The Gender Wars Continue

Seriously? If there is no other evidence necessary that sexism is alive and well - how about this story. I should probably apologize in advance for the idiocy of the whole thing, since one of my attempts with this blog is to raise the level of discussion and debate. And it's not like I'm a pop-culture trawler - I swear that I got to this via a series of links that started with the Huffington Post (though they've got some celebrity bullshit, too).

Anyways - here's the link.

This is the kind of bullshit that I thought died with the 90s. Dumbass-old-white-middle-class guys making stupid comments (and as an old-white-middle-class guy, I take offense at that). Though, I guess some things never go out of style. I noticed a couple of things in the second clip that struck me -

#1: asshole dude is wearing an American flag tie. This makes me laugh in that such articles of clothing were considered sacrilegious in the 60s (as a desecration of the flag) and were this the 60s asshole dude would be totally against such an idea. Also, this seems to me to be his shield against the shit he must know he's going to take about what he said the day before. Seems pathetic, but also telling that literally wrapping oneself in the flag is considered a defense of bullshit sexism.

#2: asshole's comment re: PhD - since when did "You have a PhD" become an ad hominem attack? In what world is being smart and educated a liability? What does it say about who you are and what you stand for that you are threatened by smart people?

#3: victim's suggestion that they compete in some sport to see who wins. Really? Okay - I understand that she's probably a little emotionally off-balance because of the bullshit her co-worker, who she sits next to on national television on I presume a daily basis, pulled. And perhaps she can be forgiven for attempting to be gracious about being a public victim of sexism. But it's a bad joke and it undercuts both the seriousness of what was done to her and her original position, that graciousness should win out over competition - that there is something beautiful about how the baseball bad call was handled. It reminds me of the GI Jane type of feminist that takes a social-political position that a woman can be as violent as a stereotypical man, which is true and fine in a sense, but one thinks there's more to it than as well as that the pressure should also be on men to be as nurturing as the stereotypical woman.

Which is to say that perhaps the contradictions are where the truth and beauty lie - we can all be strong and nurturing. Strength doesn't mean being an asshole, nurturing doesn't mean wilting.