Slog: News & Arts

RSS icon Comments on I Have Nothing to Add...

1

Feit rules.

Posted by Mr. Poe | August 2, 2007 1:56 PM
2

That's the best thing I've seen Feit write lately.
(Not an insult.)

Posted by lostboy | August 2, 2007 2:01 PM
3

The stories she mentions were all chosen because they are indeed 'odd'. The intent is to get the conversation around the office: "Can you believe the story about the guy who made his wife have plastic surgery? How awful!"

I don't see how this is a bad thing. It's being reported because it's not something that we as a society find acceptable.

Posted by NaFun | August 2, 2007 2:07 PM
4

Huh?

How is it not "odd", by just about any measure, for a woman to be caught with body parts in the fridge? (It's odd for a man too, but less odd, statistically speaking.)

She appears to be angry over how she is interpreting these articles' classification, even though it's not clear that interpretation is anyone else's.

Posted by tsm | August 2, 2007 2:16 PM
5

Allow me to paraphrase: "WAAAAAAAH!"

Just as accurate; less of my life wasted.

Posted by A Non Imus | August 2, 2007 2:23 PM
6
Even if we let this thing or that thing roll off of the thickened skins of our backs, we pay another penny each time; letting it roll off your back is just another way of saying keep your complaints to yourself, but it doesn’t change the reality that sexism takes its toll, whether one has the ill manners of mentioning the offense or not.

I have to admit, while I find the idea of reporting a woman locked in a coffin as “odd news” totally horrifying, this notion of “emotional pennies” strikes me as bullshit. Worse, it’s sexist bullshit. Most women don’t give a fuck about how they spend men’s emotional pennies and most so-called feminists are aggressively hostile to the notion that there even is an emotional cost associated with being male in American society – but a woman complaining about the total psychic cost of perceptions of women in those terms can expect to be taken seriously in part because she’s a woman and women are, you know, emotional.

Fuck that.

Posted by Judah | August 2, 2007 2:26 PM
7

By strict definition, of course these stories are "odd," but it's not a matter of the strict definition of that word. The specific framing is the "Odd News" section, the context of which has been created around stories that are mostly quirky, silly items like "chocaholic squirrels," giving the entire section an aura of jokiness and frivolity. When you stick "man brands wife" in the "Odd News" category, you're inviting people to chuckle at it.

Posted by Melissa McEwan | August 2, 2007 2:26 PM
8

These stories are not merely odd, they're serious.

For example, the Lorena Bobbit story about her cutting off her husband's penis certainly wasn't relegated to the "odd news" section. It was front page, Serious News!

Posted by hey | August 2, 2007 2:34 PM
9
It was front page, Serious News!

I assume you're joking.

Posted by Judah | August 2, 2007 2:36 PM
10

Maybe this is related to the outsourcing of Reuters to India.

Just saying.

(p.s. I have tons of friends from there and love Bollywood flix, but lets get real)

Posted by Will in Seattle | August 2, 2007 3:12 PM
11

@6,

And men give a fuck about how they spend women's emotional pennies? What exactly is your point?

By far, women have to put up with a lot more shit than men. Our concerns are typically brushed off, particularly when any one incident is not a big deal in and of itself. A women getting jostled or groped on public transit just once is no big deal. A woman who has had to contend with sexual harassment of that sort since before she hit puberty is lucky not to be a basketcase. That's McEwan's point.

Posted by keshmeshi | August 2, 2007 3:19 PM
12

Sorry, Erica, I'm trying but this is too much of a stretch. I'm not seeing anything remotely misogynistic in today's "Odd News" headlines, either:

If you can't trust kidnappers, who can you trust?
Lottery player wins twice by mistake
Bull imprisoned with owner to avoid slaughter
Man cuts off hand for Hindu goddess offering
Catholic dean on leave after YouTube outburst
Man United sign nine-year-old YouTube wonder kid
Granny becomes world's oldest master
Figure skater banned after being stopped on moped
Aztec pyramid ruins found in Mexico City
Sicilian mother cuts off 61-yr-old son's allowance
Why people have sex: It feels good
Russian sub plants flag at North Pole
Real Harry Potter weathers Pottermania
Call police if offered women's undies
Flooded China warns of heat, drought - and snow?
Dead cats found after high-speed chase
Restaurant cheat jailed for binge Monkey unlocks pen, eludes zoo staff
Dog farmer jailed 14 years after puppy raid
Chocoholic squirrel steals treats from shop
But Mom! The other 61-year-olds get an allowance!
Woman kept dead husband by bed for a year
Great-great-granny earns masters degree at 94
Sicilian mother cuts off 61-yr-old son's allowance

Posted by Sean | August 2, 2007 3:25 PM
13
By far, women have to put up with a lot more shit than men.

