This story by Naomi Wolf four years ago in New York magazine made me hate Ivy League schools (well, even more than I already did). It came out right around the time I was applying to college, and the schools I dreamed of were mainly not in the Ivy League anyway - I had my eyes on New York University (ummm, I got in, thx), not Harvard - but this story, about universities ignoring complaints of sexual harassment from female students and graduate assistants about famous, high-profile professors, didn't help their reputation much.
Now, five years later, Wolf - who has continued writing with books like "The Beauty Myth" and "Promiscuities: The Secret Struggle for Womanhood" - has announced that she's working on a new project hesitantly titled "A Cultural History of the Vagina." And, I'm torn. I don't really like knowing that much about my anatomy (look, vaginas freak me out), but I also enjoy learning more about how patriarchy treats women like crap. So maybe I could check out the book, but skip over the word "vagina?"
What a hassle. This is why people don't read.
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I clicked the second link (the one with her picture), and it got me thinking:
ReplyDeleteThe odds of any particular woman having ever used the term "womyn" are exactly the same as the odds that she is a heinous wildebeest.
I guess if I had to summarize, "feminists are ugly" would really be the crux of what I was thinking.
I want to point out that I'm also uncomfortable with people talking about their private parts. yet folks say it around me intentionally to make me feel uncomfortable... THE POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK IS IT NOT?!
ReplyDeleteAdam: Agreed.
ReplyDeleteJohn Chai: Right, but I'm only uncomfortable about talking of my OWN private area. Other people's are totally on-limits. Soo ... pot/kettle/black = this is not. ZING.