sundries

[rm]

It was cranky day on the trains this morning. It's raining and everyone is angry. And in fairness, it's easy to get annoyed. People don't understand to keep to the right. People who don't sit down make the train cars more crowded and block the seats for others. We're all wet, the trains are delayed, people's bags are in the way, etc. But man, there is only so much I can take of the fucked up reasons people think they are more special than others on the New York City subway system.

It's another piece about how boys are behind girls in school and so civilization will crumble.

Articles like this make me seethe, for starts because not only is our educational system shit, I have watched it go from bad to worse and watch kids on Craigslist hire people to write their essays -- for college admissions, for their film school class, for their fucking med school unit! So many of my friends teach university here, at _good_ schools, and the student who can express themselves cogently (not elegantly, just with basic subject/verb and an understanding of how if/then works) is absolutely, positively the except to the rule. And it galls me. So for starts, wow, our education system needs fixing in about eight hundred different places in about eight hundred different ways.

Next: if boys are so behind in school, why are men still so ahead in the workplace? Oh right, because it doesn't count when women do things (and well get back to that later, I'm going somewhere broader with this). An academically successful woman doesn't count for anything. She can't be seen as a leader, after all. And women are good with the school thing, it's not special. Dime a dozen. Ignore her. Ignore them. Women - interchangeable parts, all the same, you know how it goes. Now let's say we can even stomach the reality of the above and are okay with it (and apparently large swathes, even a majority of our society, is). Now we do have a serious problem: the people we're letting get ahead are skills-poor.

This business of "women don't count" (insert snarky "math is hard" joke here) is hardly anything new. In fact eumelia wrote this morning about the pink triangle and how in the Holocaust women never wore it. You see, the crime of lesbianism was an "anti-social" crime, one the Nazi's assigned the black triangle. The issue was not sex (probably unacknowledged because of lack of PiV), the issue was their not marrying and breeding for the Reich.

I am dead, and I did not exist.

It comes up too in arenas that many of you would consider not to matter. If you're aware of the OTW you know that part of their mission statement says "we value our identity as a predominantly female community with a rich history of creativity and commentary."

I'm a member of the OTW, and I think the statement is essentially true, and I still hate it. Because what it says is that there are activities people do and activities women do. It's self-othering, it's not particularly reflective of the fandom I spend the most time in (Torchwood -- whose dominant culture, I would argue is queer, gender aside) these days, and it -- in its attempt to do anything but -- plays into the "see, some boys write fanfiction" speech a whole lot of women do to somehow legitimize fannish creation.

95% of new students in general aviation are men. Hardly any women. But airplanes are real and not sin.

I am sick of a world in which the presence of women devalues activities, educations, television shows (even though women make more purchases than men in almost every category, a male demographic is preferred by advertisers) and desires merely by their turning their eyes towards something.

But it's nothing new. And I don't, tragically, believe it will ever be anything old and quaint and once was either. And it's one of the small reasons I can never be quite happy: because nearly everything I have ever been taught -- by my parents, by my schools, by my fandom, by more than a few lovers, and by my persecutors -- tells me one simple thing. Because I have a cunt, when I love something, I make it less. It's a strange power, being the null, and it's not one I want or like or enjoy and I would like to give it back now.

North Koreans use cellphones to tell the rest of the world about life there.

True fact most people think is just an urban legend: More than three unrelated people living together is illegal in NYC.

Comments

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

Even for Nicholas Kristof that article was a pile of wank. "In large parts of the world girls are shot or raped or have acid poured on their heads for wanting to learn how to read but whatevs, THEY'VE ACHIEVED MATH PARITY SO THE WORLD AS I KNOW IT IS ENDING!!!"

[taffimai.livejournal.com]

More than three unrelated people living together is illegal in NYC.

These laws are pretty common, but generally not for the reasons stated in the article. What's the usual reason, you ask? Here's a hint: many similar laws prohibit more than X unrelated women living together. Got it? Yep, it's a law aimed at preventing whore houses! Lovely, huh?

