Via Jeff Wood, Robert Stacy McCain pokes through the feminist memoir of Jessica Valenti:
The question raised by Sex Object, if read with a critical eye, is whether Jessica Valenti has ever been a victim of anything except her own bad judgment… What kind of fool would major in Women’s Studies? The kind of fool who loses her virginity at 14, goes off to Tulane, sleeps with her ex-boyfriend’s roommate, flunks out and then transfers to SUNY-Albany, that’s who. The only career possible for a Women’s Studies major is as a professional feminist, and there are only so many full-time gigs at non-profit “pro-choice” organisations to go around. However, the Feminist-Industrial Complex — the departments of Women’s Studies on some 700 college and university campuses across the United States — has a rent-seeking interest in promoting the metastatic growth of feminism, so the fact that many of their alumnae are quite nearly unemployable isn’t mentioned in the course catalogue.
See also this sorry but instructive tale. And Ms Valenti’s mental contortions have been noted here previously.
Michael J Totten on the joys of feminist Shakespeare:
The Globe Theatre’s new director, Emma Rice, detests the original Shakespeare. The Bard’s plays, she says, are “tedious” and “inaccessible.” Perhaps, with such a dim view of the source material and its creator, she should have taken a different job, but instead she chose to make Shakespeare more “relevant.” For instance, [in A Midsummer Night’s Dream] “Away, you Ethiope,” was changed to, “Get away from me, you ugly bitch.” Rice knew that plenty of Shakespeare purists would find her coarse edits appalling, so she had an actor walk on stage in a spacesuit and say, “Why this obsession with text?” She also placed identity politics front and centre. She mandated, for instance, that 50 percent of the cast be female regardless of the gender of the characters. “It’s the next step for feminism,” she said, “and it’s the next stage for society to smash down the last pillars that are against us.”
And David Kukoff on an alternative educational model of the 1970s that wasn’t altogether successful:
Following a meeting with progressive-minded parents, [educator and drug counsellor Caldwell Williams] teamed up with English teacher Fred Holtby to create a curriculum that would channel the pop-psych teachings of the time. They wanted students to guide their own learning, focus on their feelings, and engage in raw dialogue about sex, drugs, and all the other topics that animated their lives. The teachings incorporated principles of the popular self-help movement known as est, then shifted to those of Scientology.
Shockingly, it turns out that hugging lessons, watching porn and choosing your own grades has its limitations.
Feel free to share your own links and snippets, on any subject, in the comments.
The decline and fall of history.
http://www.samizdata.net/2016/11/the-decline-and-fall-of-history/
Of course, Totten finds it necessary to hand-wring over a looming specter of purported right identitarianism, without wondering how the global thinks-it’s-liberal establishment could be to blame for what is clearly the fault of left identitarians only (clearly), but the observations on Phillistinism are well made.
Forgot to point out that Totten and Kukoff have certainly provided us with excellent examples of Iowahawk’s “Hollow out, make skin suit, demand respect” axiom.
In case anyone missed it.
She mandated, for instance, that 50 percent of the cast be female regardless of the gender of the characters.
Well. That should be interesting.
The meter is a bit off, but it certainly does smash pillars.
“She mandated, for instance, that 50 percent of the cast be female regardless of the gender of the characters.”
She needn’t think I’m appearing in the Vagina Monologues if it involves an operation.
I’m willing to self-identify, though, if the money’s good
What white lefties think of black voters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrBxZGWCdgs
Meanwhile, back in Kingston Ontario:
“A Queen’s University student theatre company has cancelled a production of Shakespeare’s Othello set to open this month following an outcry over the decision to cast a white woman in the title role of a black man.”
http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/on-stage/queens-university-stage-production-scrapped-over-oppressive-choice-of-white-woman-to-play-othello
Keeping up with the hierarchy of victimhood is exhausting.
She mandated, for instance, that 50 percent of the cast be female regardless of the gender of the characters.
