Men and Ladies 1: Seems like there's not enough hours in the day...

If people were raping each other as frequently as Melissa McEwan, of the fairly radical feminist blog Shakesville, seems to believe, one hardly believes there would be enough hours in the day to carry out such basic human functions as eating, sleeping, breathing, maintaining atomic cohesion... you know, those kinds of luxuries. If the world truly was as Ms. McEwan sees it (well, I shouldn't say that... according to theoretical physics the world is exactly as she sees it... but only to her) mankind would simple wander through life, ramming prick first into anything that didn't move out of the way quickly enough. There would be no pyramids, no poetry... nothing, nothing but constant, violent sex. Well, some people do go through life like that--most of the ones I've encountered are either crunkcore kids or belong to fraternities--but most of us, I like to think, strive for something a little bit more. Or, at least, we simply don't have the kind of energy to maintain the level of malevolence that this lady-person seems to credit the human male with. Life is hard enough without tying Penelope Pitstop to a railroad track and twirling your mustache while laughing evilly, isn't it? I don't mean to suggest that Ms. McEwan doesn't have a personal experience with this sort of thing (she tells us about it ad nauseum, with very little provocation, and it does give her an agenda, which she carries out noisily), or that terrible people don't do terrible things (they certainly do!), but most people are neither noble nor terrible.

I used to take blogs like Shakesville and Pandagon more seriously than I do now. It lead to a fairly nightmarish few months where I attempted to navigate a world--as a fairly massive, imposing 300 pounds of bone and muscle--where I had begun to believe that every female-type person that I might find desirable was looking at me and thinking, "Ew, look at that scary, gross sex criminal!" I probably caused some offense, during these few months, by demurring away from and blowing off girls who were friendly--and may have even been interested in going out with me!--out of fear that I was bothering them. Even during walks around campus and stuff, I would sometimes avert my eyes to avoid striking people with my "Gaze," as some of the feminist type people say. It caused me constant anxiety attacks, and these left me totally drained of energy and even made me kind of depressed. Well, maybe not depressed so much as just exhausted and frustrated. As you can imagine, I didn't get a whole lot of dates during this period. None, actually. I don't even think B. and I went out any during these few months, and we were supposed to be in a relationship, as our facebook statuses said (but that's a different story for a different time). I feel somewhat differently now, and look at these blogs and those that post and comment on them with a mixture of irritation and pity. I'm not afraid to talk to people, anymore, and am much happier. My facebook isn't in a relationship, now, but I'm able to communicate and make friends and go on dates. I haven't offensively Gazed at anyone, and no one has offensively Gazed back. I just try to 'be friendly,' as Adam the Minstrel would say, much like the advice I gave a few posts back. You know how to be friendly, don't you?