Prove it. In the United States, the suicide rate for males is four times what it is for females. It's the 8th leading cause of death among males.

What the fuck do you know?

Posted by Judah | August 2, 2007 3:26 PM
14

hey, i'm usually the first guy to hop on the sexism finger-pointing bandwagon, but this is a bit much.

what's even worse - the underlying assumption to mcewan's article is that it's a bunch of men who are deciding what constitutes "odd news". and isn't that a bit, mmmmm.... SEXIST?

Posted by brandon | August 2, 2007 4:05 PM
15

as far as putting up with shit goes, i'm not sure being a young woman in america alone is enough to be placed in the worst category automatically. certainly sexism still exists. but it is less an issue for people now than generations past. (and once the old rank of men in powerful positions die off, you’ll see far greater equity on whole.) plus, there are so many other things that cause prejudices and what not. being a woman isn't so bad anymore. maybe being ugly is for a man or a woman. i know i've had to put up with a lot in my life, though, and it's not enough for someone to say that because they are a woman they've certainly put up with more shit than i have.

we are at the point where focus needs to be placed on the actual definite abuses. also, cultural attitudes must shift at a less than legal level. for instance, telling your daughter that her new friend seems nice because she is so pretty teaches her something she may end up believing about herself and other women.

Posted by infrequent | August 2, 2007 4:13 PM
16

We need to stop finding things that divide us and realize we are all human beings. I'm so sick of women who try to speak for all women, and men who try to speak for all men. You can't. There just simply aren't universal truths about each sex (those who think so are sexist plain and simple). It is a stupid, juvenile way to view the world.

As for emotional pennies... Do you realized the toll it takes on me every time I hear about how men do this, or men do that? (especially if I don't) To flip it around, how do you think a woman who doesn't agree with you feels when you say women feel this way or that about something? Doesn't the woman who disagrees with you count as a woman?

Now is where some people will start to mention that "most women," or "most men," really are a certain way. Who cares if that is true? It is still a vicious stereotype that does nothing to help anyone, but only helps to divide us.

Posted by Ryan | August 2, 2007 4:15 PM
17

Odd News argument aside... I liked the emotional pennies bit.

During the last democratic debate, my husband and I were watching and yelling at the candidates for this or that remark. HRC said something... about health care I think... and my husband yelled something like "I don't think so, darlin', Americans need... etc.". Is it a big deal that he used this word that sort of belittles her because she's a woman? Not at all. Is it an emotional penny? Definitely.

As is the fact that there has never been a female President. As is the fact that nearly every time I want into a corporate Board room for my job it is 95% male (maybe that one's an emotional nickel). Do I bitch and whine about it? No. But it is still there in the back of my head... And I think that was McEwan's ultimate point.

Posted by Julie | August 2, 2007 4:48 PM
18

Er. That should say "walk into a corporate Board room". Not "want". Though, I guess that fits too.

Posted by Julie | August 2, 2007 4:54 PM
19

@13,

The easiest way for any man to invalid his opinions about feminism and equality between men and women is to bitch and moan about how hard it is to be a man. Going back to your original comment, why is it that women can't care about women's issues? Why is it that we can't complain about emotional pennies and how that impacts us? It's sexist to do so? Why, because we don't obsess about how hard it is for men?

Let me just try to get this straight. Women have to be as concerned about men's welfare as we are for our own. I suppose that's a phenomenal change from centuries past when we had to place men's welfare ahead of our own. Men don't give a fuck about issues that matter to us. Exhibit A: You.