A 2 person screenplay about marriage could only be presented as one man and one woman, then. Le plus ca change.
“Shockingly, it turns out that hugging lessons, watching porn and choosing your own grades has its limitations.”
So that’s how all of the Angry Studies students managed to graduate!
What white lefties think of black voters.
That.
So, I showed the Shakespeare bit to my lovely, longsuffering spouse who has a Ph.D in English. Her response? “This shit exists because we allow people to graduate with English degrees who don’t understand Shakespeare. Then we wonder why students don’t ‘get’ Shakespeare anymore.”
I self identify as a lesbian trapped in a man’s body.
When to rehearsals start?
So, I showed the Shakespeare bit to my lovely, longsuffering spouse who has a Ph.D in English
I think what invites suspicion is the blather about a subject being made “relevant,” which generally implies that, rather than expanding the mental world of students to reach into history and grapple with unfamiliar idioms, i.e., to step outside of themselves, the history and idioms must instead be simplified and defaced to conform with the preconceptions of 18-year-olds. Who of course already know everything.
See also, “Who is this Mozart?”
lesbian trapped in a man’s body.
I’ve been using that joke for 20-30 years now (yes, I have no shame). I hate it when reality steals my material.
I used to live within comfortable driving distance of Stratford (not that one, the other one).
For the last three seasons, I have noticed several trends:
I don’t think these are unrelated.
I think what invites suspicion is the blather about a subject being made “relevant…”
If younger students cannot see “relevance” in classic texts, it is because they have bad teachers who’ve been created by an SJW infested higher education system which desires to destroy (see Iowahawk above) the foundations of Western Civilization. When UCLA decides that Chaucer’s tales of human imperfection have no pertainance today, they doom future students at all levels to nothing more than a crude facsimile of an education.
This.
https://twitter.com/GodfreyElfwick/status/795305901565628416
the feminist memoir of Jessica Valenti
A memoir at 38?
Needs to get it down on paper before she forgets. Because she and her life are that memorable.
An important issue coming up:
Michael J Totten on the joys of feminist Shakespeare:
There is literally a word for this: bowdlerize.
Very little is new. It’s just infuriating that the SJWs have so little knowledge of history, even in their own field.
“and it’s the next stage for society to smash down the last pillars that are against us.”
I think she meant ‘barricades’. Pillars are usually what hold the roof up.
I think she meant ‘barricades’. Pillars are usually what hold the roof up.
Nope, you have to tear down the pillars of western civilization to bring the Neue feministische Utopische Republik.
I self identify as a lesbian trapped in a man’s body.
I wonder why, in a world where at least one young man has chosen “your majesty” as his preferred pronoun, more such young men do not identify themselves as transsexual lesbians; they like girls.
To be sure, their pc betters and university administrators would protest and try to reassign them, but the resulting fight over that … “your sexuality is what we say it is!” … would be even more entertaing than their having to acquiesce.
A memoir at 38?
IQ is no barrier, thinkist.
The article about Valenti’s memoir is illuminating; McCain is a brave man to have ploughed through it. Her life seems to have been one of relative privilege, thanks to the hard work of her parents, marred only by poor (and entirely shallow, appearance-led) choices in men. And a coke habit, a direct result of her shitty taste in men. So, God knows how many sexual partners later, she ends up a mass of neuroses and married to an omega male she obviously despises. A sad but familiar tale; you’d think “empowered” women would have realised by now that all but the desperate are turned off by promiscuous coke-addled selfish mentalists.
I’m still not quite sure how it’s The Patriarchy’s fault…
the feminist memoir of Jessica Valenti
Does she realise she sounds like a total bitch?
Does she realise she sounds like a total bitch?
