Cat Calling.
Cat-calling is of course not the same thing as rape except
to those who choose to react the same way to it. Were matters other-wise, a
simple pass would make [my friend who had been a rape victim]’s Post-Traumatic
Stress flare up like a Salinger novel. Feminism presupposes naively that women
are the victim class and that men are victimizers by class. But not only does
this perpetuate Gender Division and not only does it muddle Potentiality and Actuality. This mentality is in fact very naiive.
When I last went to Palomar College, a major stressor in my life was a fellow named [Simon Braille]. People who have counseled me and interpreted my dreams have intuited the enduring impact that he had upon me, one that while it leant colour to my prior semester there all so overcast it with gray and leant relief to my departure.
Simon insisted upon a psychiatric diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia that I grew steadily to believe.
He attested that he had been in multiple fights with gang members, some of which ended in murder, and he was 'green-lighted' by the local Diablos gang. He professed a knowledge of multiple martial arts, as well as a tremendous capacity for using Psychic Energy, the latter of which I can at least attest to, for I could Feel his aggressive, oppressive Presence in areas some times before seeing evidence that he was there. Most interestingly, though, he prided himself in an ethical code that was demonstrably more unyielding than that of anyone he or I had ever met.
Among his ethics I might imagine or remember that he would not hit a girl.
He attested that he had been in multiple fights with gang members, some of which ended in murder, and he was 'green-lighted' by the local Diablos gang. He professed a knowledge of multiple martial arts, as well as a tremendous capacity for using Psychic Energy, the latter of which I can at least attest to, for I could Feel his aggressive, oppressive Presence in areas some times before seeing evidence that he was there. Most interestingly, though, he prided himself in an ethical code that was demonstrably more unyielding than that of anyone he or I had ever met.
Among his ethics I might imagine or remember that he would not hit a girl.
For a while, I felt unsafe upon campus. I knew that he had the sovereignty and the wherewithal to find me on campus wherever I may be and however stupid his reason. I simply did not have the sanctity to know how to respond, and in this Kafka-esque scenario it seemed possible that simply speaking my mind would warrant a potentially fatal ass-kicking. Not one of us really understood how Simon's mind worked.
I feel indebted to Simon in a way I have not felt indebted to anyone else. Not only did I really first have to affirm my masculinity and bear the sword of discretion, in the Campbellian sense, marking a transformation that my best friend could intuit and showed a look of unspoken approval for, in order to write for him a note asserting my boundaries. I befriended him.
Over time, not only did I see more and more of myself within the beast and vice versa. I saw to an incredible degree that his neuroses were but the intensification of very conventional neuroses that passed for normality amongst a relatively boring class that scoffed at us as they passed us in the night.
Simon became my only reliable guide through an Under-world that I cannot fairly say that he had created.
To this day I value social deviance indispensably and tend to regard social norms and 'personal bubbles' as abstractions borne from entitlement.
And I am reminded thus of another deviant by the name of [Frank Bonobo].
Usually, when I tried to film people without their prior consent I would be met first with reproof, at best stopping there, and at worst someone would snatch my camera from me. Frank was the first person I had met who not only allowed his self to be filmed but was offended that I would make him self-conscious by asking for permission.
Frank was a sexual deviant in the sense that he was a pick-up artist. Yet besides that there were a number of unconventional things about him. The first was his marriage, which put an end to his promiscuous days (supposedly).
Secondly was the fact that he had successfully kicked an addictive drug habit. And third and most peculiar was that, while he criticised my virginity, he never coerced me into doing things or out of doing others. The organisation that he was starting was aimed at promoting sexual freedom under respectable auspices.
My best friend had entertained the prospect of pick-up artistry under these auspices: That nine out of ten women would say 'No', but the solitary 'Yes' would be worth the candle. That solitary Yes would thus constitute a sexual minority and an instance of social deviance.
Rape restricts the freedom of the victim, but cat-calling does not.
