Knew there was a reason I worshipped this guy.

[elisi]

Joss posted a call to arms on Whedonesque yesterday: Let's Watch A Girl Get Beaten To Death. A snippet:

What is wrong with women?

I mean wrong. Physically. Spiritually. Something unnatural, something destructive, something that needs to be corrected.

How did more than half the people in the world come out incorrectly? I have spent a good part of my life trying to do that math, and I’m no closer to a viable equation. And I have yet to find a culture that doesn’t buy into it. Women’s inferiority – in fact, their malevolence -- is as ingrained in American popular culture as it is anywhere they’re sporting burkhas. I find it in movies, I hear it in the jokes of colleagues, I see it plastered on billboards, and not just the ones for horror movies. Women are weak. Women are manipulative. Women are somehow morally unfinished. (Objectification: another tangential rant avoided.) And the logical extension of this line of thinking is that women are, at the very least, expendable.

[snip]

It’s safe to say that I’ve snapped. That something broke, like one of those robots you can conquer with a logical conundrum. All my life I’ve looked at this faulty equation, trying to understand, and I’ve shorted out. I don’t pretend to be a great guy; I know really really well about objectification, trust me. And I’m not for a second going down the “women are saints” route – that just leads to more stone-throwing (and occasional Joan-burning). I just think there is the staggering imbalance in the world that we all just take for granted. If we were all told the sky was evil, or at best a little embarrassing, and we ought not look at it, wouldn’t that tradition eventually fall apart? (I was going to use ‘trees’ as my example, but at the rate we’re getting rid of them I’m pretty sure we really do think they’re evil. See how all rants become one?)



Thanks to germaine_pet for the link.

What's wrong with the world? Can we fix it?

ETA: Also, in case you never saw it:

Joss' Equality Now speech: "Why do you write such strong women characters?"

Comments

[azdak.livejournal.com]

Hee - thanks for the link! Joss is a funny, funny man - and so like Xander it's uncanny.

[elisi]

My pleasure.

and so like Xander it's uncanny.
If Xander was short and ginger... *g* Actually Joss is even more like Wash! (Still, not surprising really. Heh.)

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Great rant by Joss - and creepily timely, as I'm just working on a fic where a) Willow stumps the Buffybot with a logical conundrum, and b) there's a lot of talk about empowerment. Me and Joss - two who pee in a pod or whatever that expression is. o_O

Also, because I'm currently reading Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita In Tehran, which deals a lot precisely with the religious oppression of women and an attempt to get at the "logic" behind it. Recommended.

What's wrong with the world? Can we fix it?

I think we can make it better, but not fix it. People are, taken as a species, selfish idiots and will remain so unless something happens to change us on a biological level. Change can happen, but it takes time - sadly, a long time. But what's the phrase - "the longest journey begins with one step"?

[elisi]

Me and Joss - two who pee in a pod or whatever that expression is. o_O
Hmmm... I need to get an invite to that pod! ;)

Recommended.
Will look into it - some day when I get around to reading books again.

Change can happen, but it takes time - sadly, a long time.
*nods*

[ruuger]

I'm a bit two minds about Joss' post; on one hand, I appreciate the sentiment and am glad he's using his position to spread the message, but on the other, I'm somewhat uncomfortable with some of his choices of words.

What's boggling me, though, are all the commenters in the post who apparently had never heard of honor killings before. Don't they follow the news at all? I'd like to think that all the comments that sound like they think Joss invented feminism are from sheltered teenagers, but since I recognised few screennames, sadly, that's not the case.

[elisi]

I'm somewhat uncomfortable with some of his choices of words.
Well it's obviously a spur-of-the-moment rant. That's not to say that he didn't choose his words with some care, but if this was a speech or article or some such he'd probably have thought more about it.

What's boggling me, though, are all the commenters in the post who apparently had never heard of honor killings before.
*Seriously*? I've not actually read the comments, but that just beggars belief.

[ruuger]

Some of the comments in that thread are just... *boggles*

kellyhk made a great post about how Joss' good intentions are going to waste when a lot of the people at Whedonesque seem to be more interested in impressing him than actually doing anything concrete.

[elisi]

Must check out her post - thanks!

[courtnificus.livejournal.com]

It felt so good seeing a link to this on my friends page. I tried to link a friend of mine to it, because I needed to feel like I wasn't the only one who had read it, but it was too disturbing for her to read and I felt alone in it until now. Silly really, because all the whedonesque people obviously read it.
I've got Joss' Equlity Now speech somewhere in my lj too. I think it's a truly beautiful thing.
He might be going crazy with the comics, but he is still my hero.

[elisi]

It felt so good seeing a link to this on my friends page.
:) It's deeply uncomfortable of course, but it's not going to go away, is it?

I've got Joss' Equlity Now speech somewhere in my lj too. I think it's a truly beautiful thing.
His biggest, speciallest talent of all is to be funny *and* profound. Dunno how he does it.

He might be going crazy with the comics, but he is still my hero.
Same here. And who hasn't written (or read) crack!fic? And liked it?

[rhiannonhero.livejournal.com]

Well, I suppose that I'll forgive him the Willow-didn't-kill-Warren BS in exchange for this. ;)

[elisi]

Yeah. :) When it matters he can really bring it!

[kitmarlowescot2.livejournal.com]

You know that link so explains Joss and his actions. He is so much like Xander, and Wash. And he can be as truth telling as Spike. I wonder if Buffy and Joss ever argued in his head ?

[elisi]

You know that link so explains Joss and his actions. He is so much like Xander, and Wash.
Isn't he just? And yet I'd never accuse those characters of Marty-Stu-dom. Joss is made of awesome.

I wonder if Buffy and Joss ever argued in his head ?
Probably. (Also see this post!)