Is 'Ladies Lingerie' a Harmless Joke or Harassment?
Yeesh. I really can't rail
against the idea that women are supposed to infantilized and/or treated
as precious, overly sensitive, shrinking violets enough. If I was in an
elevator and an old man said "Women's lingerie," when asked what floor,
I would have found it funny, and laughed. And if some kind of
off-color, but innocuous joke was told, and I didn't think it was funny,
I would just roll my eyes and groan; possibly make a smart-ass retort.
That's about it. I wouldn't seek a higher-up to immediately report it
to. This isn't sexual harassment, or assault, or even offensive. It's
just silly. It's a throwaway joke, something to lighten an awkward
situation, of humans crammed in confined space, hurling up and down on
some machine. Shit like this makes my defenses go up. Like I feel like
*I* should apologize, like I'm some sort of spokesperson for my gender,
"Oh no, we're not all humorless, hysterical crybabies! Really, I
promise!"
And coming to some kinds of absurd decision (by
academic committee, no less!) that the guy has to apologize or else, is
about the dumbest thing I've ever heard a group of scholars come up
with. Yeah, forced apologies are sooooo meaningful...For fuck's sake.
Why does this woman want or need a phony apology? And why would a
committee of supposed academics ask for a gesture so hollow? Everything
about this case is ridiculous and annoying. This woman offends me with
her offense at trivial bullshit. Does she now owe me an apology?
Apologize or face sanctions, lady!
And since when, is every human
being responsible for the emotional welfare of every other human being?
What a ludicrous and impossible notion. There isn't an ounce of
realism in that idea. This type of trite outrage not only distracts for
much greater problems, but it seeks to gag free speech, creativity, or
anything that runs afoul of the status quo. Which are the first few
steps toward fascism. On it's face, it seems a lot like prior restraint
by way of thought policing; preemptive censorship.
Michelle
Wolf totally nails the White House Correspondents Dinner jokes; people
are outraged and offended. This male professor repeats some time-worn
joke about department store floors; people are outraged and offended. I
guess humor is a no-win situation. Unless the sarcastics, dry wits,
and smart-asses of the world rebel against this type of censorship,
people like me, who get their outlet and therapy through laughter and
humor, and who like to ruffle a few feathers, are pretty much fucked.
Get in the rank and file, or else.
Further, I'm doubly tired of
women having to pretend not to be sexual. To defend some imaginary
honor or long-gone chastity. That shit is oppressive. Ooh, the joke
had a mild, and vague "sexual innuendo." As if women have never heard
of lingerie, worn it, nor ever heard of the vile act of sexual
intercourse before that eye-popping elevator ride. Fucking eyeroll, man.
As Dave Chappelle, comedy genius, points out in the Me Too era,
"That's a brittle-ass spirit." If all these folks have to worry about
is litigating an off-hand joke, what a luxurious existence they must
lead! Or alternately, how fragile these delicate orchids must be to
wilt under the slightest perceived provocation.
I think about
sex, oh I don't know, like 75% of the time. Should I be made to feel
bad for that, or should I say worse than I have already been made to
feel for that? By certain individuals and an overriding sense of
collective societal mores. And why does everything that even approaches
sex or sexuality have to be dirty or conjure negative connotations?
Can't it be romantic, or loving, or sweet?
Or just fucking indifferent?
I hate to burst the pearl-clutching puritans bubble, but sex makes this
world go round. We all got here the same way: our parents fucking.
Sex is precisely how this planet became populated by the very people
that want to pretend it doesn't exist. The only word for that is
absurd.