P.S. Have you ever been sexually harassed, groped, jostled, raped? Have you ever been called a bitch for standing up for yourself? Have you ever been passed over for a job, promotion, or raise due to your gender? Do you have the slightest fucking idea what it's like not to be able to walk down the street, breathe, or live without feeling like a piece of meat?

Please spare me the statistics about your brethren. I can deliver the same ten-fold on women's behalf.

Posted by keshmeshi | August 2, 2007 10:51 PM
20
The easiest way for any man to invalid his opinions about feminism and equality between men and women is to bitch and moan about how hard it is to be a man.

You see where this is going, right?

I didn't bitch about how hard it is to be a man. You said being a woman is harder than being a man. I pointed out that men kill themselves four times as often, suggesting that being a man is plenty hard, and then pointed out that, since you aren't a man, you don't have the foggiest fucking idea what you're talking about by way of comparison. Which really makes the suicide statistic a pretty good measure: neither of us can really know what the other experiences, but whatever men experience seems to make them kill themselves kind of a lot.

Let me just try to get this straight. Women have to be as concerned about men's welfare as we are for our own.

Yeah, you go ahead and quote the part where I said that.

P.S. Have you ever been sexually harassed, groped, jostled, raped? Have you ever been called a bitch for standing up for yourself? Have you ever been passed over for a job, promotion, or raise due to your gender?

Yeah, as it happens, pretty much every single thing on that list has happened to me. Some of it happened for protracted periods of time during my childhood and youth. And yeah, since you fucking asked, I do have the slightest idea what it's like not to be able to walk down the street without being treated like a piece of meat. I even have a really good idea what it's like to be told, by a man-- by my father, in fact --to shut up and deal with it; that it was those other men's right to follow me home, get my name off the mailbox, look me up in the white pages and call me up to tell me how much they want to fuck me-- all when I was 15 years old. Meanwhile I was throwing up to try to loose weight because my gay body-fascist dad kept telling me how fat I was. So yeah, I do actually get it, fuck you very much.

But here's the game you're playing: the fact that I can answer yes to every one of the questions you've posed doesn't mean a fucking thing. Because you're not arguing honestly. There's nothing I could say that would change your mind, and your dodge for this point will be that if I can answer yes to all your questions then I'm a special case and it still doesn't have any bearing on your larger point. Which is that you're right about this. That's your only point, it's perfectly sophistic, and that's all there is to it.

Please spare me the statistics about your brethren. I can deliver the same ten-fold on women's behalf.

And no, actually, you can't. I quoted a statistic about suicide because I think it's a good baseline measure of how fucking miserable someone is. You can't deliver the same "ten fold" on women's behalf because that's the point of that particular statistic: men kill themselves more often than women. Period. You can dig up some anorexia stat or some rape stats or whatever, but that's comparing apples and oranges (I can pull up bullying statistics and and we can just do that all night). But I'm talking about life, generally, in all its myriad shittiness: men kill themselves more often and there is no "ten fold" comparison for women.

And kind of on and on like that. If you and I were to have this argument in a forum where you don't have the luxury of just refusing to reply, I would burn you to the ground. As it is, it'll just get lost in the comment stream. But if you read this, just know this: nothing you've put forward refutes a single one of my points, and the only thing your arguments have going for them is the strength of your convictions. In which regard you're like pretty much every other bigot in the world.

Posted by Judah | August 2, 2007 11:33 PM
21

I keep the odd news on my rss page. I'd have to say that unless you're picking and choosing, it's not misogynistic. Sometimes the stories are odd and funny, sometimes they're odd and tragic. The key thing is that they are in some way unusual, not that they're humorous. They seem to be pretty equally divided between men, women and animals.

Posted by wench | August 2, 2007 11:42 PM
22

punlgo manpcjzf cqplsum zryscuv kmqbjsca itplyqkob kfoe

Posted by gjwilvqhx snmukftl | August 10, 2007 7:24 AM
23

hevzc jryhodqan kshgdxpq pzfhbtdg tlogkj htxsne ybatzpx http://www.tlymocz.ckbzhne.com

Posted by zacpr mtrufhaow | August 10, 2007 7:25 AM

Comments Closed

In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 45 days old).