Well, any unsympathetic reaction to her articles seems to leave her angry, bewildered and self-pitying, so… I’m guessing not. And yes, it’s a litany of dysfunction and self-inflicted misery, which is then blamed on men, or on “patriarchy,” or “society.” But in the developed world that’s what feminism is now generally for. It provides a fairly niche and uniform subset of women – usually vain, middle-class and chronically overindulged – with ready-made excuses for their own behaviour, for the consequences of that behaviour, and for their own obnoxious personalities.
Perhaps the most telling aspect is that Ms Valenti is so willing to publicly disdain her own husband, repeatedly, in print, to humiliate him in front of her readers and presumably any of their friends who read her book – and all for clicks. “I feel like I might hate him,” she says, before describing her “default mood” as “low-level annoyance” alternating with “full-blown rage at the smallest thing,” like a dirty cup left on a kitchen counter, and while demanding that he accommodate her mood-swings and neuroses, her fantasies of oppression, and her poisonous attitude. And while demanding that he clear up after her more quickly.
One day, Ms Valenti’s daughter may read this book, and see in print her mother’s disdain for her father, and her eagerness to humiliate him in public. I wonder what she’ll make of it.
Jessica Valenti….. desperately seeking relevance and validation. It’s all too predictable. And as she gets older, expect more bitterness, a nasty divorce, drug and/or alcohol dependency. And of course never ending miserable unhappiness as she fades to obscurity.
Educated (don’ch know) as a biologist, it is clear that western society has advocated putting women into roles which deny their primordial programing (to put it simply). That makes for anxiety and depression. See all those ads on TV for antidepressants. Ads mostly directed toward women.
Oh, and by the way, do you recall the crazy “Hugh Mungous” woman. Here’s a reminder of that crazy woman:
http://vidmax.com/video/148257-Woman-Who-Harassed-Hugh-Mungus-Kicked-Out-of-Council-Meeting-After-Freaking-Out
Does she realise she sounds like a total bitch?
What’s the difference between Andrea Dworkin and a raging elephant?
The overalls.
—T.R. Witomski
One day, Ms Valenti’s daughter may read this book, and see in print her mother’s disdain for her father, and her eagerness to humiliate him in public. I wonder what she’ll make of it.
With a mother like that she’ll be in therapy too.
JohnD wrote:
This.
“>https://twitter.com/GodfreyElfwick/status/795305901565628416
I believe that amongst the lovable rogues of the Alt-Right, Ben Dunnell has what is known as ‘Cuck-Face’. Physiognomy is real.
in response to David at 16.52
My personal experience (20 years in children’s publishing industry) is that this happens ALL the time.
Until very recently the entire industry lived in terror of excluding readers who couldn’t cope with the demands of a given reading level or concept. Everything that was potentially too difficult was removed. Things were always dumbed down to the lowest common denominator.
But there has been a noticeable pushback against it recently. There’s something of a delight in difficulty re-emerging.
Thought the SJW oppression gets worse and worse every year.
The Bookseller recently launched a campaign to increase ‘diversity’ in publishing. And didn’t mention anywhere that it might be good idea to start with the fact that the industry is about 90% female.
I wonder what she’ll make of it.
Make no mistake. The child will notice her mother’s behavior towards her dad long before she can read. I have represented children during divorce proceedings as a court-appointed guardian ad litem. Kids are not stupid and, in fact, are quite observant. If a parent desires a long, loving relationship with a child, constantly demeaning the other parent with little to no cause is not the way to get it.
If a parent desires a long, loving relationship with a child, constantly demeaning the other parent with little to no cause is not the way to get it.
Quite. And so Ms Valenti has, in effect, sold out her own family in order to indulge her need for attention and her delusions of victimhood.
One for the family photo album.
From the first piece on Jessica Valenti:
Well no, they didn’t. They did what they thought would prevent her failure – fawning over her and enrolling her in top universities – instead of what would have prevented her failure: getting her to understand the link between effort and reward and the not indulging her the first time she acts up. The English-speaking world is littered with promiscuous, drug-abusing women from “good homes” whose parents indulged their every whim only to find their darling daughters rebelled.
