Feminism

Every time I put myself in touch with the outside world, I feel like I have to put up a shield to avoid all the negative social commentary being thrust upon me. I've spent much of my three years in grad school dissecting movies and television in light of different social issues, so I suppose that has heightened my sensitivity somewhat.

Feminism has made amazing strides for women over the last 120 years and 60 years, but nearly everyday I am reminded of how sexist this world (or at the very least, country) is. This in turn reminds me of how shaped our world is to the white male. Being one, this is hard for me to say. I want things to be fair and equal. But when I go shopping for anything from a sleeping bag to a cd, I see how exploitive and prejudice we are.

My wife and I were scanning through the radio yesterday and landed on a country song that was saying something along the lines of how, in the midst of the feminizing of men (i.e. painted toenails), he still had a pair and was a real man. The song brought up so many passionate feelings in me, that it led to the creation of this blog. I've decided I can no longer remain silent outside of my own little world. This song is just wrong. Men are not made men by fighting or drinking beer or watching sports. Men are men(sorry to exclude the transgendered here). No two people in the world exhibit all the same emotions, actions and thoughts, much less an entire gender. We really need to move away from having all this rigid definitions and just let people be who they are.