Reality Will Do That
Lifted from the comments, via pst314:
Ms Watson, now not so young herself, tells us,
The specifics of this pressure, allegedly pervasive, overpowering and entirely social in nature, are unclear. No examples are forthcoming. The physical realities of reproduction are, however, less mysterious.
The idea that Ms Watson, or likely anyone she knows, any of her multi-millionaire celebrity peers, is being pressured by others, by a brutal society, to get married and presumably have children – and that such hypothetical pressure constitutes “violence” – is, shall we say, difficult to believe.
It seems rather more likely that Ms Watson, 35, is, like many of her self-involved peers, struggling to process her own age-related anxieties. At 35, that fertility window is closing quite rapidly and options that have perhaps been taken for granted, or deferred as insufficiently fashionable, will soon expire.
As someone quips in reply,
Update, via the comments:
EmC adds,
Well, quite. I don’t follow these things closely, but my impression is that there’s a class dynamic in play. That, for some, getting married and having children during the window of optimal viability is now considered low-status, proletarian, somewhat déclassé, especially among women with progressive leanings.
As if this time were obviously better spent pursuing a statusful career and asserting some womanly empowerment, or, in Ms Watson’s case, indulging in activism of a faintly ludicrous kind and insisting that bewigged men are somehow women.
My impression of any social pressure, any class convention, is that it goes in a different direction to the one being claimed. At least among ladies of Ms Watson’s political persuasion. Readers may wish to speculate as to whether childlessness and middle-aged regret will also, in short order, be deemed “violence” and something to complain about during celebrity interviews.
And for some reason, this came to mind:
Something about the dynamic, perhaps.
Consider this an open thread. Share ye links and bicker.
Don’t think her ‘activism’ will be much of a consolation.
Well, I don’t wish to seem any meaner than is necessary, but I’m inclined to wonder whether childlessness and middle-aged regret will also, in short order, be deemed “violence” and something to complain about during celebrity interviews.
For some reason, this came to mind:
Something about the dynamic, perhaps.
I can’t take anyone seriously who misuses the word ‘violence’ like that.
Well, quite.
I don’t follow these things closely, but my impression is that there’s a class dynamic in play. That, for some, getting married and having children during the window of optimal viability is now considered low-status, as somewhat déclassé, especially among women with progressive leanings.
As if this time were obviously better spent pursuing a career or, in Ms Watson’s case, indulging in social-media activism of a faintly ludicrous kind and insisting that bewigged men are somehow women.
My impression of any social pressure is that it goes in a different direction than the one being claimed. At least among ladies of Ms Watson’s political persuasion.
[ Post updated. ]
And from the replies on X, this:
Not entirely inapt, I think.
That activist LARPing is going to get old faster than she does.
“I’m just so happy not to be divorced yet,” Watson told podcast host Shetty. “Like that sounds like a really negative answer, but I think that we’re being pressured and forced into this thing that I believe is a kind of miracle.”
What an odd way of saying, “I am unhappy that I am alone.” Plus, “I’m not motivated to look for reasons why I am not with someone, so I, a non-theist, am still waiting for that miracle of someone to pop into my life.”
BTW, in 2019 Watson described herself not as “single” but as “self-partnered.” I suggest that’s a large enough red flag for any suitor.
Graham Linehan takes on Bill Maher, and does so very well.
And because I have the humor of a 9-year-old boy, I dare you to look at the accompanying photo of Maher and not see the penis that is his nose.
That’s what happens when you live in a bubble…
I should imagine Ms Watson’s complaints might have had more credibility if she’d been raised by the Amish or Muhammadans or something. But for a woman granted great wealth in childhood, with every conceivable advantage, every degree of freedom that a woman might dream of, it’s just a tad unconvincing.
As Darleen quipped in the previous thread, if Ms Watson’s grandma once mentioned that when she was Emma’s age, she was married with three children, this scarcely qualifies as “violence.” And I’m still not seeing what other social pressures to that effect would be crushing the very breath from her, or from anyone remotely like her.
Biology, however, is another matter.
Unfortunately, the area around the Smokies attracts car shows and it reached a boling point this weekend with an event called Slammedenuff. This was a gathering of what I learned are called “stance cars,” usually cheap, barely road legal cars that have been modified and usually with nitro injection engines to make that backfiring noise as an add-in to the already loud revving.
Sevierville PD shut down the last day of the convention, Sunday, after a Saturday night “takeover” of a local gas station saw SWAT teams deployed to break it up.
However, there were some delightful moments of karma.
I shouldn’t imagine it would be enticing, no. It’s the rhetorical analogue of a green fuzzy wig and big clown shoes.
Has she seen fertility rates in the last thirty five years?
And, after all, we must not be homophonic.
The current freefall of birthrates among people much like Ms Watson suggests that maybe – maybe – there should be some social pressure of the kind she denounces, some sense of familial and reproductive urgency. But if so, I’m not seeing it.