This blog is a random collection of information, partly in support of my quotations web site. Other topics include wine, military news, economics, history, libertarianism, and other random things which happen to strike my fancy. Backup site is at http://quotulatiousness.blogspot.com/ (if there are no posts showing, hit the backup blog for explanation). Comments have been turned off, as the spam was getting too much to handle. Comments can be emailed to me for posting.

May 21, 2007

QotD: Womb Envy

I try to think how we got here. The theory I developed in college (shared by many I'm sure) is one I have yet to beat: Womb Envy. Biology: women are generally smaller and weaker than men. But they're also much tougher. Put simply, men are strong enough to overpower a woman and propagate. Women are tough enough to have and nurture children, with or without the aid of a man. Oh, and they've also got the equipment to do that, to be part of the life cycle, to create and bond in a way no man ever really will. Somewhere a long time ago a bunch of men got together and said, "If all we do is hunt and gather, let's make hunting and gathering the awesomest achievement, and let's make childbirth kinda weak and shameful." It's a rather silly simplification, but I believe on a mass, unconscious level, it's entirely true. How else to explain the fact that cultures who would die to eradicate each other have always agreed on one issue? That every popular religion puts restrictions on women's behavior that are practically untenable? That the act of being a free, attractive, self-assertive woman is punishable by torture and death? In the case of this upcoming torture-porn, fictional. In the case of Dua Khalil, mundanely, unthinkably real. And both available for your viewing pleasure.

It's safe to say that I've snapped. That something broke, like one of those robots you can conquer with a logical conundrum. All my life I've looked at this faulty equation, trying to understand, and I've shorted out. I don't pretend to be a great guy; I know really really well about objectification, trust me. And I'm not for a second going down the "women are saints" route — that just leads to more stone-throwing (and occasional Joan-burning). I just think there is the staggering imbalance in the world that we all just take for granted. If we were all told the sky was evil, or at best a little embarrassing, and we ought not look at it, wouldn’t that tradition eventually fall apart?

Joss Whedon, "Let's Watch A Girl Get Beaten To Death", Whedonesque, 2007-05-20

Posted by Nicholas at May 21, 2007 01:29 AM
Comments
Mr. Whedon is a bright guy in many respects but he's also remarkably naïve in others. The problem isn't Hollywood's recent boom in torture-pr0n or even a sick religion that condones the stoning of young women on flimsy grounds. The problem is simply free will. We can each choose at any moment of the day to act for good or for evil. Sometimes we choose evil in ignorance. Sometimes we choose it deliberately. Sometimes our evaluation of good and evil is entirely skewed by our values, culture and politics. The people that might get some benefit out of his screed are the folks that, ironically, would never read him because he's part of the Hollywood machine busily cranking out stuff they'd define as evil and corrupting. So uh, good luck with all that, Joss. Hold all the protests you want in every metropolis in North America. The guys in Bashiqa will still be stoning women for fraternising with men of other religions. Posted by: Chris Taylor at May 22, 2007 10:42 AM


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