I followed the suggestions of this article on a Christian website and took screencaps of my husband’s responses.
I followed the suggestions of this article on a Christian website and took screencaps of my husband’s responses.
I followed the suggestions of this article on a Christian website and took screencaps of my husband’s responses. 
“Well, there is no ‘official’ definition of feminism and everyone here can come up with a perfectly valid one. Each and every person here can, and should, tell you what it means to them. I will tell you (at mansplaining length) what it means to me.
Almost all schools of feminism believe that women and men are morally equal, should be politically and socially equal, and should have the same set of political, employment, scholastic, medical, and familial rights and opportunities. Most schools of feminism deal with confronting something called ‘patriarchy’ which is an organization of social power (and a corresponding ideology) wherein most power is allotted to men. Patriarchy works by making this allotment of power seem natural by conflating biological sex and gender thereby making gender roles seem natural and universal.
That’s what people do when they say ‘intended roles’. They mean that having a penis or a vagina ALSO means having a specific, rightful role in the world.
But,
get ready for it,
gender roles are not natural or universal (sorry to break it to you).
In fact, almost all of the ethnographic, scientific, sociological, anthropological, and medical data from the last 100 years thoroughly discredits any natural relationship between sex and gender and, therefore, between biological sex and gender roles. It is all contingent, arbitrary, and entirely socially constructed.
What does all of this mean? What does it mean to be a feminist? For me it means to acknowledge a simple sociological fact: these gender roles are connected to social power that keeps men in positions of authority. This realization, in turn, means I must admit that, as a dude, I have tons of social privilege.
It’s a bummer, but I am not naturally this good at living my life. History and patriarchy make it way easier to live as a dude. It’s like playing Life: The Video Game, on the easy setting. I don’t have to worry about getting raped or groped or sexually harassed, having my ideas be brushed off with ‘that’s nice sweetie’, earning less, hearing people tell me what I ‘should’ be doing with my body, having political leaders determine what medical procedures I should have to endure (or should not have access to), having people stare at my body, having my clothes be seen as a determination of my moral worth, having ridiculous double standards erected around my sexual practices, having people tell me to smile on the street as if my body is their concern, being called crazy or irrational for having a legitimate reaction, being excluded from certain professions, or having my worth determined based on my looks.
But feminism ALSO means that I can be what I want without regard to some arbitrary notion of what my sex says I ‘should’ be. Feminism means that my gender is something I can perform and I can perform it any fucking way I choose.
It does not mean, in any way, that women ‘don’t need men’.
[video]
A recent interview I did on the Drew Marshall Show along with Stephanie Drury of Stuff Christian Culture Likes and Tim Stewart of the Dictionary of Christianese (To listen to the interview, click image or here and scroll down to God Bloggers; For a related post, click here http://poddelusion.co.uk/blog/2012/01/13/episode-118-13th-january-2012/)
In a long email thread with Jason Molina back in 2008, I made a passing comment about having trouble finishing some Tre Orsi songs. He hammered out this reply a few hours later on his Blackberry.
I have a lot of reservations about posting private correspondence, but what he says here is so…
On this day in history I avenged a cruel breakup at the hands of Mark Johnson. He looked like Ralph Macchio and in 8th grade he asked me to “go” with him and we held hands at Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and wrote notes every day for a few weeks. Then one night I got a call from Matt Caldwell and he said “Mark wants to break up with you.” The next day Matt told me that Mark asked him to call me because Matt had 3-way and Mark wanted to listen in while Matt told me for him. I nursed my grudge for two years and by then Mark was cuter than ever and dating Serenity Sharp, a perky gymnastics snatch, and they would make out in the hall every day and I couldn’t stand it. On Valentine’s Day you could buy a singing valentine and have choir guys sing to someone and then give them a card. I looked through the cards on the grand piano in the choir room and saw one from Mark to Serenity, and I threw it away and wrote a new one to her that said “I guess you’re okay even though you were my second choice.” At the end of the day after everyone had gotten their singing valentine I saw Serenity walking down the hall with red puffy eyes and Mark scuffling beside her, looking scared. Vengance is mine, yo!
I could get into sports if there was Gay SportsCenter like on 30 Rock & if the announcers talked about the players’ feelings & ennegram type. Here’s what I would ask on Stephy SportsCenter.
“Russell, how sweet are you that you ran it in instead of trying to break Peyton’s touchdown record for a rookie?? Awww!”
“Eli, you’ve grown up in Peyton’s shadow and now he’s going to the playoffs but you’re not. How has that been for you? Did you feel like you HAD to play football to get you dad’s attention?”
“Lovie and Andy, how bad do your feelings hurt right now? Do you have a safe space to process this? Can you let yourself cry?”
“Andrew Luck and RG3, have you seen Magnolia and does so much success so early on make you wonder if you’ll end up like Quiz Kid Donnie Smith?”
“Peyton and Eli, what’s your relationship with your little brother like and, I mean, wow. Does your dad make little comments about his sexuality or anything? What’s Christmas like at your house?”
“All you male SportsCenter announcers, exactly how depressed are your wives? How often do they go off like Connie in The Godfather where she breaks everything when she’s mad at Carlo?”
Post I found at Craigslist: Hello Kitty furniture for sale.
My email to seller: “Hi, are the Hello Kitty table and chairs still available?”
Seller’s email to me: “It is a very cute set and almost new. It is still available. What is a reasonable offer to you?”
My email to seller: “I’m not sure. $40?”
Seller’s email to me: “I paid $70 dollars for it… so no thanks.”
My email to seller: “Does $69.99 sound reasonable?”
Seller’s email to me: “If you’re not being serious then I don’t have time for this.”
My email to seller: “Does $400 sound reasonable?”
Seller’s email to me: “That is tooo bad that you thought that was sooooo funny! I am sorry that you either don’t know the value of things or don’t have the money…. Have a good one!”