Am I going to need a feminism icon? Oh god.

[dragojustine]

- The Feminist Carnival of Sexual Freedom and Autonomy is back, with tons and tons of really good links to thinky thoughts.

- Why This Queer Isn't Celebrating is also good in the thinky-thoughts department.

- Sexism at the Home Depot, part God-knows-what in a series: I walk in to the hardware department to ask the guy- a charming grandfatherly type of gentleman- some questions about changing locks. He says to me (I quote) "Do you have a husband? I can just show you what to buy, and he can take care of it real easy."

*facepalm*

He went on to be really really nice to me, including grabbing a screwdriver and unscrewing one of their display models to show me. Which was interesting and helpful even if it was patronizing ("Now, you'll just have to borrow a Philips screwdriver- that's one like this, see, with a cross on it?" OH GOD), and I'm glad he did it.

I am always amused by the allowances we make for generational differences. I mean, if he had been under 30, I would have been really sorely tempted to punch him in the nose, and I would have walked out fuming. Instead, the guy was over 65 and I'm just shaking my head ruefully and going "oh, bless his heart."

Comments

[the-shoshanna.livejournal.com]

I recall a doctor telling me, at the age of 25, 'that's a big word for a little girl to use' when I told him I had dermagraphism. I was too stunned to really give my reply the snark he deserved.

When I was about 32 and a grad student at Johns Hopkins, I had severe back spasms and was referred to the head of sports medicine there (en route to an eventual physical therapist, who did wonders). This late-middle-aged male doctor -- who had with him a younger male trainee doctor who was supposed to observe and learn from the great man -- did some screening to make sure I actually had a back injury rather than, y'know, spinal cancer or whatever: did I have tingling or numbness elsewhere, etc. And as we sat in chairs facing each other, he gestured vaguely toward my groin and asked, "Do you have any trouble with your -- goodies?"

I KID YOU NOT.

I did manage to say, "Is that what they taught you in medical school?"

dragojustine, you were a lot more generous to the Home Depot guy than I think I would have been. But then, I'm a lot closer to his age!

[dragojustine.livejournal.com]

*jaw drops* That is really amusing, in a "God help us" kind of way.

[janedavitt.livejournal.com]

I'm typing with my jaw dropped and my eyes wide. Goodies? Good grief.

That's just... are no words.