- Women who are freaking out over New Moon the movie, and the Twilight series in general. Ok, I admit I've read all the books. I thought the first one was good, and that the fourth one was decent in the way all the loose ends were tied up. There are reasons why these books are bestsellers; not everyone who's read them is an idiot, ok? But here's the thing. This series is about an obsessive relationship, so it's most appealing to people who have obsessive personalities. I just didn't realize there were so many women like that. I find it really disturbing. I find it particularly disturbing to see women who are supposedly in a healthy marital relationship and should know better obsessing over these books/movies. Obsession is not healthy, ladies. It's not true love. Obsession blinds you to to things like, oh, for example, your lover is a controlling, blood-sucking monster and you're being a jerk to all the people around you because of your attachment to him. Obsession warps your ability to see things clearly, and that is a bad thing. Stop investing yourselves in unhealthy, obsessive fantasies. Stop shelling out money to support a movie industry that already churns out increasingly worse rom-coms. And PLEASE stop the squealing.
- Women at BYU who are freaking out over BYU's recent decision to close the Women's Research Institute. See this article, "BYU students rally to champion women's research" from the Salt Lake Tribune. This quote from Sara Vranes made me laugh:
It is significant, if only in a nominal way, that the only space at BYU explicitly dedicated to disarming the hurtful effects of silencing women will now be, beyond argument, silenced.
First of all, has this person heard of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? It's really into this charity thing, getting people to recognize their limitless divine worth, and highlighting the importance of each gender in the Plan of Salvation. Every part of the Church, including BYU, is prepared to "disarm the hurtful effects of silencing women"—or any other group that deserves to be heard (which would be any group that believes in peaceful discourse, regardless of differences in belief or opinion). The presence or absence of this institute is irrelevant to the Church's viewpoint towards women, which has always been and will always be one of great care and respect.
My second thought is, it's strange how the people who fight for equal rights seem to be the last ones to realize that winning the fight means being treated like everyone else. You're not special anymore. Whatever hurts and indignities your group has suffered are over with, they're history. You are not entitled to extra money and attention just because of something you were born to. I wonder how long Sara Vranes will feel personally victimized by silencing she has never had to endure. I went to BYU. I never interacted with the WRI and hadn't even heard of it until I read about this, actually. I never felt like BYU, the administration running it, or any person I met there presented any barriers whatsoever to my happiness or success because I was a woman. The fight is won, ladies. If we still want money and attention, why don't we do something that merits it, huh?
Fortunately, the members of these two groups do not represent a significant number, if any, of my closest girlfriends, so I plan to completely enjoy our Ladies' Night Out tomorrow!
9 comments:
Somehow this post showed up on my Google reader, even though it has yet to show up on Erin's blog. I have no idea why.
But I did want to utter a hearty, "Amen, sister!" to everything you said here. It's good to know I'm not the only one who isn't drooling over New Moon and ALSO not the only one who didn't think I was being "silenced" during my many years at BYU.
Thank you for demonstrating some sanity.
Sarah, we need to put you in charge of the world. I think you need to write a book of common sense so more people can think like you. You're wonderful and such an entertaining writer.
I'm totally with you on New Moon - I heard on the radio that they've come out with an Edward barbie doll and I just about lost my lunch.
While I certainly cannot predict the good or bad that might come from closing the WRI, I think some people do have legitimate reasons for being upset. After some searching about it, I found this blog post that I think provides a good point of view:
http://the-exponent.com/2009/11/05/save-the-womens-research-institute/
You and I weren't involved in the WRI while we were there, but it does play a vital role in others' experiences at BYU. And she does make a good point with all the great research they've been doing. But I also like that she's not interested in talking about the whole silencing of women thing and recognizes that as unproductive.
Personally, I can't get myself worked up about it since I don't have that personal connection and, as I said before, can't predict whether this move will be good or bad in the long-term.
Thanks Sarah for eloquently verbalizing my feelings, especially about the whole Twilight thing. Being obsessed is analogous to being addicted, which is the yielding up one's agency. Hmmm, I can think of lots of good reasons why giving away your agency is a poor choice.
Thanks for the comments!
Erin, thanks for the link to that blog post, it was good food for thought. I think there are things every girl has to get through to understand her place in the world, and it looks like the WRI helped there. I started wondering about gender studies in general, because I think males have a similar struggle in identifying themselves in a world with conflicting messages about what it means to be a man. I dunno. Part of me disagrees with having institutions like the WRI simply because there is no Men's Research Institute to balance it. And because some people would be really angry if there was a MRI. I'm wary of any group that demands tolerance but upon closer inspection is not tolerant of anybody else. Surprising how often that happens! But yeah, I'm with you, it's hard to say how this decision will affect BYU. I'm confident, though, that women will continue to find the answers they need as they seek them.
Having never read the "Twilight" series, I can't really say much about that movie obsession other than I tend to agree with you. Remember how obsessed some people got about "Titanic" when it came out (I still cringe when I hear Celine Dion's version of "My Heart Will Go On"). However, there may be some who believe this "obsession" is not any different from the Harry Potter craze, which was a little more bearable for me.
Although I DID read the Harry Potter series, I could never get into the hype of it, especially after we happened to be awake around midnight during the event of one book's release (I couldn't tell you which one) and checked out the local bookstore just to see if they had a copy. They were sold out and so we all felt pretty disgusted about the total waste of time. Never before and never again!
So, I guess what I'm understanding is that some movies are worth a little excitement and others are not. However, no movie is worth obsessing over.
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