Sunday, March 23, 2008

"Women suck. Call your mother."

Natalia has a post up fisking some Russian Orthodox Christian writer/misogynist ass-stain. Thanks for sharing, Natalia.

I was just saying: it is true that we don't grow 'em quite like that over here; or at least such voices don't take quite that tone on the public stage.

The 8th of March is, in these present times, referred to as a “women’s day…”

So, we celebrate the woman, because she is woman. This has nothing to do with some sort of feminine goodness, which is, in any case, impossible, since there is no such thing. If a woman is capable of having any good qualities they are the same as the good qualities of a man, but weaker and less developed, because a woman’s nature is more severely compromised by sin.


Generally, these days, ime, even our most noisome fundamentalist fuckwits don't take quite this line, at least on that public a platform; it tends to be more, "nonono, the difference between the sexes as well as between masculinity and femininity (which is totally the same thing) is beautiful and natural, no one is saying women are INFERIOR, woman was made to be man's helpmeet but also vice versa, it's totally romantic to be half a person so that your 'other half' can complement you in such profound ways as wearing a different hairstyle, doing the laundry or fixing the engine, going to work or staying home, penetrating or receiving, etc. Oh, and those roles can never, ever change, even when they do."

For one thing, they can't really afford to go on too much about the inferiority of womens' nature; besides the fact that a lot of their (female) base would eat them alive, it tends to sort of put a crimp in the whole "gay marriage is the biggest threat to our civilization ev0r." Why? Well, you take that attitude too far and the next thing you know, some men might start to get ideas. Who wants to remain joined in matrimony to an inferior being when he could be with his fellow man? --ooh, unless the U.S. Religious Right decides that Teh Gay is the lesser of two ev0ls and starts encouraging gay marriage as a way to crush feminism! Totally possible! Likely, even. Maybe some putative leftist and/or feminist should make a timely, satiric movie about it, that'll help matters.

actually, I've no idea, but I was delighted to stumble across this evidence that I was correct: teh Gay Marriage IS directly threatening to straight marriage precisely because people who otherwise would have stayed in their hetero partnerships might, without the threat of stigmatization and loss of legal rights and privileges, actually leave to go be with a member of the same sex:

It may come as a surprise to many people, but homosexual unions often have a more direct impact on heterosexual marriages than one would think. For example, the Boston Globe reported June 29, 2003, that "nearly 40 percent" of the 5,700 homosexual couples who have entered into "civil unions" in Vermont "have had a previous heterosexual marriage."

Of course, it could be argued that many of those marriages may have ended long before a spouse found their current homosexual partner. And some may assume that no opposite-sex spouse would want to remain married to someone with same-sex attractions. Nevertheless, the popular myth that a homosexual orientation is fixed at birth and unchangeable may have blinded us to the fact that many supposed "homosexuals" have, in fact, had perfectly functional heterosexual marriages. And as Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby points out, "In another time or another state, some of those marriages might have worked out. The old stigmas, the universal standards that were so important to family stability, might have given them a fighting chance. Without them, they were left exposed and vulnerable."


...you see.

But, anyway. So meanwhile, over in what remains of the Ev0l Empire, I guess, there's this other doofus who's spouting delightful insights like this:

I have to admit: the natural qualities of woman - for example, the ability to give birth, or, even more so, the ability to be a mother, raise children, and so on - may, perhaps, deserve respect and even admiration, though not in the form of a holiday. But this isn’t what we are talking about anyway; we would then celebrate Mother’s Day, or something along the same lines. Oh no, we are talking about the feminine in its most basic form. We are, factually, admiring the qualities of the feminine soul and body of the lowest, most sinful caliber. Female breasts, genitals, the womb - this is what we worship when we worship “woman.”


...and we certainly can't have THAT.

and then:

Women are given flowers, and the givers know well that a flower is a plant’s genital organ, opening up to be fertilized. A flower is a symbol of tempting lust. This is actually why having little flowers on your balconies is a sin, an innocent-seeming bouquet is an honest symbol of orgiastic sin, of group sex, and any interest or delight one might take in flowers is therefore sinful.

...If you can smell a rose, this means you won’t be too disgusted to smell the unmentionable body parts of a woman - because this, at its essence, is the same thing.


*

My African violets keep dying on me. I thought all this meant was that they're kind of not the hardiest of flowers, and/or that I don't have much of a green thumb. It would now appear, however, that I am in deep shit. (makes mental note to call ob/gyn and/or botanist at earliest convenience)

It also rather delicious that this...person, who is virulently opposed to the former Soviet regime under which he grew up, understandably, no doubt, has the same morbid suspicion of roses as did the militant CP hardliners who told Orwell that growing roses was 'bourgeois' and thus suspect.

