Sunday, December 02, 2007

Modern Love Blah Blah Blah

Today's Modern Love is your typical, not-particularly-well-thought-out firestorm igniter. In case you don't feel like clicking: woman is hideously mistreated by her sorority sisters, comes to mistrust all women, finds her mistrust justified in every group of women she encounters.

I can already tell you the response to come: sorority sisters will protest that their sororities generated life-long bonds of love and support, people will say that this proves women suck, and eventually the author will blog about how dismayed she was by the response, and how once again her opinion of women has been proven (and Daniel Jones will rub his hands together and cackle with glee).

Could it be that, justifiably scarred by her terrible sorority experience, this woman has ever since approached other women with suspicion and a carefully-maintained wall of reserve? And perhaps other women have noticed this, and held back, leaving her feeling isolated and alone?

God, I sound terribly like a victim-blamer, which I do not mean to be. But I firmly believe that some people suck, lots of people don't, and, for the most part (not always, sometimes you are dealing with terrible people, and sometimes bad things just happen), what you get back has a lot to do with what you put out.

And now I can link to this Doonesbury cartoon, which I just loved, for every reason you can imagine.

3 comments:

Libby said...

I agree, that piece was annoying. What happened to her was awful, yes, but the whole mistrusting all women (and not all men, who of course behaved plenty badly, too) thing lost me. Sigh. And I'm the last person to defend sororities...

Sinda said...

I haven't really read a good Modern Love recently, at least that I can remember. And the Sunday Styles is the first part of the paper I open, in part b/c of the Modern Love essays.

I felt sorry for her - you're right, she won't try to trust women, and seems to be waiting for all women to prove her theory over and over again. Also, it seemed like she was holding women to a higher standard than men.

postacademic said...

Isn't it funny how Sunday Styles has become the first, most Sundayish, part of Sunday? My response to this week's Modern Love was - duh - OF COURSE sorority girls are mean and two faced and hypocritical. Most "normal" people are ("fucking normal people. I hate em"). Anyways, I couldn't help but notice that Modern Love columnist lives in Piedmont, CA, aka, Sorority City. I really wish she'd say fuck those normal mean girls and come over to the dark side, aka, Oakland.
And all that date rape / "ledge party" / fraternity - sorority bullshit? Listen sister, (I'd say to her), it's never too late to become a pissed off aging punk rocker!