[bellakara.livejournal.com]

Yes, I completely agree with you on the contradiction between girls being ahead in school, and men still being ahead in the workplace. It's not as if the academic success of girls is recent, so it should be filtering into work. And it's shocking that people with lower skills will get jobs they're not entitled to just because of who they are. It doesn't exactly bode well either for business, government or the economy in the future.

The education system in the UK has gone from bad to worse also - too much meddling from politicians amongst other things, but also a general dumbing down of culture. Intelligence is not valued in the way it once was.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Hey!!

Female pilot here. I do agree with all your points in this post - but remember, when you consider general aviation across North American, 5% is still a lot of women.

Rowing is an interesting phenomenon. All rowers agree that it's about the hardest, most taxing sport there is (yes, we're biased, but we've also got data substantiating the point). Once you get past college and the national team level to club and masters rowing, women are a definite majority of new rowers. We also tend to be better at learning it (there's a lot to be said for being willing to learn technique before you try to apply power). Now it's true that club and masters rowing gets less glory than junior or collegiate rowing, but I think that's mostly because adults' sports in general do get less attention. But at least no one devalues womens' rowing in favor of men's. These days, anyway - it's may be telling to look at the history, in which Ernestine Bayers was being told "women don't row" in Philadelphia at the same time Dorothy L. Sayers was writing Gaudy Night, which features a fair number of .... women rowing.

[jnanacandra.livejournal.com]

Because I have a cunt, when I love something, I make it less.

For as long as I have been reading on the subject, I have never heard this put so bluntly or so well.

[bare-bear.livejournal.com]

People who don't sit down make the train cars more crowded and block the seats for others.

I've taken the bus for years (never lived in a city with a subway), and this is seriously my biggest pet peeve EVER. I don't understand why people can't sit beside someone if a seat is empty, and choose instead to stand at the front of the bus and completely block the seats available for everyone else getting on. Never mind block the aisle for people trying to get off too. ARGH!

Sorry, I just ranted about this the other day at a buddy. Poor girl, she never takes the bus so she totally didn't understand. :)

keep left? or keep right?

[roadnotes.livejournal.com]

I was raised to keep to the right on the subways, myself, and leave the left side for people moving faster, or -- if it's a single lane per direction -- people moving in the opposite direction.

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

I have to be honest - I've never heard of the keep right rule for subways. Esalators, yes, but subways no. I second the notion that at least move away from the door so other people can get on or off without having to push through you.

[mobobocita.livejournal.com]

I'm from such a different world I guess.

I have never learned the lesson that being female denies me anything.

My mother was the first female foreman on a roof in our state.

She is the first female president of her union, locally, nationally, internationally. It's not something she fought for, it's not something she had to battle the ideas of men to earn, honestly, it's something they asked her to step up and DO because they needed strong leadership at that time.

Maybe it's the Midwest, we are very strange here sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I get the idea on the television, I see it in books and articles, it's just always been... Well, like looking at a National Geographic of a far away land to me.

Gender has nothing to do with what I can achieve. What I'm willing to do for it does.

Perhaps it is how I was raised, who knows.

[paulshandy.livejournal.com]

Too many unrelated people living together in Lawrence, KS, is illegal, too. It was a law passed specifically to force college students to live in either cheap, lousy dorms or really expensive ones at the university.

I thought it ironic that the journalist's solution to boys doing badly in school was to dumb down their reading material. The dumbing down of boys' lives is the problem. For decades experts have been predicting that TV would create a population of hyperactive kids with short attention spans, and here they are! Throw in the habits instilled by video games, which is constant action, and what do we expect? It just happened that boys were more suspectiable to the effect, probably because of chemical differences in our brains.

Don't worry, ladies. Capitalism is invincible. Resistance is futile. Capitalism cares not about your gender; its sexism is leftover from the old days. There will be no meaningful education reform because we don't like taxes. Women outnumber men in the workplace right now, because the Great Recession hit men's traditional jobs harder than women's. It is only a matter of rising through the ranks as the Old Boy's Club ages out.