An invitation to casual sex does not restrict a woman's freedom, for she has innumerable ways to respond, whereas in the absence of such an invitation she could not respond at all. Is one a victim? I thought myself to be a victim of Simon's bullying, until I realised that I was being irresponsible for blaming him. I tried to restrict his freedom and his actions because I felt entitled to a false sense of security and would not take responsibility for my own. I had a beloved friend who committed suicide, and amidst her complaints about the World was that she would get cat-calls every day. Yet was she a victim of the cat-calls or of an ideology that made her feel herself to be a victim? The Buddha said: There are two darts. One that the other casts and the one that you cast at yourself in response. The prevalence of these advances does not entail that they are a majority; were they, one would arguably not notice. While it may not happen 'to me', if I am to be held responsible for some degree of social awareness then my democratic insight on this matter must not be marginalised.
To me, sexual deviance is a strange thing, but I have a love for strange things that brings me into greater harmony with my self and the world.
The feminist movement, rather than promoting sexual liberation, reminds me of the sort of organisation that turns Mount Everest into a tourist attraction and then bans entry to it. Its aim at villifying sexual advances would have at its ultimate consummation the elimination of a sexual social narrative that caters to the tastes of a deviant minority bent on finding more of their kind and promoting a lifestyle that does not subordinate its self to a largely ethnocentric view of what respectful behaviour is, abstracting away from man's animal nature to a constructed conception of the 'Human Being'.
I do not know for certain that I could produce a witness to these claims. One girl I know had sex with eight different men in one week in Minnesota, yet she does not talk to me any more for nebulous reasons.
Frankly, I do not have time. The example that I will provide and close with is an instance recently that I was walking home and some one barked at me from a passing car. This habit on the part of young people, especially at night-time, would startle and un-nerve me in the past. One time, I even raged back, and I felt embarassed. This time, it had been a dog. I was taken a back. I thought: We fear and loathe oppression if a human does it because it challenges our views of what the 'Human Being' is. We do not want to see ourselves, basically and biologically, as animals.
dm.A.A.
It may be true that I only cited examples here of the male perspective. Yet it is all so untrue, because I did not use anyone's argument on the ethics of the matter, constructing my own from a number of disparate life experiences with people of both genders. [My best friend's argument, which I used to great effect, was not an ethical observation so much as the contemplation of a life choice.]
Anyone who delivers an ad-hominem against me on these grounds will be guilty of sexism. Aside from that, I have three points that have all ready been made implicitly in my argument:
1. It is quite obvious that some women enjoy the attention. Pick-up artistry would not retain its popularity other-wise. Frank's wife, my promiscuous lady friend, and a number of college women (upon whom I saw this hypothesis proven in a youtube video demonstrating "pick-up lines") would probably testify. Some women I have met on public transit all so seemed to pretty much expect to be hit upon, and they seemed disappointed even not to be, judging by mood. Others -- a bit younger -- mistook my platonic advances for sexual or romantic advances.
2. These women constitute a minority. I have all ready proven this.
3. The very fact that I cannot produce an immediate example should stand as evidence for my sexual regularities. It would if anything bolster my Ethos as an objective, non-partisan observer. Only were it not so that being "non-partisan" is impossible in the face of a radical fanatic who is possessed of the Us-Them and We-We modes. To be clear: I have done the best I can to step out of my gender and to be objective with the knowledge that life has allotted me serendipitously and without my interference. Yet to some people I will never be more than an ignorant prick. So be it.
Over time, not only did I see more and more of myself within the beast and vice versa. I saw to an incredible degree that his neuroses were but the intensification of very conventional neuroses that passed for normality amongst a relatively boring class that scoffed at us as they passed us in the night.
Simon became my only reliable guide through an Under-world that I cannot fairly say that he had created.
To this day I value social deviance indispensably and tend to regard social norms and 'personal bubbles' as abstractions borne from entitlement.
And I am reminded thus of another deviant by the name of [Frank Bonobo].
Usually, when I tried to film people without their prior consent I would be met first with reproof, at best stopping there, and at worst someone would snatch my camera from me. Frank was the first person I had met who not only allowed his self to be filmed but was offended that I would make him self-conscious by asking for permission.
Frank was a sexual deviant in the sense that he was a pick-up artist. Yet besides that there were a number of unconventional things about him. The first was his marriage, which put an end to his promiscuous days (supposedly).
