I’ve been having major computer problems today. I think it is the heat. It was 106 today and it is supposed to be—I am not making this up—118 on Tuesday. So if I’m not blogging it is because my internet connection is down or I’ve died of exposure. The latter case is my preference, but it will greatly limit the postings here.
As a result of this, I want to get up a few quick things while I can. On Friday’s Real Time, Bill Maher performed a really good “New Rules.” He cut right to the heart of what we all know is true. All this concern about abortion and birth control and abstinence has nothing whatsoever to do with religion or keeping people safe. It is all about making sluts pay for the sin of enjoying sex. And just look at how sexist it is. Everyone accepts that men will enjoy sex. But if that happens to a woman, she needs to pay. These religious people are small minded and evil.
But Maher’s rant is pretty funny:
Great clip. Maher, when he’s on, has quite the gift for metaphor — denying teens STD protection to prevent them having sex is like denying people umbrellas to prevent rain. Terrific.
A side thought; notice that in fundamentalist Judiasm or Islam, the most slavish adherents cultivate huge beards. Now, big bushy beards are sexually as appealing to most women as taping a Brillo pad to your face. Yet, fundamentalist bearded Jews and Muslims still have sex. It’s about the male getting all the pleasure from sex, and the female doing her wifely duty.
The God=beard phenomenon hasn’t taken root in fundamentalist Christian America; we just attempt to accomplish the same subjugation of women through legal restrictions on birth control.
On the subject of fundamentalism, I saw the "Five Broken Cameras" documentary. Boy, was that a screaming downer. The protesters are so creative, so nonviolent, so energetic, and so shot in the face. It did make me realize what a loaded term "settlement" is. "Settlement" suggests a guy with an ox and a plow. The Israeli "settlements" are huge condos put up on other people’s land. And the condo inhabitants have — wait for it — gigantic beards. Impressive movie, but depressing as hell.
@JMF – Interesting beard theory. I’m not sure I’m on board. Most men can make sex pleasureless without a beard!
Note also with [i]Five Broken Cameras[/i] that the director and his family were detained at LAX when they were going to the Academy Awards. It was only through pressure from Michael Moore and others that they were released. It’s a disgrace.
Why is it that men who have lots of partners are studs – a complimentary term; whereas girls who have regular changes of partner are called sluts – a totally derogatory term.
I think I’ll bring this up on my blog.
@Angela – I will admit that slut it more associate with women, but it is not exclusive at all. For example, Steve Forbert’s song "What Kind of Guy":
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kno1CN-rDc[/youtube]
The issue is not the word, I think, but the people who use it.
There is no doubt, however, that in our society, a man who sleeps with a lot of women is seen in some circles as a positive thing because women are the gatekeepers of sex in our society. (But this has really changed over the last couple of decades; now it is more seen as a man who has a psychological problem.) It is assume that women can sleep with as many men as they like. I don’t actually think that’s true, but that’s the perception.
I also think that it is amusing that as people grow older, men tend to want sex less and women more. I’m not sure why they is, but I think part of it is that older men have generally learned that sex is not just about themselves. It’s more like dancing than masturbation without someone else present.
Also, I don’t think I’ve heard the word "stud" applied to a human in decades. It too ought to be a pejorative, given that it is usually applied to a slave dog or horse used to impregnate other animals.
Thanks for the support. The sooner men realise we are allowed to enjoy having sex, can have multiple orgasms and are not masturbation sleeves, the better. The more comments like yours the better, but small-minded people will never change.
As a culture we are still stuck with some very messed up ideas about who women are or should be. The perfect example is this Dating My Daughter: The Rules. Beth Spencer sums up the various problems with it.