Wednesday evening roundup and ramble

GMOs may have made weeds resistant to Agent Orange.


Here's another conservative take on moochergate.

Mr. Frum leaves a lot unsaid (for example, that medications designated as oral contraceptives have medicinal purposes and so may serve a medical need, and thus should not be denied by anything that calls itself health insurance, whether or not that insurance is provided by a religious institution; also, that most of Ms. Fluke's testimony concerned these medicinal purposes), but he also makes many excellent points. I had not seen so many slurs against Sandra Fluke so efficiently collected in one column.

Look, I was a grad student at Georgetown, not for its Jesuit affiliation, but because it's the best. This was the case for the vast majority of my classmates, and probably for many of the university's students. If the university is to provide health insurance, which it did, through Kaiser, that insurance had better cover students' (and employees') medical needs.

In that context, see what Naomi Wolf has to say.

Life is so much better when you love your body. Unconditionally.  Because you can have issues at size 2 as well as size 24. How does this statement mesh with my recent rants? First of all, a big source of my rants is the hypocrisy (women have to "take care of" their bodies, men don't? really?), the kind-of gross Date Lab guys who have the audacity to say they're date's not hot enough for them. It's a f* you, too.


Second, this is a complex issue. Like I said, I wouldn't wish body obsession or hatred or insecurity on anyone. I mean that. And like I said above, I resent it when men who let themselves go, dare comment on women's appearance. Also, I can only speak for me when I say that I have a hard time feeling physically/chemically attracted to overweight guys. Like I said yesterday, I have no justification for that; it's merely a fact. And I'm aware, and glad, that other women don't feel the same way. I have friends who are more attracted to the 'few extra pounds' look. More power to them, and more power to the few-pounds-extra guys, unless they're bloviating about how women should be thinner. I know that two wrongs don't make a right, and so slamming guys for being overweight doesn't help big-and-beautiful women. So please understand that I'm slamming men for being overweight while being critical of women's bodies. Yes, I know, it's not (necessarily) the same men. I think I'm just fatigued by all the BS--see Naomi Wolf's article, again--and all of this has been going on for eternity, but being back in the dating pool has made me annoyed at the male species. See my friend's comments from this morning or last night (it's all a blur), or another friend's comments from many years ago (but that she'll continue to repeat): "who does that guy in sweatpants think he is that he could get me??" Right?? Who do these guys think they are?


Let's talk about sweatpants for a minute. I think I rambled/ranted a few months ago about the apparently offensive Piperlime ad ("everytime you where sweatpants, a single man leaves NYC" or something). My comment at the time was, that would be an excellent point if it were gender-neutral. Which was the same comment I made about the "article" stating that women should be pleasant rather than whiny or angry. But I digress.

A friend/coworker whose style I admire told me today that I always dressed well for work, and that, in a conversation that she and her husband were having about the way people dress for work, I came up as a positive example. I was flattered (and told her as much, and returned the compliment).  My transition to "well-dressed" happened some time in the last decade, as I transitioned from grad student to having a full-time job (with a full-time income, I might add). It didn't take me long to understand that I could not f* around at this job, because, along with some pretty amazing people, there were a whole bunch of @$$holes who would pounce at any opportunity to undermine me, and I was not about to help them along by giving them any excuse not to take me seriously.

That dynamic is less transparent where I work now (actually, people generally dress very well, so to dress poorly would be to stand out), but the fact remains that the way one dresses influences people's perceptions. We were talking about this last week in Canada, because I felt bad that, after ironing the $hit out of my pants, a couple of creases remained. My coworkers joked that they'd report it up the chain of command, but my perspective was not about impressing my chain of command; it was about communicating to the people we'd meet with that I respected their time (at least enough to iron). And that's what it comes down to: sending the message that the people with whom you interact outside the house merit more attention to your appearance than, say, your cat.

I've also learned that, just like it doesn't take much longer or cost more to make healthy, tasty food than it does to eat crap, it doesn't take more time or much more money to dress well. You can throw on a nice dress in less time than it takes to throw on sweatpants. This is the main reason that I wear so many dresses: they are an elegant alternative to sweatpants. But if you can't even be bothered to change out of sweatpants, what kind of confidence does that inspire in someone you're trying to work with (or date)?

Do you see where I'm going with all this? Just like it's always $hitty to objectify women and be critical of their bodies, it is, in addition, hypocritical to do so when you're not exactly in tip-top shape. Where do you get off? And if you can't be bothered to put on clothes that don't entail a drawstring, quit hitting on women who put thought into the way they dress.


***
Andrewti, meet Brad.