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| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| Femi-nezer Scrooge Says |
| 2014-12-25 |
| Insanity from the feminist left [THESPEC] Pity the poor mother who wants to enjoy the holiday season and pass along the delight and warmth of various yuletide traditions but who doesn't particularly want to put the Christ back in Christmas, as it were, or reinforce the notion that men are the foundation of the most important things in the world, like school vacations and presents. "I deny their reality! They don't exist! They never existed!," said the Solipsist. And you're a figment of my imagination, too! It's impossible to "do" Christmas without running into one patriarchal construct after another. Probably because most societies have been patriarchal. It was a kind of natural arrangement until birth control was introduced by some patriarchal corporation that made money from it. Aside from singing the praises of a man who rules over everything (there really are the most gorgeous choral renditions out there), even the secular Christmas songs are ubiquitous in their praise of male characters: "Frosty the Snowman," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," and of course, Santa Claus. Santa Claus, a white male who, by the way, gets all the credit for labour overwhelmingly done by women (I'm picturing my friend Kathleen, for example, describing her Plan A and Plan B for getting Minecraft Lego in her hands by Christmas Eve, hoping like hell that one plan works out, wondering if she should instigate a Plan C). Santa Claus is an ideal, epitomizing love for good little girls and boys. Saint Nicholas was, as I recall, a bishop, which was a male position, who lived in the third century. Obeying Jesus' words to "sell what you own and give the money to the poor," Nicholas used his inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. He was made Bishop of Myra while still a young man. Bishop Nicholas became known throughout the land (Anatolia and further) for his generosity to those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships. When I was a tad we opened our presents on Christmas Eve. At midnight Santa Claus would come with a second, smaller batch that wasn't wrapped. Maybe you're doing it wrong. We also had a visit from La Vecchia-- aka La Befana -- who came on Epiphany and left fruit and what we'd call stocking stuffers today. She didn't have any reindeer; she rode a broom. I don't think I've ever heard anyone disapprove of Frosty the Snowman; he "laughed and played" with the children, plural, and his gender was either irrelevant or non-existent. If you don't like snowmen build a snow woman; make a cone of snow and put two balls of snow on it... Oh, wait. A skirt would be a gender stereotype, wouldn't it? But I still don't see how Rudolph -- I believe first sung in the 1940s by Gene Autry -- fits into the concept of patriarchy; he could just as easily have been named Gertrude or Ramona, but the song writer likely considered Rudolph the more ridiculous. If you don't like that sort of Christmas music, sing Ave Maria. Or sing the John Lennon abomination "Imagine." The holiday feminist challenge extends to every Christmas category. "All of them need to go! All of them!" Sure, I have fond memories of watching movies of the season with my brother and my mother but now? Now I realize that Maria from "The Sound of Music" finds her true calling as a nurturing caregiver and ends up responsible for a man's emotional rehabilitation. ... rather than becoming a nun. Similarly, "White Christmas" resolves with the Hanes sisters teaching Bob and Phil that what they need is the love of a good woman to be happy — enough already with the emptiness of workaholism and playing the field! On its own, this might not be so problematic, but when you run into the same thing in myriad other classics, you wonder if it's possible for kids to grow up NOT believing that girls should be men's emotional handmaidens. Just ignore the thousands, maybe millions, of stories in which it's the men who're the saviors. And ignore the stories where they've achieved comfortable parity, like for instance Nick and Nora Charles in The Thin Man. All relationships can be pushed into an ideological straight jacket. But does this mean that I should deny my kids the pleasure of "White Christmas"? Sure. Just gut the kid's awareness of a bunch of aspects of culture so she can be a Stranger in a Strange Land. You can probably grok the fullness of the stunted result. Of memorizing and performing its song "Sisters" the way my brother and I did? On one side: fun, long-cherished musical with fabulous production value. On the other: women in low-cut gowns throwing themselves at men for the sake of getting hired (and it works!). It's no reflection of anything that ever happened in real life, of course... But, in searching for alternatives, can we think of any Christmas films that feature women protagonists? Are the only Christmas stories worth telling about men? "A Christmas Carol," Old, grouchy, stingy Ebeneezer Scrooge has his tiny soul inflated by the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. "Are there no poor laws? Are the workhouses all full?" Go ahead and cast it with a woman playing the Scrooge part. It could work. And don't forget Tiny Jane. "It's a Wonderful Life," A nice man gives up what he wants for the people around him, marries the love of his life, has beautiful children, and regains his self respect from the love of the people around him. How ideologically depressing. "A Christmas Story," An amusing story about a little boy built on common experiences of kids who grew up in the 1950s. Girls and boys of that age in that time