For Your (Weekend) Consideration
Woohoo, nothing to do this weekend!
Of course this means I have very ambitious plans for both my kitchen (pumpkin bread and some sort of slow-cooker deliciousness) and my closet. It's time to do the bi-annual switchover. Goodbye shorts, breezy dresses, and linen. Hello boots, giant sweaters, and all of the wool.
Jeopardy, why have you forsaken me?
I've never watched Two and a Half Men, but this is still wonderful.
Should it be that hard to teach your kids the proper names of their body parts?
The Notorious RBG continues to be amazing.
I grew up listening to Jeff Buckley and love this interview.
I've been watching this video on repeat all week. Must learn dance moves.
Finally, can I live here? I mean, that living room...
I knew that the Jeopardy thing was going to be an issue when I watched that episode. I just knew it. I don't really understand why. I understand the category could have been, "What All People Want", but I am a woman and was not offended in the least. I do like Sleepy Time tea and Bissels are nice vacuums (I like them enough and Bry-guy probably vacuums more than me). Some could claim I am being apathetic towards women's rights, but I just don't think things like that are overtly offensive. I think it is a dangerous trend for the increased necessity of being politically correct in every single situation. It would be one thing if the answer was "women spend their days here making dinner for their working husbands." "What is "the kitchen"? But I don't think something innocent about women liking Sleepy Time Tea pushes women's rights back in the least. I also don't think it's bad that people do get heated about it, but aren't there otherw omen's rights issues to be concerned about? Like Ray Rice and the NFL.
ReplyDeleteKatie, while there are of course larger women's issues we need to be discussing (domestic violence, sexual assault, equal pay, health care restrictions, etc.), I'm of the belief that there is huge power in language and the way the we talk about things. When a Jeopardy category like this reduces women to tea-drinking, vacuuming, crossword-doing ladies looking for the "perfect" jeans in between Pilates classes (note: I do all of these things), it reduces women to a stereotype.
ReplyDeleteHistorically, women were taught to be seen and not heard. I would argue that the jeans and Pilates are strictly focused on a woman's appearance (carried further, focusing on her appearance to please men). Drinking tea and solving crossword puzzles are quiet, non-dangerous activities that are "appropriate" for women. And vacuuming, well, shouldn't we really always be cleaning?
As I said, I participate in all these activities and even enjoy most of them. Except for jean shopping because that is just a never-ending nightmare of epic proportions. But I do so much more than these things. All women do. I play sports. I drink beer. I go to work and provide for myself and my household. I think. And to be told otherwise, even by something as silly and frivolous as a television game show, is offensive to me.