Today is like… annoying. It’s close enough to Halloween that all I can think of are last-minute costumes I might somehow be able to pull off and whether I should try to make it to the parade this year, and yet I have many things keeping my brain otherwise occupied as well. Which leaves me feeling a little low on fodder for well-considered blog posts.
And so, my loves, I shall once again present you with some links and videos for your enlightenment and edification! Enjoy!
1) If you have not yet seen the video of a woman walking around the streets of New York in jeans and a T-shirt for ten hours, and being relentlessly catcalled the entire time, here it is. It’s going viral, and I’m glad it is.
Because it shows not only how annoying humans can be, in many cases, but also how pervasive this type of thing is. So pervasive it’s considered normal, and even acceptable. So acceptable that I’ve seen comment threads on it that side with the men who tell her–as she’s walking by, minding her own business, not bothering anybody–that she SHOULD SAY THANK YOU. So acceptable that when she remained impassive and silent, she was considered the rude party. So acceptable that I’ve seen people defending the catcallers (in comment threads), wondering what’s so wrong with saying hello to someone.
If you’ve watched the entire video and you have an idea of what it feels like to be a human being, chances are you may have picked up on this, but just in case you haven’t, allow me to explain: there’s nothing wrong with saying hello to someone, when what you mean by it is “Hello.” When what you mean by saying “Hello,” however, is “I find you sexually appealing and I want you to know that I do,” or “Because I find you sexually appealing, I expect you to feel flattered and respond to me,” or “Regardless of whatever mood you may be in, or how deep in thought you may be, or your own personal history–that I know nothing about–with being publicly addressed by strangers, I expect you to smile for my personal enjoyment,” the dynamic of the “Hello” changes.
When your “Hello” comes along with a blatant up-and-down once-over a person’s body and a clear sexual connotation, it becomes less benign. When it comes at the end of a several-block (or, in this case, all-day) walk during which that same kind of innuendo-laden “Hello” has already occurred several times–along with several demands to “smile” or comments on body parts or come-ons or requests for numbers… no matter how well-meaning you may feel your “Hello” is, chances are the person you are “Hello”-ing does not want to hear it.
It’s exhausting. It makes those of us who experience it grumpy. It makes us not want to smile, because apparently smiling is perceived as more appealing, sexually, than not smiling. And sometimes we don’t want to be appealing. Sometimes we don’t care if our appearance is acceptable to you. Sometimes we just want to be left alone. And that does not make us “bitchy.”
2) Porn star Lisa Ann is apparently dating a college football player from Notre Dame, and apparently the media is shocked and appalled by the fact that he is twenty-three years younger than she is. And it is cracking her up. On Friday, she tweeted:
This is YET another one of those times where i can say with a smile.. YOLO — Lisa Ann (@thereallisaann) October 24, 2014
Get it, girl!
3) Ok, can I just talk for a moment about how much I love Daniel Radcliffe? I’m pretty geeky about it, and I’ll totally admit in public that I want us to become best friends, so take my adoration with a grain of salt… But he just keeps getting cooler. Not only can he rap like it’s his job, but he’s absolutely a complete feminist and he’s not afraid to say it. Check this out:
Did you catch that? When told it was weird that he was a sex symbol now that the world has seen him grow up onscreen, he immediately responds, “Well, the male population has had no problem sexualizing Emma Watson immediately.”
BOOM! This is what a feminist looks like!
4) Meanwhile, in sex symbol territory, um… I won’t tell you how much of a dork I am about Benedict Cumberbatch. He does things like this.
And that’s lovely. (That photo, btw, was for the Elle UK first-ever feminism edition, which features Emma Watson on the cover!)
And he also… talks about how Sherlock would bone. In an interview. And I. Cannot. Focus. On anything. Now. And neither can you, if you have a pulse and you just read that.