Chapter Seven: Massachusetts Catfish Disaster Relief

There's no real explanation for tonight's title. Well, there is, but it would take far too long to explain. It's just something I wrote down from Poli-Sci lecture that amused me. Probably one of the most intriguing word combinations I've heard in a long while.

This just in, Firefox does not believe "Combination" can be pluralized.

It was a nice, if uninteresting day. The evening was nice to walk home in, a light rain. In short story we talked "The Lottery" and "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas," which I read on the wrong day but greatly enjoyed. And I ran into the train girl again today, talked TV and geekdom.

Yesterday was a busy day, lots of zipping around for comics and such, then went out for a study sesh with Robyn. I used it to catch up on some other short stories as well as writing out a summary of a story I intend to write, whose idea had been in a very vague state prior (whereas most are well refined.... in my head.)

A few nights ago I was privy to a rather intense discussion about circumcision. It was actually kinda fascinating to see how it stirred up people. Without getting too into the gory details (about the process itself or about the argument) it came down to the question of "why should women care?" My major contribution was an Arrested Development reference: "Hands off our penises." Perhaps because of the obscurity of the reference, that touched off a lot negative backlash, including "Hands off our legs/breasts/fannies/uteruses." Apparently a lot of women equate circumcision with leg/bikini waxing. And abortion. It was a very confusing argument at points. Some women were against circumcision, saying they did not prefer the aesthetic (mostly being neutral or occasionally anti) and/or didn't buy into the hygiene issue.

But a lot of women, as I said, no matter their actual opinion on circumcision, took offense at asking why the appearance of a penis mattered, because of all the guff men give them about their aforementioned breasts and bushes and other parts. A lot of them wouldn't take the (perfectly reasonable) counter-argument that hair grows back and breast implants can be removed, and are done in adulthood when they can consent to it. Some men, but far from the majority, get to a point in life when they think "I should get this foreskin removed." And then, whatever. But we're talking about a procedure that is done primarily on infants, when they can't get a say one way or the other. So this choice, made before rational thought is possible, is then used as a measurement of penile attractiveness? I don't get it.

My personal take on it is that genitals are not attractive, and aren't meant to be. Yeah, guys like hairlessness on women, so there's vanity there, but as someone once said "It all looks the same in the dark." All I wanted to know was why a woman should care, and I guess I got my answer, albeit indirectly. If I had to draw a conclusion, it would be that the women who do care harbor resentment about male aesthetic preferences for the female body, so this is them taking their measure of payback. It's not equal, it's not even close to the same thing (neither, for the record, is female circumcision - that's way worse.) I'm sticking with "sex parts are ugly no matter what, but they're fun to use." Let's leave it at that.

Oh, and yes, some women equated it with abortion. That's messed up.

One last thing was that a lot of women immediately assumed I was sexist/bigoted/chauvinist/shallow. I'm not. I'm just mystified as to the thought process, trying to understand a different perspective. It was the Arrested Development quote, as I said, that touched off the firestorm. This just proves the theory that the world would be a better place if everyone had watched that show. Not only would we still have it, but then you could make a reference at any point and not worry if they were going to get it. On the downside, you'd lose that disappointed-yet-superior feeling if they didn't.

I guess that's as good a place to leave off as any. Wow, I talked a lot about genitals tonight. That's just how boring my life is. The to-do list has gotten lengthy again though. So I have tomorrow off to take care of something or other.

Last week or so, I was on the subway, and from behind I see this couple snuggling up on the seat. I have mixed feelings about public displays of affection, as both a desperately lonely guy and an avid voyeur. So as I passed to get off at Union, I paid them a (hopefully non-judgmental) glimpse and just as I see the little spoon pecking the big one on the cheek with a kiss, I notice they're both women. I get this feeling that lesbian couples think that any stranger that so much as glances at them is judging them, or at least gawking like they've never seen (real) lesbians before. A lot of people probably are. I imagine this is the thought they had of me as I walked away, but of course, I am somewhat proud to say this is not the case, although I don't make a point to talk much about it, because people are people, right? Anyway, I hope I gave off more of a "good for you" vibe, but one has so little control over these things, and in the end the moment was so fleeting, what the hell does it matter anyway, right?

Psh. I'm not so enlightened from knowing people who are gay. I'm just less inclined to rubberneck.

Keep on rockin'
-Scotto