h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I expect many are aware of the recent rash of gay teen suicides in the U.S. provoked by homophobic bullying. I find the situation horribly tragic and I'm very pleased about the efforts to raise consciousness, such as this effort: http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/20/ireport-challenge-beahero-for-gay-teens/


but . . .

I find something else disturbing about it all . . .


Many years ago I read 'The Beauty Myth' by Naomi Wolf and I felt at that time and I still feel that it should be a required texts in schools teaching teens around the world. That was almost twenty years ago, around the same time I read Susan Faludi's wonderful and depressing 'Backlash'.

Earlier today I came across this powerful and moving video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w44B1JzdwXY

and my heart sank and rose at the same time -- sank because nothing has changed since Wolf's book was published -- rose because of the power of the young women who made the video -- and sank most deeply when I realized that still all young women in Western Society are incessantly bullied by the images presented to them in the popular media, by the expectations placed on them by our implanted, lipo-suctioned, contact lensed, cosmeticed pornographic society.

Yes, the bullying of gay teens to the point of suicide is a horrible scourge which needs desperately to be educated out of existence. Yes, the obscene situation for gays and lesbians in Uganda is unconscionable and should be confronted with all means necessary by the international community.


But . . .


'There is a disease spreading. It taps on the shoulder America's firstborn sons, its best and brightest. At its touch, they turn away from food. Their bones swell out from receding flesh. Shadows invade their faces. The walk slowly, with the effort of old men. A white spittle forms on their lips. They can swallow only pellets of bread, and a little thin milk. First tens, then hundreds, then thousands, until, among the most affluent families, one young son in five is stricken. They are hospitalized, many die . . .' (Wolf, The Beauty Myth)


Wolf continues her description of this fictional plague on the young men of America and the world and then asks how the world would react if such a plague struck so many young men. And then she points out that the plague was happening exactly as she described, but 'with a gender difference'. We don't hear much about eating disorders lately, but the plague continues, and with it there is a plague of shame, abysmal self-image, depression, and suicide on young women in the Western World.


Why don't we have dedicated days, weeks, months or whole years to support the millions of young women constantly bullied by our culture? Where is the outrage? Where are the rallies? Where is the change that should have happened long before Wolf wrote her book two decades ago?

And now I can't help asking . . .


Where the hell have the Presidential statements been about systemic societal violence against women for so many years?

http://mashable.com/2010/10/22/obama-it-gets-better/

Good for you, Mr. Obama, but there's a bigger elephant in the room.

You have something against contact lens wearers?

you didn't miss the point, did you?

On Snarky's Machine's post http://kateharding.net/2010/03/04/the-last-dragon/ I made the following comment:

***

My experience with women’s magazines is usually limited to the covers as I look through the rack for Gay Times or Attitude, except when I’m very board in a dentist’s waiting room (or waiting for my pizza take away).

While waiting for a pizza last night, I glanced through Teen Now, and confirmed something I’d suspected from the cover. The women’s magazine Now is a mag for women about women: celebrities. The girls’ magazine Teen Now is a mag for girls about guys. Hot guys. Hot shirtless guys. The boyband JLS, the guys from Twilight, Zac Efron. Oh, and Jedward.

I suspect that’s healthier. Not the best, but healthier. And I’m not complaining!

TRiG.

***

If that's true (and no one contradicted it) it's indicative of the beginnings of a trend in the right direction. Not nearly enough, of course.

TRiG.

I hope, Trig, that the trend you notice is real and healthier. When I look at the magazines at the checkout at the grocery stores here, I'm not as optimistic: it's still 'thin, thin, thin, we can make you thinner and we can make your boobs bigger and here are the thirty-five ways to please your man!" I swear that things were better, that people were more aware when I was in university in the early '80s.

Well, other people there were talking about the awfulness of teen magazines, but girlie teen mags nowadays do seem to be about drooling rather than emulating. I'm sure there's still a lot of unhealthiness in their celebrity culture (and it's still heterosexist, of course), but it's still healthier.

I'm sure the other kind of teen mags also still exist. And of course the message doesn't come just from magazines. The telly is probably worse. The YouTube video you posted too was quite powerful.

TRiG.

I'm not just thinking of teen magazines or even just magazines. . . advertising, fitness magazines, television ads, television shows, billboards, movies, advertising, advertising, advertising . . .


I remember a time when no one noticed sexist language or jokes, and then I remember a time when sexist language was not acceptable and people were called on sexist jokes and now . . .


I guess I'm getting old.

Relevant:

http://wakingupnow.com/blog/a-blog-post-about-a-blog-post

http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2010/10/27/27604

Rob Tisinai wrote about the gay bullying issue, and used fatophobia as a rhetorical device (in response to Linda Harvey doing the same). This started a storm of people saying that the rhetoric failed: the reductio ad absurdum was actually a reductio ad reality (fix my Latin, please).

