When the pilot episode of Canterbury’s Law aired, I was really annoyed. The main character was an intelligent, powerful woman (a lawyer). Good. Who is shown obsessing over her appearance, albeit grudgingly, wondering whether the color of her suit brings out her eyes. Within the first hour, we also see her going to her husband …
April 2018 archive
Apr 11 2018
Developing Authority and Being a Parent
I’m wondering whether it’s just me or…whether most women who never become mothers simply never develop an authoritative manner. Men have it from the get go: they are automatically thought, by themselves as well as by others, to be authorities, and early on, they develop both the habit of telling others what to do and …
Apr 10 2018
because male feelings are more important than …
“because male feelings are more important than women’s opportunities in sport …” Indeed. Check it out: because male feelings are more important than women’s opportunities in sport
Apr 09 2018
I’m being sued!
Damn those insurance companies! (And I will, too!) Calling hurricanes, tornadoes, and even floods ‘acts of god’! Why, those self-serving schmucks! It’s their job to provide a safety net against misfortune! So what am I gonna do? It’s a lose-lose situation. I don’t show up, people will think I don’t exist. They’ll stop believing in …
Apr 08 2018
13 Reasons Why: How to Make a Movie (and maybe Write a Novel *) without acknowledging the Elephant in the Room
So I’ve just finished watching 13 Reasons Why (Netflix) and am struck by the completely unacknowledged elephant in the room. Not one character acknowledges that almost all of the problems leading to Hannah’s suicide stem from sexism and its many tumours – misogyny, male entitlement, male privilege, hypersexualization, objectification, the rape culture, etc., etc., etc. …
Apr 04 2018
Sexism and Teaching: The Elephant in the Room
Back in 1996, I was fortunate enough to get a job teaching a few courses at a university: several sections of a non-credit remedial English language course, a section of critical thinking, and various applied ethics courses. At the end of the second year, I was notified by the Dean that my student evaluations for …
Apr 02 2018
And here’s something else that would never happen to a man …
So this guy in our neighborhood has early Alzheimers and dizzy spells. He’s looking for a babysitter (his word) and someone to cook for him and do his cleaning so he doesn’t have to go into a home. And he asked me. I have no experience babysitting. And absolutely no aptitude for it. Yes, I …
Apr 02 2018
New and Improved
‘New and improved’ is not just a bit of harmless puffery; it’s a two-party addiction. Stupid consumers must have and stupid companies must produce – new and improved stuff. And it hurts third parties. Such as the animals who are used to test a product every time it changes, every time it becomes new and …
fiction
