Stumble It!
The war on boys-will-be-boys
The Baby Cakes is all boy -- snakes and snails and puppy dogs' tails -- a perfect foil to his sister, Sweet Tiny Pea, who is sugar and spice and everything nice. Actually, both descriptions fit either sibling, as no one loves to pet more than Babe (aka Mr. Cuddles), and no one but no one is more ferocious than Tiny (No prisoners!) when defending her territory against intruding felines. Even so, he is totally masculine, and she is totally feminine, and vive la difference.
Who decides what mental health is, anyway? It varies from era to era. History shows -- as if anyone but those deep into Freudian denial didn't know it in their bones -- that definitions of mental health, like history itself, are written by the victors of whatever "war" we're in at the moment (The unthinking acceptance of the "war on" meme itself, applied to the societal ill du jour, is a perfect example of the dynamic). In this case -- blogged here -- with Bush commissioners abetted by Sheila Jackson-Lee & Company calling for so-called mental-health screening of all public-school kids, it looks like the Marxist feminists have won the latest skirmish in the war on boys-will-be-boys. The way we understand it, the grumpy old women have sold the powers that be on their misandrous [there actually is such a word, if only in answer to the question "What is the opposite of misogynous?"] notion that normal boy behavior -- you know, snakes and snails and puppy dogs' tails -- is pathological and must be stomped out wherever it occurs, with Ritalin and such if necessary. If parents object, sue 'em for child abuse. Has there ever been a better argument for tort reform?
Can't post again. We've got a big, juicy one -- "McCain in the Balance" re John McCain's embrace of junk science -- ready to go, and Typepad is asleep at the switch again. 'Guess we'll go chew on nails for awhile to calm ourselves down.
Posted by: Sissy Willis | November 19, 2004 at 01:02 PM
Yup, misandry is the male version of misogyny. General dislike of people is, of course, misanthropy.
Posted by: David Gillies | November 20, 2004 at 04:54 PM