[pocketmouse]

I am in total agreement with the OTW thing, and it gets me every time they talk about women and fandom and etc etc. Please don't gender my activities. It makes me less interested in being part of your group.

[chaos-by-design.livejournal.com]

I have this weird thing about gender where I feel like a person trapped in a woman's body, and like nothing that's explicitly feminine has anything to do with me because I'm interested in so few traditionally "female" activities. I think about the most gender conformist thing I like is knitting. But otherwise I feel like being a woman is all about periods and babies and the Lifetime network and Oprah-type stuff and has nothing to do with me.

As for boys lagging behind girls in school, well yeah I've heard this before and while I can see it being a concern, you make a good point about how men are still so far ahead of women in the workplace. I'd be interested to learn the reason for boys not doing as well in school, but I also think the fact that this doesn't translate over into an advantage in the workplace for women needs to be addressed.

[nicoli-dominn.livejournal.com]

Funny you should mention that New York law that prohibits more than three unrelated people from sharing an apartment. Sneider actually had to move very abruptly a couple of years ago because a neighbor reported his landlord to the local authorities for violating a county law that prohibited people from renting out their own houses. It was a completely "political" thing, though. Apparently, about fifteen years prior, Sneider's landlord and his then-wife bought a large piece of land and built a house there. Then this neighbor's dad came along and bought some of the land from him and built his own house, and the neighbor inherited the house. Getting Sneider's landlord in trouble was their first attempt at wresting the remaining land from him.

Looking at some other people's comments on similar laws in other states, it does also seem logical that the laws were made to discriminate against illegal immigrants, or even immigrants in general.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

It hurts to hear what you are saying, because I know you are right, and because that in the grand scheme of things there is little that I personally can do to change it. One thing I do object to is the idea that - as you said - "it will ever be anything old and quaint and once was ". I believe that someday, after a considerable amount of blood, sacrifice, and change it will be something quaint and old - something the future will look back on and laugh about and say " wow were we really like that ? " the same way we look back at the 19th amendment.

As for the rest, it may mean little or nothing - and in all likelihood it will make you more angry - but I will state that I have never seen you as a "cunt" or a "penis" or something "less". Once I got over being afraid of you , I found you to be the kind of advanced intelligent person that I could learn things from. I count you amongst my friends, some who have cunts, some who have penises, and some who have exchanged one for the other. In that respect to me personally gender in meaningless - either a person is a friend or not - and regardless of gender I spend time with, assist , or do favors for my friends. I learned from you a long time ago that gender should not be an issue when it comes to business - either you can do the job or you can not. Between the ears, not between the legs. Because of the things you taught me , when the rest of my office was freaking out over the MtF sales rep I was more upset at the reactions of my peers than the fact that we had one of "those" working for us. Because of the people I have met through you I have found ideas for my own fanfic that I would have never thought of. Despite out disagreements, our head-butting, and lack of insight into each others worlds, I continue to label you as a friend.

The situation you describe is very accurate , but it is also fluid. I believe there is a place and a path for change - and that if it is not here in this country/culture then it will be born in another one. you may never live to see the day that corrects the wrongs you see around you, but your words will inspire people (and already have) to stand up for themselves and for what is right. Each person as they grow and learn meets people that inspire them to make change , and that change manifests itself over time.

What you are describing in some ways can be seen as a social & economic slavery in which women are bound into at birth. History has shown that slavery can be beaten.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

You have two sentences in this post:
I am dead, and I did not exist and Because I have a cunt, when I love something, I make it less..

That's like, the female condition at all times. It resonated like whoah. You know, my brother showed me that the Wikipedia says that there is no evidence to suggest that lesbians were persecuted under the black triangle. I mean, wiki is going to take over the world the internet soon and there is still so much that needs to be acknowledged, written down, owned... something.

I grew up in a feminist household, or at least, my mother was like "anything a man can do, so can a woman and maybe better", you know very 70's women's lib thing and we are feminist, my mother, sister and I (even my dad and brother aren't clueless) and still...
Still.