Oh, and don’t forget that Feministing, the site founded by Ms Valenti and her greatest creation to date, is where you’ll find things like this.
Devastating millenial problems, what do I call my boyfriend.
This one is a bit bizarre, apparently they first saw each other in 2012, but it wasn’t until 2015 after some texting that they actually got together, so that sounds about as deep as an oil drop on wet pavement. However, let us get to the more problematic parts.
OK, if one is past 40 or so, boy/girlfriend sounds a bit odd, but not 20ish, in fact, being worried about being called “boy/girlfriend” in one’s 20s is a bit childish, so it is actually appropriate. As far as “partner” goes, I doubt the LGBTQLSMF will issue a restraining order if they used the word.
What is appalling, but no longer surprising, is both that an allegedly respected paper like the Washington Post wasted space for this dreck, but also how utterly unimaginative and humorless these types are.
What is wrong with squeeze, main squeeze, same old used to be, rider, steady rider, old lady/man, old bat/coot, courtesan/meal ticket, and so on ? In a more formal setting, just friend, the degree of friendliness is something that can be detailed later if the someone has a need to know.
Devastating millennial problems, what do I call my boyfriend
But on the upside, Ms Sherman does have a nose ring, which makes her look terribly individual.
Devastating millenial problems, what do I call my boyfriend.
I don’t have an answer to that question, but I think “Cory” would be well served by calling Ms. Sherman (no relation), “my ex.”
… where you’ll find things like this.
I remember that one. Commenter “Ed” as in “dense as lead” was one of the more clueless who’ve ever posted here.
There is an awful lot of similarity between Valenti and our own Laurie Penny, isn’t there?
There is an awful lot of similarity between Valenti and our own Laurie Penny, isn’t there?
There is, I think, a psychological type that crops up repeatedly.
I remember that one. Commenter “Ed”… was one of the more clueless who’ve ever posted here.
I vaguely recall that he was (a), prickly, and (b), hinting at some kind of equivalence that was never quite made clear. Presumably, something to the effect that if you eat meat you should be totally groovy with unborn babies being dismembered and thrown away for the mother’s convenience. Which seems not so much clever as evasive and slightly perverse.
Robert Stacy McCain pokes through the feminist memoir of Jessica Valenti
I’m glad he did so I don’t have to — I’d have thrown it out halfway through. Hell, I couldn’t even finish his review. I think the term “insufferable c*nt” doesn’t even begin to describe that loathsome woman.
Her poor child… what chance does she have of living a normal (sane) life?
There is, I think, a psychological type that crops up repeatedly.
Not just psychological: parents sending her to top schools, promiscuity, drugs, older men, left-wing, rejection of the conventional, etc.
Yes.
One for the family photo album.
I find the assumption of forbearance on the part of the targets by people who engage in this kind of posturing mildly entertaining. She’s assuming that there will be no significant, if any, repercussions to her raised finger. And yet, it would be so easy for anyone who hasn’t been sufficiently socialized into Western, Patriarchal values, to take offence and then to grab that finger and break it.
As far as “partner” goes, I doubt the LGBTQLSMF will issue a restraining order if they used the word.
Probably not. I admit though, that the word “partner”, with it’s dearth of sex-specific information about the individual in question, is automatically translated as “gay lover” in my mind nowadays. Possibly not what the speaker intended, but intentionally using such an uninformative term leaves one without any grounds to complain when the speaker’s intentions are misinterpreted.
I find the usage particularly annoying as “partner” has never previously had any sexual or romantic significance. The new usage makes such terms as “law partner” or “business partner” sound vaguely ridiculous.
Smashing pillars in the arts is all very well, but what if in so doing you bring the whole rotten edifice of liberal-leftie lunacy crashing down around your ears?
Asking for a liberal-lefty loony friend with a hammer.