...he would have been called a stone cold bitch. The infamous rants of "Bad Steve" would have been labeled as "PMSing" and dismissed, or added to the weight of evidence of the female Steve as a "ball-buster" or "castrating female."
I am by no means the first to make note of this contrast, but it serves me well in reiterating a point that I have made before in this sad little egoism I call a blog: considering all the wrongs in this world, the one we must right first is the oppression of women.
Much has been written of late of the last "okay" prejudice; the most recent stirrings have been in relation to "The Book of Mormon" on Broadway. But before that it was fat people and various others have laid claim to the title - people with behavioral health diagnoses, Muslims, etc.
What is never addressed in these various complaints is that within those last "okay" prejudices lies the real one: women. If you think fat people have it bad, fat women have it worse (one of the condemnations of male obese people is that it makes them seem womanish - to be compared to a woman is an insult). If you think Mormons are discriminated against, understand that within the Mormon faith, women are held in prejudice.
Now, some one say that a man writing about women's oppression is simply another case of prejudice - I am assuming that the roles assigned to females are oppressive out of prejudice toward those roles. I will leave others to sort that out. What I know is, as long as it is okay that the ranks of female CEO's is shrinking, that the disparity of wages is accepted (if given lip service), that only men can drive in some cultures, that in some cultures women can be killed simply for doing what men do, I will maintain my prejudice.
To me, the oppression of women is the core of all other wrongs in this world. If you want to improve the lot of Africans, improve the lot of African women; if you want to improve the conditions in Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran or Libya, improve conditions for women; if you want to bring Bangladeshis out of the mire of their flooded delta, or bring Myanmar out of the closet, or improve the conditions of all people in the state of Mississippi - improve the lot of their women.
At the heart of all antimodernist (antimodernism being the heart of all ultra-conservative perspectives) movements, be they supporters of Sharia, Christian Reconstructionists or Mormon Fundamentalists, is a dramatic constriction of the liberties of women - often described as a return to basic values.
At the dark, moist heart of the discontent of the Beached White Male is the entry of women into the labor force.
Nothing in the history of the world has been so enduring and so damaging to our global civilization as the organized and sanctioned oppression of women.
If we really want to bring meaningful change to the world, end the oppression of women across it. Every other needed change will descend from that.
