Just got into a big hoo-hah about that American actor who lost it with a journo who asked her to show her legs. I always learn a lot from these exchanges - though not usually what my interlocutors would like me to learn.
Various points were raised - one is that some bloke yelling from the crowd is giving an order - telling her what to do - as if he has some power over her and she has no choice but to obey. Here was a wealthy actor being told what to do by some poor schmuck trying to make a living. Talk about punching down...
A second one was that she yelled at him "You wouldn't do that to a man", but men make rude comments about each other all the time. If the actor had been known for his physique "Show us your abs" would have been a joke, and if he'd got angry with the journo HE would have been the b@st@rd, not the journo.
One woman opined that it's different because men kill women. Apart from the fact that men kill men too (and more often) this was a guy trying to get a sexy picture of an actor - not some psycho attacking his wife. She could have just ignored him - which is usually what happens when journalists yell at celebs. The problem here seems to be a double standard. One women said "All we want is for men to respect us like they respect each other" and I had to laugh. I think if women were suddenly treated by men the way men treat each other they'd be horribly disappointed. Women certainly don't respect men, men don't respect each other, and from what I gather, women don't especially respect each other either, and yet men have to respect women? That's not equality - that's special treatment.
My feeling is that the women's rights campaign has gone from fighting for important issues like equal pay and opportunities and male violence (which we all support) to some general campaign against 'offensive' male behaviour - ie anything that a woman disapproves of, which in some cases seems to mean anything women don't do.
Now let me get this straight - I don't like blokey behaviour either - I'm not into being laddish, larey, loud and rude, but I don't want to stop other people doing it - as long as they're not violent - that's their culture - especially if they're working class. And I've known some women who were shockingly rude. Do we really want a world without rudeness or the occasional inappropriate behaviour? There'd be no punk or direct action for example, no Tracey Emin or Joan Rivers. Rudeness is surely a valid part of hu-man society. We lefties certainly feel free to be extremely rude to people we disagree with. Maybe it's just that we don't want people being rude to us. Maybe we only want respect for ourselves? We can dish it out, but we can't take it.
But I suspect it's mainly about sex. There is still this residual feeling that anything sexual is dirty and degrading, especially when it involves women. There was a horror expressed that the actor in question had in any way made a living from her looks, and her legs in particular. I say good for her - I wish I could have made money from showing my legs - there are many worse jobs - but it's not generally an option for men. It seems to have escaped their notice that most Hollywood and TV actors are considered good-looking and/or sexy. Only feminists still seem to think that women are ONLY appreciated for their looks (and that men are only appreciated for their minds?) Or maybe they think that women are too weak and delicate to handle a bit of rudeness. That does seem a bit old-fashioned to me. Are we going back to seeing women as The Weaker Sex? because honestly, that doesn't sound very empowering to me.
Maybe the big issue here is that the women's rights movement seems only to want men to become more like women and sees the other direction as intrinsically bad ("Boys will be boys") I've never liked traditionally masculine behaviour myself but that's just my personal preference. As I said above, I don't want to stop other people doing their thing, as long as they're not dangerous. In any case, the modern progressive's equation of rude and inappropriate behaviour with actual rape and murder is surely way over the top.
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