Friday, February 22, 2008

Fraught With Ritual



Once at a pool in the middle of summer on vacation with my then-boyfriend, I saw a group of little girls playing a game. "Let's all go underwater and see if you can understand what I'm trying to say." They'd count to three and one girl would presumbably try to communicate without success in the highly chlorinated hotel pool. It struck me as a perfect metaphor for a lot of female communication -- unnecessarily difficult and fraught with ritual. But it upset me a lot less than when I hear women say, I just don't like other women. I get along so much better with men. Invariably, the speaker will continue on about how women are only concerned with trifling bullshit stuff like hair, looks, gossip, romance. The men they are hanging out with are no doubt talking about Martin Heidegger and the meaning of our place in the universe, the dangers of global warming, shit like that. Not like the men I know who are just as prone to gossip and asking the hard questions like, How do I get my hair not to pouf when I'm just putting the base product in it?

This is the kind of female self-loathing that has been crammed down our throats for years and is perpetuated everywhere. Being hideously sick this week, I looked forward to the end of illness which strangely culminated with my new favorite show, "Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew." Before this airs, Brett Michaels of Guns and Roses fame, has his own show which is a low-rent version of "The Bachelor." The premise is that some hard-looking, highly sexualized women compete with each other for the honor of "rocking" Brett's world. These women treat each other something awful, pointing out their flaws, cat-fighting, acting the fool in the way audiences love. There's not enough Brett for everyone! And we are taught that by a society that is not content that a large portion of us are victims of violence and sexual assault -- anyone not taken out that way can take themselves out by wasting tons of time on diets that don't work, mutilations that make things worse. Men need not work to harm women; we've taken on the work much more efficiently than they ever could. What's the old saying -- Anything a man can do, a woman can do better?

Michelle's Spell of the Day
"All creative people want to do the unexpected." Hedy Lamarr

Cocktail Hour
Drinking movie suggestion: The Birds

Benedictions and Maledictions
Happy Friday!

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Daphne du Maurier said: Rod Taylor was such a hunk in "The Birds." I loved watching him poof his hair. Love your blog, Michelle. So entertaining!

Anonymous said...

I have often remarked that women do not dress to impress men. Men don't care as much about this stuff. They dress to impress other women.

In one respect women are no different than men. Most of our damage is self inflicted.

Yeah, that Anonymous

Anonymous said...

Martin Heidegger said: Being a Jew is tough. Don't ask me why I took on the universe as an added burden.

Raelin Brianna said...

I totally agree that women are too prone to gossip and all that stuff but men do that as well as you said. I think you just have to find the right friends in general whether they be male or female is just another thing. What about finding a friend based on personality? When did that go out of style LOL
Glad you are feeling better
~Raelin

tui said...

ha! so well said.

t

Anonymous said...

Pamela Anderson said: There was enough of Brett for me.

Anonymous said...

Sigmund said: You shouldn't do drugs, Michelle. Learn to cope with your natural equipment.

Anonymous said...

Cheech and Chong said: That's right man, we use natural equipment all the time man.

jodi said...

Brett Micheals! That old has been. He is lucky to have one last moment. And who could possibly care. My dad would say that he was barely good when times were good. And "celebrity" rehab? How about rehabbing some people with out the where withall to get help?

Anonymous said...

Mr. Peanut said: Chocaholic.

Anonymous said...

Spellbinder said: "Where withall": ha ha ha ha ha ....

Anonymous said...

Paul Mitchell said: Blond in a bottle.

Anonymous said...

Andrew Lloyd Weber said: Has never seen "Cats."

Anonymous said...

Warren Zevon said: Listens to "Werewolves of London" with the top down on her convertible.

Anonymous said...

Ellen Degenerate said: Cute! But can she dance?

Anonymous said...

Herbie Hancock: The horizontal bop.

the walking man said...

The human condition. I'd rather gamble alone.

Peace

mark

Charles Gramlich said...

Men tend to gossip about different things. Most men I know don't spend much time at all gossiping about how other men look, or how to look better themselves, or about who is doing what to who. We don't talk a lot about Sartre though. More about sports and cars perhaps.

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