TRiG.

I can't fix your Latin -- I'm in Old English mode now.

Off to look at the links.

I don't think it worked completely, mainly because Michelle Obama was brought into it. I think it would be more effective, although violating Godwin's law, to just replace 'gay' with 'Jew' and ask if we would stand for such incitement. That is exactly how I convinced people that the Montreal Massacre was something more than just a crazy guy with a gun. What is intolerable is the fact that an identifiable group of people is being described as a group of abnormals who natural repel normal people. The way to rhetorically point out the error is, indeed, to replace the maligned group with another group, preferably one that history has made somewhat shielded from hateful speech.

I think using the example of the First Lady's campaign to help American youth to be healthy is a little too clumsy. After all, she *is* saying that fat kids can change. She's not saying 'It'll get better'. In fact, she's saying it'll get worse if they don't change. That doesn't strike me as an analogy that needs to be suggested.

It's a pretty simple rule: If you can't say it about the Jews, you can't say it about any group.

Ah well, I've discovered a new feminist blog through the comments (commenter fannie has a blog which I've barely skimmed but which looks interesting). That, at least, is a good thing.

TRiG.

finding a feminist blog reminds me of another of my sadnesses:


I remember, again back in my University days (I finally left in 1984 -- actually, no, I took a couple of philosophy courses for fun a little later) there was a very obvious trend of men self-identifying as feminists. Today, never mind men, young women rebel against the idea of being labelled with the 'F' word. That is a remarkably tragic shift of public attitude.

Again, I think that Susan Faludi absolutely nailed it in 'Backlash': the gains of the first generations of feminism have been rolled back by a combination of the concerted effort of vested interests and the complacency of the younger generations.

I don't know what the answer is, but I'm feeling pretty pissed off at what's been lost and at myself for not being more aggressive in my pushing.



But then, I look at the person my neighbourhood has elected to our national parliament: http://www.edmontonstrathcona.ca/ ; and at the person my neighbourhood has elected to our provincial legislature: http://www.ndpopposition.ab.ca/rachelnotley/ ; and at the person my neighbourhood elected to our city council over and over until retirement finally came and the endorsed successor won the two elections since: http://www.xtra.ca/public/Vancouver/The_legacy_of_Edmontons_Michael_Phair-3801.aspx

and I fell like, hell, at least my neighbourhood has held out against the Backlash.

I was particularly moved by this passage in the article about Michael Phair, my former city councilor:

'"During the second campaign in 1995," Phair recalls, "there was a downturn in the Edmonton economy. There was a lot of hostility towards politicians. At one debate, my opponent brought up the issue of my sexual orientation. Luckily, the crowd that had gathered would have no part of it, and actually booed him for it. The public didn't respond to an effort to appeal to homophobia."'

http://www.xtra.ca/public/Vancouver/The_legacy_of_Edmontons_Michael_Phair-3801.aspx


I suspect it was enlightenment rather than luck that led to the booing.

remarkably accurate webcomic interlude: http://www.gabbysplayhouse.com/?p=1444

Yes, I linked to that a few hours ago on Facebook and on my links blog. http://wp.me/p16myI-3w. I spotted it on Pharyngula. It's odd that I'd not really been thinking much about feminism recently, and then two of my favourite blogs suddenly burst into a long discussion of it in response to completely different event. Yesterday and today I read all 1150 comments in Pharyngula's "Boys Will Be Boys" thread, and consider myself educated. http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/10/boys_will_berevolting_misogyni.php. The Gabby comic was posted as a follow-up.

TRiG.

I saw the Yale Delta Kappa Epsilon story a while ago and some discussion of it. I can't bear to read comments about it lest there actually be a defence of that sick lot.

I hadn't made the connection until just this evening, but look what happened a few days ago at my alma mater:

'The University of Alberta has suspended the activities of the Edmonton chapter of a fraternity at the centre of hazing allegations.

"Effectively immediately, the registration of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity as a student group at the university has been suspended," said the university's dean of students, Frank Robinson. "The suspension is in effect until further notice."'


http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2010/10/28/edmonton-fraternity-suspended.html#ixzz13u0yWLVY


I'm happy to say that as a young University student I found nothing about fraternities that wasn't repulsive. I feel the same way today.

In that comment thread, one person defended them and eventually changed his mind. He's still a pretty unpleasant person, but he did change his mind on that issue. Eventually. In fact, the Pharyngula comments are probably worth reading. Smackdown par excellence.

TRiG.

Maybe tomorrow. It's getting late here and evening is usually my time to unwind with a good book. The present one at the top of the 'in progress' stack is 'These Mountains Are Our Sacred Places':

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/These-Mountains-Our-Sacred-Places-John-Snow/9781894856799-item.html?ikwid=these+mountains+are+our+sacred+places&ikwsec=Home

always with the social justice, me.