Tuesday, March 06, 2007

the vast, soul-crushing conspiracy

Belle Waring upbraids some who need it while demolishing the long-suspected link between feminism and the rampant exhibitionism of the nation’s fair daughters. Not much to add here. A sampling:

Secondly, and I think this point is often underrated, just consider the vast, soul-crushing apparatus that has been constructed over the years for the purposes of restraining or subjugating female sexuality. Like, all of human society, right? Think of the arguments made in traditional societies about why women have to be kept separate from men, have to cover their bodies, have to be kept relatively ignorant. Sure, part of it is premised on the first point: men are vile brutes who are incapable of putting even modest restraint on their appetites. But I often think this is something of a dodge, because men don’t really, at some level, think as badly of themselves as this line implies. And so…

Who builds a wall a mile high, topped with razor-wire and extravagantly electrified? Who but a man very afraid of something terrifying and powerful on the other side?

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