...oh, please read Natalia's fisk of the whole thing, I can't possibly do it justice. Hell, I can't even read the original (alas).

Just, one more bit, possibly my favorite:

If you want to spend this day as a human being, and not as a lustful animal, call your elderly mother, or, better yet, grandmother. If you believe, if only a little bit, remind them of how short life is and of that eternity that awaits for us beyond the threshold, of the terrible God’s Judgment, and of how what we must do and how we should live, to have hope in His mercy to us.


I have to confess, I was relieved at the follow-up part about how the reason you're calling is to remind Mom/Grandma that she's probably going to hell, and this is why you didn't buy her any flowers, so as to avoid leading her into further perdition.

Because, this sentence, by itself alone?

If you want to spend this day as a human being, and not as a lustful animal, call your elderly mother, or, better yet, grandmother.


...you know, there are some places you just don't even want to go.

"Sweetie. Your Freudian slip is showing. Actually, it's puddled around your ankles. Bless."

11 comments:

thene said...

Is it just me being childish, or does his general disgust regarding the female body sound a bit...you know...gay?

Also, his botany sucks. Open flowers are both waiting to be fertilised and waiting to fertilise, doofus.

I love the assumption that the person celebrating Mother's Day/IWD with phone calls and bouquets is a guy, and that women are just the object of the celebration. YAY.

belledame222 said...

Well, no in fact; "gay" would be more about the veiled homoeroticism, disgust with women being entirely not necessary. what it DOES make him is

1) misogynist

2) sex-negative verging on phobic

3) possibly "absexual"

4) kind of vicariously embarrassing to read

thene said...

Absexual? I have learned a new word! People who seem to get off on saying how awful sex is, how no one benefits from doing it - where have I seen those before?

also, meant to say;

Why? Well, you take that attitude too far and the next thing you know, some men might start to get ideas. Who wants to remain joined in matrimony to an inferior being when he could be with his fellow man?

My understanding is that that sort of misogyny + related spiritual hoohah about how vaginas would leech at your special manly energy is why teh gay was pretty widespread among samurai. (it is possible that my understanding sucks).

belledame222 said...

Carol Queen's term.

and yeah, thing is--sure, sometimes overt homoeroticism goes hand in hand with misogyny--see ancient Greece, for instance (as opposed to our society, which is both homophobic and homosocial); I just get really leery because a number of bigots tend to seize on this as proof that Teh Gay is a) male b) anti-female (see: Anita Bryant, Phyllis Schlafly, and yep some of our favorite cultural feminists)

Rootietoot said...

"For example, the Boston Globe reported June 29, 2003, that "nearly 40 percent" of the 5,700 homosexual couples who have entered into "civil unions" in Vermont "have had a previous heterosexual marriage."

And how many heterosexual marriages are second marriages? That particular statistic is meaningless!

Well, I know my relationship is based on so flawed a foundation that just being in the same county as a gay couple makes me want to rush off and do naughty things with other women.

Silly men. How sad to feel so insecure in one's own skin.

stassa said...

Ah. The lovely Orthodox Church. Bless them. Just don't let them bless you.

Just a few days ago, the Greek Honly Synod, the Greek church Congress so to speak, declared that "any relationship outside marriage is prostitution", marriage meaning religious marriage in their context. And, yeah "any relationship" includes civil marriage... That was in response to a new civil partnership law being planned these days, to which of course the church is rabidly opposed as it would "open the gates to grave and serious sins", to wit, homosexuality and so on.

The funny thing, though not really funny, is that the proposed civil partnership is specifically inclusive of heterosexual couples only, leaving gays and lesbians out in the cold...

stevethehydra said...

Wow. The exact anti-particle to the androphobic, "political lesbian" radfems. Maybe we should just throw them at each other and hope the resulting matter/anti-matter explosion is big enough to destroy patriarchy and heteronormativity...

Anonymous said...

Wow. The exact anti-particle to the androphobic, "political lesbian" radfems

That's right - piss off Stormy and this guy gets a nose-bleed.

belledame222 said...

meanwhile, poor Natalia's getting trolls from both ends of the spectrum...

thene said...

stassa - that's an intriguing civil partnership arrangement. Did Greece previously not have civil marriage at all? (I know a few countries don't, such as Israel). There's been talk of doing the same in the UK - there's demand for civil partnerships for heteros, as well as for marriages for queers. (Sadly a legal challenge from two women who'd married in Canada and wanted that recognised in the UK failed a while ago). The former is at least partially about feminism, as in 'I'm not touching that institution with a ten-foot pole.'

Anonymous said...

I made the mistake of reading this at work. So hard not to laugh out loud.

*gold*