Sexually Liberated

From ten years ago:

Last week, a 17-year-old girl was admitted to my ward with such acute alcohol poisoning that she could scarcely breathe by her own unaided efforts, alcohol being a respiratory depressant. When finally she woke, 12 hours later, she told me that she had been a heavy drinker since the age of 12.

The doctor talks to her about her thug boyfriend:

"I can look after myself," said my 17-year-old.

"But men are stronger than women," I said. "When it comes to violence, they are at an advantage."

"That's a sexist thing to say," she replied.

A girl who had absorbed nothing at school had nevertheless absorbed the shibboleths of political correctness in general and of feminism in particular.

"But it's a plain, straightforward, and inescapable fact," I said.

"It's sexist," she reiterated firmly.

I wonder what happened to that girl.

Comments

[Mike T]

Like many, she's so educated that she no longer has the basic animal survival instinct to understand the danger of fighting someone with more body mass (especially when it's muscle) than her.

[Francis W. Porretto]

How on Earth did the notion ever get started that a fact can be racist, sexist, or any other sort of "-ist?" Could prolonged indoctrination account for all of it, or are there other factors at work, too?

[Isaac Schrödinger]

Francis, don't you know, superior male strength is a myth perpetuated by the patriarchy!

Whenever I see that statement, I know that the author is just bonkers. It's certainly heavy duty indoctrination but one must also lack common sense to actually fall for it. It's funny how so many of them turn around and talk about how the world would be oh so peaceful if women were in charge yet any hint of male-female differences makes their blood boil.

They're such an unattractive bunch -- physically, intellectually and spiritually. It's sad how so many neutered, Western males have to deal with 'em everyday.

[Tim]

Isaac, while I don't disagree with the basic point you're making here, bear in mind that a lot of liberal feminist theory (particularly legal theory) was often based on the notion of certain inescapable differences between men and women. It's just not right to paint all of feminism with this broad brush.

The idea of gender-as-social-construction had an important role to play as a political tool. It's certainly due for revision now, but it had value when it was being used to argue for more freedoms for women.