By: Dani Langevin – September, 2015
There is a car commercial being aired that has three tongue and cheek elderly ladies having some fun with a male salesman. The old ladies throw down some cliché pickup lines, one kisses her own finger and plants on his mouth, and they make comments about his “rear end”.
It’s cute, it’s clever, and comical, but it is also sexual harassment. Because it is three older women ogling a much younger man, young enough to be their grandson, it’s acceptable. Let’s flip the coin. What if it were three elderly gentlemen and one very young female salesperson? I’m pretty sure we’d be sitting on our couches feeling a bit uncomfortable and maybe in need of a shower. Switch sexes and the whole scene is viewed in a totally different light.
Why is it okay for the older women to have inappropriate banter with the young man, but not the other way around? The world is full of inequities. Should we just accept them and move on or should this be yet another thing we find offensive and take efforts to make it stop? And the inequities do not stop with one’s sex.
I did not see Fifty Shades of Grey. I tried reading the first book, but couldn’t get past the first five pages. The writing was terrible. I understand the attraction of Hi-Lo books that offer a high level of interest (in this case sex) at a low reading level, however, E. L. James really sunk it to an incredibly low reading level yet made her rich. I digress. A major complaint of Fifty Shades was that it romanticized an abusive relationship and was swallowed (no pun intended) hook, line, and sinker by millions because it involved a wealthy, good-looking man. Replace that man with a grossly overweight, poverty stricken, unshaven, uneducated, unemployed cellar dweller and it will longer be called an erotic romance, but a sadistic prolonged rape. This time we are not switching sexes; we are switching financial and physical attributes.Is this fair? Why should the rich man have all the fun with no consequences where poor, fat guy with be jailed in a heartbeat.
Another subject I find interesting, inequitable and near to my heart is the gay community and those who make it up, both singular and in couplehood. Many straight men love lesbians and many straight women love gay men. However, it is for very different reasons. Straight men are lesbian lovers because somewhere in the back of their sexually driven adolescent minds they think they have some minute chance of being welcomed into a lesbian couple’s bed. Ain’t gonna happen boys. They’re lesbians; they don’t want what you have to offer. Sorry. Straight women, on the other hand, love gay men because they can shop, exchange fashion and redecorating secrets, gossip, and discuss men together. AND there are no straight women, that I know of, who like being around gay men because they hope to be invited into their bed with their gay lover. Sticking to this subject along with that of inequities, why do these women have a nick name-Fag Hags? The men who love lesbians don’t have a nickname. I’m going to give them one. From now on they will be known as Dyke Dogs. That makes it more equitable.
Speaking of names and/or labels, why is it that I am the only Valley Patriot columnist with one? I am “Dani Langevin-Lesbian Columnist”. No other columnist has a label. Well, I guess Puppy Girl has one, but I’m pretty sure if I were in the news for some nefarious act it would be made known to the public that I am a lesbian. Whereas, if Kate Whitney was on the news for the same reason they would simply use her name and NOT her Puppy Girl status unless of course it had to do with animals. They certainly wouldn’t mention that she is heterosexual. Here in lies another dissimilarity in how certain groups are treated or referred.
Why do we have these inequities between groups? Is it discrimination? As asked earlier, should they simply be accepted and ignored or addressed and changed? Should African Americans have accepted sitting at the back of the bus, and using separate entrances, water fountains and bathrooms? Should women accept lower pay and the view that they are the weaker sex? Should the confederate flag still be flying? Will there be a world where inequities and discrimination do not exist? This columnist has a very pessimist belief that they will always exist. Although this may be true, I do believe that we must do our best to work at leveling the playing field and view all people as equal and deserving the same inalienable rights without fear of discrimination or that others will receive preferential treatment. We must always strive to do better, be better, and make the world a better place. “The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it,” –Chief Joseph.