Gone Girl

Courtesy of Hurricane Sandy, I found myself with a bit of free time and picked up Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl.  It. Was. Fantastic.  

While I desperately want to talk about the plot, I also don't want to risk spoiling it for anyone who hasn't gotten to it yet.  (Go out and read it already!)  

Instead, I'll focus on one of my favorite passages, told from the viewpoint of wife Amy:

"Men always say that as the defining compliment, don’t they? She’s a cool girl. Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, loves threesomes and anal sex, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she’s hosting the world’s biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding... Men actually think this girl exists."

That's pretty much how I feel every time I happen to look at Maxim (shudder).  I started to look for links to prove the validity of that passage, but I got too grossed out.  (Thanks, Internet.)  Instead, I'll just point to today's article in Jezebel about the new "Good Girl Gina" meme making the rounds.  :-|

p.s.  As a total aside, I'm not sure what it says about me that I found myself relating to Amy.

How To Be A Woman

My latest read is Caitlin Moran's "How To Be A Feminist."  I enjoyed it, although I wouldn't say it was my favorite read of the year.  Unfortunately, the author has a propensity to TYPE IN ALL CAPS WHEN MAKING HER POINT, and nothing is more of a turn-off than the dreaded all caps.  (Well, perhaps some things are more of a turn off, but, you know.)

A friend called the book as "pop feminism", and I'd wager that's a pretty accurate description (see, e.g., the chapter on how Katie Price is harmful to women, whereas Lady Gaga is a symbol of empowerment).  And while I didn't think the book was particularly earth-shattering, I thought that Moran raised some interesting points.  For instance, when discussing clothing:

"Women are just supposed to be Good at Clothes, and to look down on those who aren't -- who screw up even one outfit, as evidenced by all those "Circle of Shame"/"What Was She Thinking?" spreads in every magazine and every tabloid newspaper every week.  Prominent female politicians are lambasted for a single pair of "wrong" shoes.  At its best -- and I love a nice frock -- fashion is a game.  But for women, it's a compulsory game, like netball."

I suppose that arguably -- especially in New York -- mores are changing, and men are also being judged by their attire.  Still, I think that the degree to which women are judged by their appearance, and expected to look a certain way, far outweighs the pressure felt by male counterparts.

Also entertaining:  Moran devotes a chapter to strip clubs and contrasts them to burlesque clubs, and argues that the former are objectionable whereas the latter are permissible.  Although she makes several points, she ends with:

"Do you know what the final rule of thumb is with strip clubs?  Gay men wouldn't be seen dead in Spearmint Rhino - but you can't move for them in a burlesque joint.  As a rule of thumb, you can always tell if a place is culturally healthy for women when the gays start rocking it."

Touche!