Secondly was the fact that he had successfully kicked an addictive drug habit. And third and most peculiar was that, while he criticised my virginity, he never coerced me into doing things or out of doing others. The organisation that he was starting was aimed at promoting sexual freedom under respectable auspices.
My best friend had entertained the prospect of pick-up artistry under these auspices: That nine out of ten women would say 'No', but the solitary 'Yes' would be worth the candle. That solitary Yes would thus constitute a sexual minority and an instance of social deviance.
Rape restricts the freedom of the victim, but cat-calling does not.
An invitation to casual sex does not restrict a woman's freedom, for she has innumerable ways to respond, whereas in the absence of such an invitation she could not respond at all. Is one a victim? I thought myself to be a victim of Simon's bullying, until I realised that I was being irresponsible for blaming him. I tried to restrict his freedom and his actions because I felt entitled to a false sense of security and would not take responsibility for my own. I had a beloved friend who committed suicide, and amidst her complaints about the World was that she would get cat-calls every day. Yet was she a victim of the cat-calls or of an ideology that made her feel herself to be a victim? The Buddha said: There are two darts. One that the other casts and the one that you cast at yourself in response. The prevalence of these advances does not entail that they are a majority; were they, one would arguably not notice. While it may not happen 'to me', if I am to be held responsible for some degree of social awareness then my democratic insight on this matter must not be marginalised.
To me, sexual deviance is a strange thing, but I have a love for strange things that brings me into greater harmony with my self and the world.
The feminist movement, rather than promoting sexual liberation, reminds me of the sort of organisation that turns Mount Everest into a tourist attraction and then bans entry to it. Its aim at villifying sexual advances would have at its ultimate consummation the elimination of a sexual social narrative that caters to the tastes of a deviant minority bent on finding more of their kind and promoting a lifestyle that does not subordinate its self to a largely ethnocentric view of what respectful behaviour is, abstracting away from man's animal nature to a constructed conception of the 'Human Being'.
I do not know for certain that I could produce a witness to these claims. One girl I know had sex with eight different men in one week in Minnesota, yet she does not talk to me any more for nebulous reasons.
Frankly, I do not have time. The example that I will provide and close with is an instance recently that I was walking home and some one barked at me from a passing car. This habit on the part of young people, especially at night-time, would startle and un-nerve me in the past. One time, I even raged back, and I felt embarassed. This time, it had been a dog. I was taken a back. I thought: We fear and loathe oppression if a human does it because it challenges our views of what the 'Human Being' is. We do not want to see ourselves, basically and biologically, as animals.
dm.A.A.
It may be true that I only cited examples here of the male perspective. Yet it is all so untrue, because I did not use anyone's argument on the ethics of the matter, constructing my own from a number of disparate life experiences with people of both genders. [My best friend's argument, which I used to great effect, was not an ethical observation so much as the contemplation of a life choice.]
Anyone who delivers an ad-hominem against me on these grounds will be guilty of sexism. Aside from that, I have three points that have all ready been made implicitly in my argument:
1. It is quite obvious that some women enjoy the attention. Pick-up artistry would not retain its popularity other-wise. Frank's wife, my promiscuous lady friend, and a number of college women (upon whom I saw this hypothesis proven in a youtube video demonstrating "pick-up lines") would probably testify. Some women I have met on public transit all so seemed to pretty much expect to be hit upon, and they seemed disappointed even not to be, judging by mood. Others -- a bit younger -- mistook my platonic advances for sexual or romantic advances.
2. These women constitute a minority. I have all ready proven this.
3. The very fact that I cannot produce an immediate example should stand as evidence for my sexual regularities. It would if anything bolster my Ethos as an objective, non-partisan observer. Only were it not so that being "non-partisan" is impossible in the face of a radical fanatic who is possessed of the Us-Them and We-We modes. To be clear: I have done the best I can to step out of my gender and to be objective with the knowledge that life has allotted me serendipitously and without my interference. Yet to some people I will never be more than an ignorant prick. So be it.
No comments:
Post a Comment