Monday, April 02, 2007

You can't buy that

A reminder of just why feminism still matters, despite the foolishness, even despite the wicked man-hating of some feminists -- because weasels (of either sex) are still out there poisoning the minds of girls with toxic memes like this:

I work at a bookstore. I was cashiering today when a woman and her two kids (a boy and a girl, both somewhere between 13-15) came up to the register. The mom was buying 2 celeb gossip magazines, and the boy put down a book. The girl then walked up and set down the newest volume of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series.

The mom says "You can't buy that."

Girl: Why?
Mom: Because it's too big.
Girl: [Brother] is buying a book that big. It's not very expensive.
Mom: [Brother] is a boy. You're a girl. And girls shouldn't read big books like that. It's too thick. Boys don't like girls who read thick books. You want boys to like you, don't you?

The girl went and put the book away.

2 comments:

CanadaHolly said...

What's really sad about this meme is what the brother learned, not necessarily the sister. (Though she was damaged too.)

Mom is right -- quite a lot of men don't want a spouse or sweetie who is smart(er than they are). Or more independent, or tougher.

What happens then is that men can have their choice of smart OR compliant women, where tough, smart women have the choice of a very small slice of unusual men, or nobody.

No wonder some of us feminists have become the raving variety.

I would love to live with a smart, tough, honest, helpful man, but most of those I run into are either happy bachelors, or else want a long-term companion more like a golden retriever than a bouvier.

Mrs Cake
"too old to rave"

Anonymous said...

They're out there. Not "men", but Real Humans who happen to be male. And speaking as a tough, smart woman, I've had a good handful of such as medium-to-long-term companions so far. I definitely can't be the only one! :-)