lived separate existences, though often only in theory. Had Scut Farkus been a girl Ralphie would have had to retreat or take it because boys didn't hit girls, not even back. When Karen Long was punching me when I was eight I didn't realize it was because she "liked" me. If I had, I'd have proposed on the spot and we'd have lived happily ever after when we grew up. Y'gotta admire a girl with a good left hook. "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," I guess it's ideologically harmful, since the Griswalds are on approximately the same level of dull normality. "The Grinch" Substitute a Grinchette and it would still work the same, despite having to modify a few lyrics. … right on up to "Elf" Never saw it, but there were female elves in The Santa Clause. and "The Polar Express," I'm trying to remember the plot, but I remember there was the boy who was the protagonist, a know it all boy, a black girl who lacked self confidence, and a boy from the wrong side of the tracks whose faith was renewed, or maybe newed. I suppose it could be easily rewritten to make the black girl the protagonist. But as it was written it was a nice story. it's all guys at centre stage. Jealousy thy name is feminist woman. The writer is no Eleanor of Aquitaine, Anna Comnena, Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great, Galla Placida, Marie di Medici, or even Lucrezia Borgia. "Miracle on 34th Street" is the exception that proves the rule: little Susan and her mother get a house in the 'burbs, a husband and a baby (pending) for Christmas. I missed tthe part where Fred (or Santa?) knocks Doris up. Gee thanks, Santa — that fabulous Manhattan career and Central Park West apartment were such a drag. I guess it depend on what you want out of life. Things don't get any easier in the gift department. Christmas toys are so rigidly defined by gender stereotypes that finding gender-neutral options feels not unlike an Arthurian quest. Shall it be the pink princess fairy aisle or the guns 'n' ammo aisle? Do you dress your child in glitter and tulle or camouflage? Because there's no middle ground here, folks: interactive electronic globes are marketed to boys and International Travel Barbie is marketed to girls. Boys get ant farms and girls get makeup kits. They're children but they've still got hormones. Little boys who aren't given toy guns are prone to make them out of Legos. They'll use random sticks as swords. I've seen it happen. My ex finally gave up and myson's an economist now, going on 30 now. The only mental damage he's got is from watching too much TV as he grew up. Little girls whose mothers are executives on a good career path still want to be princesses. I saw that just in the past ten days; the good career path is my daughter-in-law and the princess if my granddaughter. At almost age six she can ski and surf, and she's learning Mandarin. How far we've come. How far, indeed. Why, it was only 150 years ago when outstanding men were oppressing women, who weren't allowed to be outstanding... Ummm. Nope. Read Bret Harte's A Maecenas of the Pacific Slope, which is as pretty a love story as you're likely to find, outside of the mush I write. Latham Hunter is a writer and professor of communications and cultural studies. She wears ideology lenses. |
| Posted by:charger |
| #11 Creatures like this need to be forced marched through Arlington in that cold body heat sucking winter rain so she can see up front and close what real male privilege is about while someone reads the passages from those sited above about the Bulge and Christmas. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2014-12-25 23:43 |
| #10 Laugh at them. That saps their power. They would have no power if we just said, "Yes. And your point is?" |
| Posted by: SR-71 2014-12-25 23:20 |
| #9 There's always St. Patrick's day...or as I call it "Oppress the Irish day" cause that's what my ancestors were busy doing. They're so much fun to pick on, what's not to love? |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2014-12-25 21:58 |
| #8 For just one day, will you and and your lunatic bitch brethren leave the rest of us alone and just shut...the...fuck...UP! Go feed your cats or sumthin. Crazytown will still be there tomorrow. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2014-12-25 20:55 |
| #7 What a bitter naggy bitch. Sucks to be her. The problem is she seems determined to force her misery on others. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2014-12-25 19:12 |
| #6 I supposed I break into a house to steal food if I was hungry enough. But not Sgt Mom's house :-) |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-12-25 17:26 |
| #5 What Sgt. Mom said. In spades! |
| Posted by: Barbara 2014-12-25 17:16 |
| #4 Oh, for the love of the Deity ... is there not anything - any day, celebration, event or spot of entertainment that we can take pleasure in, derive a bit of joy from without some sourpuss, pinch-faced Puritan scold getting up on their high horse telling us how bad, sexist and raaaaacist it is and what horrible people we are. Begone, though moon-faced assassin of joy. Let us have our celebration in peace. |
| Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2014-12-25 15:50 |
| #3 Insanity from the feminist left Tautology? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2014-12-25 15:02 |
| #2 “The feminist movement taught women to see themselves as victims of an oppressive patriarchy....Self-imposed victimhood is not a recipe for happiness.” ― Phyllis Schlafly |
| Posted by: Whaith Prince of the Goats3526 2014-12-25 14:59 |
| #1 The young writer depicted in the article, strangely enough, doesn't seem to want to crack a smile... |
| Posted by: badanov 2014-12-25 14:45 |