Some Thoughts on Things

I have been a crap blogger lately. Mostly due to low mood and forgetting to take my medication. So here are some thoughts on things.

• David Mitchell writes in the Guardian about men's grooming. He does point out the privilege that men up until fairly recently have had "Ours will be the traumatised transitional generation of men: born into a cosy world where we were allowed, indeed supposed, to care less about our appearance than women – as secure in that as a Russian aristocrat in the obedience of his serfs." He also points out that "The convention that women should put on make-up, stress about not wearing the same dress as someone else and struggle womanfully against the signs of ageing, while men can scrub up merely by putting on a dark suit and dabbing at the dried gravy patches with some damp kitchen roll, is arbitrary. Men like me who say it's vain to try and look nice are hypocrites who care just as much about how they're perceived, only in a different way." And of course, being David Mitchell, he is writing for humour. But men should be allowed, as women should be, to get dressed 'nicely' without being judged for it. That should be self evident. But apparently it isn't, reading the comments.
  
• It sucks, trying to have feminist heroines. I used to love Germaine Greer. I read 'The Female Eunuch' at nineteen and it made me a feminist. I also loved that she seemed not to take herself too seriously. She was always appearing on panel shows like the bubble and never mind the buzzcocks. No ivory towers for her. Then I read this, by another one of my heroines, Kate Bornstein. And...no. Sorry, Ms. Greer. Transgendered people aren't 'ghastly parodies.' They're people. And anyone who thinks differently gets no support or admiration from me. It's not about cookies or proving that I'm a good ally. It's being a decent person. Something that Germaine Greer, for all that's she's done, seems to have failed at.
• I'm going to stop being so uptight about grammar on the interwebs. Because although I like it and am fond of it, I'm showing privilege. As this tumblr pointed out. (And you should read that tumblr anyway, because the...tumblrist is awesome. I wish I was that articulate at 19. ) I want to buy her a beverage of her choice.
• I have almost finished making a sweater out of 4ply on 3mm needles. FUCK YES.
  
• On Saturday I made cookies with oreos inside them. It was a comment on American Imperialism. Actually, no. They were delicious. DOES ANYONE WANT ANY.
• Sometimes it's best to shut up and listen.
• Mum, when a woman is smoking and wearing leopard print, I don't think that's playing into a stereotype. I think "There's a woman making her own choices about health and fashion." Which I am in support of, obvs. Also, I am buying a leopard print cardigan off TradeMe. And I like leopard print and red.
  
• I am very excited about the The Stroppery.