BAD BEHAVIORÂ
I will start by saying I – maybe just like you – have a hard time turning my brain off long enough to fall asleep at night. Its especially difficult to shut off noise directed at yourself (myself) or the guilt associated with questionable decisions you’ve (I’ve) made. Self induced sleep deprivation isn’t all bad though. It implies you (I) have a conscience, which separates you (me) from those psychopaths on Criminal Minds or those sociopaths on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. At least, that’s what I tell myself.
In any case, one such sleepless night followed my boyfriend reciting the list you see above. “24 Signs She’s a Slut”. You may have seen this very "article" on your own newsfeed . . . the lesser (or shamelessly curious) of you may have even indulged. I digress, by one degree of separation I am just as guilty – if not more so – than those of you who did. I sat, listened and showed mild amusement as he read the icky list of “tell tale indicators that a girl is a slut” that included her “boob size” whether or not she had “divorced parents" and if she claimed to be a “feminist”. Like I said, Ick. Laying in bed with my eyes wide and ears thumping I tried to make sense of why I hadn’t slapped my boyfriend who had laughed uproariously no less than three time while reading the list and in doing so wordlessly agreed with its content. But worse, I couldn’t escape my own guilt. My flippant twitching smile and open ears had betrayed my female voice and my intelligence to date.
So why is it that someone like me, who was raised to passionately reject the objectification of women and gender oppression of any kind freezes in the presence of such blatant woman bashing? And why is it that someone like my boyfriend, who is educated, liberal, loves women and agrees we are just as smart and tough and deserving of equal pay as men laughs jovially in agreement that any girl with big boobs is probably a slut?
I like the viral Facebook lists when they are reminding me what cartoon characters only kids from the 90’s will understand or showing me the top ten times Nick Cage looked like he might poop himself on screen because those are fun and hilarious . . but “24 Signs She’s a Slut” and “15 Indications He’s Cheating On You” I can do without. Because if nothing else, they are completely MISLEADING; some girls with huge jugs and tattoos are total teases, and some guys who hide their bank records from their girlfriends just don’t want them to know that they are drug dealers. More importantly, they have the power to turn the likes of me into a 1960’s housewife and my boyfriend into a chauvinistic Golden Retriever. Let’s stop that nonsense.
