted to barf. It’s such a perfect example of the way that pornography dehumanizes women by reducing us to nothing but parts – or, more specifically, “holes.”
However, despite what a scumbag he is, there is something to be learned from John Mayer. Of porn, he says: “Internet pornography has absolutely changed my generation’s expectations.” He describes how it’s never enough and you have to just keep searching for something better. He says: “How does that not affect the psychology of having a relationship with somebody? It’s got to.” Of course it does. And John Mayer is living proof of that. He presents himself as an utterly misogynistic, racist asshole who is incapable of actually having a respectful relationship with a real human woman. While he can’t blame all of this on porn, his exposure to it and obsession with it obviously affects him in a serious way.
I recently read a great book about the topic of men and porn by Robert Jensen called Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity. Jensen is a radical feminist and he wrote this book specifically for men, but as a woman I found it extremely valuable. He is an academic, but this is not an academic text – it’s reader-friendly and short. It’s an excellent critique of the porn industry and how the values of traditional “masculinity” often mirror the dominance and cruelty seen in pornography. Pornography is just a reflection of the misogyny in our culture.
One thing Jensen touches upon is the cruelty in pornography. Despite what porn apologists claim, cruelty is a hallmark of mainstream heterosexual porn, not just so-called “extreme” porn. Jensen writes:
“When most non-pornographic films, such as typical Hollywood romance, deal with sex they draw on the emotions most commonly connected with sex — love and affection. But pornography doesn’t, because films that exist to provide sexual stimulation for men in this culture wouldn’t work if the sex were presented in the context of loving and affectionate relationships. Men typically consume pornography specifically to avoid love and affection. That means pornography has a problem. When all emotion is drained from sex it becomes repetitive and uniteresting, even to men who are watching it primarily to facilitate masturbation. Because the novelty of seeing sex on the screen eventually wears off, pornography needs an edge. Pornography has to draw on some emotion, hence the cruelty.” [page 76.]
Since I’ve been researching pornography for my novel and PhD, this is the thing that’s struck me the most – the cruelty and contempt for women that exists throughout pornography. And to think of all those out there, like John Mayer, who exist on a steady diet of porn and have their views of women and sexuality shaped by it. If we believe pornographers and their left-wing apologists, porn has absolutely no affect on its viewers’ attitudes towards women. The sad thing is that so many people are stupid enough to believe that.
Once again I am ill, this time with the worst sore throat I’ve had in 20 years, easily. The glands in my neck are so swollen I can barely turn my head. Last night, drinking water made me want to cry. The doc said I don’t have strep or tonsillitis, just a viral infection. I must say I have difficulty believing that diagnosis.
Via Kate Harding, the film director Kevin Smith was kicked off a Southwest flight last night because he’s too fat. Smith was seated, arm rests down, seatbelt fastened when the captain of the flight – Captain Leysath – had him removed because he was a “safety risk.” This is The Obesity Epidemic (TM) in action, folks. This isn’t about BMIs and theoretical concepts and public policy – this is about real people. You know, human beings.
The good news is that the Nazi bastards who run Southwest Airlines have really stepped in it this time. Instead of bullying, humiliating and terrorizing an anonymous fat person (for Southwest Airlines, a fat person is no different from a farm animal) they picked on a famous fatty with millions of Twitter followers. OOPS! Now they’ve gone and created a big shitstorm.
In a recent post, I wrote that in Michelle Obama’s America, there may soon be “obese sections” on buses, in restaurants, etc. Well, I was wrong about that. Fat people aren’t even accorded that much dignity. Kevin Smith was kicked off a flight and humiliated in front of hundreds of passengers for no other reason than sheer, spiteful hatred of fat people. And because we live in the age of The Obesity Epidemic (TM), this blatant discrimination and complete disregard for human rights is not only perfectly okay, it’s cheered.
Kevin Smith will have a podcast about this whole disgraceful episode up on his site soon. He tweeted everything as it happened, which you can read here (where he refers to Southwest as “Air MasterRace”).
In closing, fuck you, Southwest Airlines, you immoral, discriminatory, scum-sucking pieces of shit. May you reap what you sow. To all my American readers, I urge you to boycott Southwest Airlines. Today they come for the fat people. Tomorrow they may come for you.
Anglofille could never believe in anything as hackneyed as Valentine’s Day, but here’s something lovely anyway, so you can’t complain I never gave you nothin’:
Funtwo (Jeong-Hyun Lim) has his own website now. His Canon Rock is one of my favorites – at least in the “electric guitar playing classical music” genre.
Anglofille is an American living in London, finishing up a novel and a PhD, taking photos, and blogging about expat life, books, feminism and perpetual angst.
Spring…wishful thinking.
Ken: P.Viktor is correct: this story has been out there for years. These Asian societies are conducting the most...
P.Viktor: The quote you pulled is beyond shocking, even though I have read about this issue before. To dehumanise a...
