FEMINARCISSISM

I am doing three very useful things these days. I am keeping up pretences. I am being a true Bong [and as any potential India’s child genius will inform you, lethargy is our god-gifted left…err…right. And we exploit it with god-gifted viciousness.] And I am reading a LOT of blogs.
And I chanced upon posts after posts of highly opinionated examinations of Feminism. A word that generates awe, some and ful(l).

Feminism is overrated these days.
Or maybe over-feminism is rated these days.
Pity…

I can understand an attack on the flouting of fundamental human rights. When dirty, dark secrets have to be exhumed to recognize the decay, the stench, the absolute putrefaction of human sensibility. What else could possibly explain foeticide, dowry murders, rape?? Or child labour, mistreatment of the aged, killing because you are angry??
These are atrocities which need to be addressed with immediate deliberation. And I can understand an outfit solely dedicated to the cause of atrocities committed against women. And maybe the women who constitute this outfit can be acknowledged as ‘feminists’ [I do so wish to coin ‘sexagenarianists’ or ‘anti-child-labourists’]. But when the issues start leaning towards reservation for women, or blatant male bashing I start feeling squeamish [and without consuming any Kerala Hotel delicacies thank you very much!].
These are NON-issues. Seriously. We raise a hue and cry over reservation for SC/ST across educational institutions across the country, and rightly so because admission should after all, be contingent on merit, pure merit and nothing else! And honestly, in trying to assist the unprivileged SC/ST contenders the government in fact is fleeing from the real issue. Why are these people unprivileged? Because of an ineffective distribution of resources, of a failed mechanism to mobilize the poorer sections, of a highly facetious program that was intended to provide primary education to all but ended up making some lucky insiders richer.
Reservation for women has a similar tinge. Instead of demanding for the rightful reservation for us underprivileged women, the focus should AGAIN be on merit, and to rehabilitate the provincial mindset which would subsequently accommodate educated and working women in our daily lives. And I believe with rehabilitation and regulation this is possible.
I once overheard in an obviously feministic circle, “Women here are either male haters or male adulators.” And I was greatly disturbed. The idea is to encourage looser communication between the sexes. But the stray comment indicated a great dependency or worse, a greater detachment. It indicated a limitation, a boundary wall that fenced out anatomical adversaries. It was almost as ridiculous as the Berlin Wall – East Germany Communists fencing out the West Germany Fascists [and shooting anyone who dared to crossover!] Almost. And the intensity of ‘feministic’ gestures began grating against my intellect [of what I claim of course].
Such discussions are futile and fruitless. Whether C.S. Lewis is a sexist porcine specimen because the ‘bad guy’ in his Chronicles is a ‘wicked witch’. I mean there are giants on the witch's side in the book, so lets join forces against all tall people? Whether Virginia Woolf deliberately embraces lesbian themes because ‘only a woman can truly understand another’. It could reflect genuine companionship or a communion of minds, and have little relation to the genders of the characters. Because even if the characters are symbols of the authors’ mindset, the characters can be construed as per the readers’ discretion. And such [very] subtle and [very] discreet themes will seldom instigate a revolution of women-degradation or women-emancipation. Period.

I am headed to watch the Chronicles of Narnia right now with my girlfriends. Movie, magic, masti is being anticipated with much excitement.
Yes I love girls’ nights.
And I love being a woman more.
But feminarcissists are overrated.

Goodnight.

PS - The snap was uploaded for sheer humour quotient...hyuk hyuk!!
PPS - I NEVER throw stones at boys...ROFL!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

greetings!
i could'nt possibly agree more with miss ghosh here! I believe in equality even at the "expense" of chivalry,so I encourage my dates to foot the bill as often as i do, and when they foot the bill more often then i do, i feel proud of myself.
sigh!
jokes apart "feminism" has been redefined from "womens liberation" to the more media friendly "girl power" in the cosmopolitan age(well i am also refering to the magazine which i believe is partly responsible). while the key issues on the basis of which the word was coined by activists long ago seem to remain "issues that need some attention", the word "feminism " is synonymous with the jingoistic phrase " girls jus wanna have fun " thanks to one miss cindi lauper!
great post miss ghosh!
cheers
pai

MISSquoted** said...

aaaah sir...next time we head out for one of our meals together i shall remember to 'foot the bill' and reinstate your faith in our shaken and battered pride ;-)

till next time we meet...

yours warmly-a potential educated woman[who hopes for employment!!]
cheers!

Anonymous said...

how odd? i was just about to blog on the very same topic! although it might not have been half as verbose as this one. hats off miss ghosh! i shall retreat the battered shelter of my blog to think of something else to write

MISSquoted** said...

well i would suggest you commence with your post anyway...it would be interesting to read your take on it ;-)

and i was a bit too verbose wsnt i??

Anonymous said...

not all men are chauvanists...not all chauvanists are men. does that sum it up? :)

MISSquoted** said...

i acquiesce...

Tathar Faelivrin said...

thank u!....finally someone up against "Girl Power"....

I was scared of thinkin that one fine day i'll wake up with the whole world turned bright pink!

Ai Ai Ai.......i totally agree with u, traitor to ur own kind.

But i find one thing very wrong i nur post....
KERALA HOTEL ROCKS!!!! AAAAHHH!!!