So I’m reading Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Our Androcentric Culture…(yeah, same Gilman who wrote The Yellow Wallpaper and Herland…both highly recommended) – a few bits below…
“Advocates of football, for instance, proudly claim that it fits a man for life. Life–from the wholly male point of view–is a battle, with a prize. …This is an archaism which would be laughable if it were not so dangerous in its effects. … The valuable processes today are those of invention, discovery, all grades of industry, and, most especially needed, the capacity for honest service and administration of our immense advantages. These are not learned on the football field. … ” (p39-40)
“An unforgettable instance of this lies int he attitude of the medical colleges toward women students. The men, strong enough, one would think, in numbers, in knowledge, in established precedent, to be generous, opposed the newcomers first with absolute refusal; then, when the patient, persistent applicants did get inside, both students and teachers met them not only with unkindness and unfairness, but with a weapon ingeniously well chosen, and most discreditable–namely, obscenity. Grave professors, in lecture and clinic, as well as grinning students, used offensive language, and played offensive tricks, to drive the women out …” (p50).
And today? Have things changed? You bet. Now they’re chanting “‘No’ means ‘Yes’; ‘Yes’ means ‘Anal’!”
