Why are strong women seen as the enemy?

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If strong women are the enemies, then who are the allies?

So: I saw this movie trailer last night with none other than Morgan Freeman playing a crazy scientist spouting insane BS about how humans hardly use any of their brain capacity.

Where does this come from? I remember ignorant new age people claiming that "we only use 10% of our brain power" while advocating crystals and pyramids and whatnot... I thought we were long done with this rubbish, but here it is again...

Anyway, the point is that scientist Morgan had created a superwoman in his lab who used all of her brain power and thereby had magical abilities to control matter and the minds of others and all sorts of other mumbo jumbo.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2872732/

And I was watching the trailer for this shockingly dumb, anti-science, anti-reality entertainment, "Lucy," and I thought, "this reminds me of another film... but which..?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114508/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Both movies feature attractive women who are somehow possessed of internal superpowers and thereby threaten humanity.

What is this thing about? I thought. Oh yes, the cultural myths make female power evil. The power of these women is not really their alien DNA or 90% activated brains, it is their hotness. This is why the movie doesn't have the alien DNA in a goofy looking guy or an ancient lady.... (that would automatically become the witch, myth anyway)

So what do these movies tell us? In some of the deeper myths of the culture, female sexuality and female power are terrifying threats and this will be a source of horror in popular entertainment for the foreseeable future.

I've only come back to WP since joining the unemployment line in April or just before (I believe, can't remember exactly when I came back now). It is funny because I actually thought I had mentioned I know her at some point as well, but I didn't want to state this as I couldn't have said where/when it had happened (or if I was remembering correctly--I'm sure it didn't really seem like something I would need to remember at the time) and I'm sure he would have asked for proof.

Either way, I don't particularly feel as though I have something I need to prove to anyone.

'Against the power of Mordor there can be no Victory' No... that was Sauron. Nevermind.

Yeah, pretty much. But that's what most of the civilizing-impulse stuff is about: tamping down these stories that say "X is the enemy" and making them socially unacceptable. Women are terrifying threats, immigrants are terrifying threats, the Japs, Huns, Jews, Russkies, Puerto Ricans, Catholics, gays, you name it. Us 'n them.

This whole craziness about vaccines started because there was a spike in autism and as soon as it hit the news, autism was the new bogeyman. Much like AIDS a few decades before. And people reacted with predictable stupidity. Ten years on, autism's a lot more ordinary, everyone knows someone who's autistic, it's not a plague, and the anti-vaxxers who're creating public health crises out of fear of autism are getting savaged.

The main "don't be an idiot" thing about sexism, racism, whateverism is only partly about the obvious foolishness and injustice of the slurs -- it's also about living together reasonably harmoniously. I think one of the best things that's happened over the last few decades is how blended and blurred identities have become: mixed-race and mixed-religion marriages are so common you'd have to be seriously oldfashioned to bat an eye, the range of "how it's okay to be a woman" is tremendously expanded, wall-to-wall heteronormativity's gone away many places, disability doesn't mean quite what it used to, and gender's now top of the list for breakdown. I mean I think that if there's a real division in the US right now it's between "people are people" and "there are kinds of people and the kinds matter" types.

You'd have to understand the context; SA and NTL basically come as a package deal on the forum, as arguing with one is likely to draw the other into a tag team attack, which I've witnessed or been on the receiving end of numerous times, and knowing that they have a preexisting personal relationship outside of WP explains a lot of their behavior and alters the way their posts regarding each other should be viewed. Think of it like politics or advertising; do you think it's important to know that the person praising or criticizing a product, politician, idea, etc has a personal connection to the object of their praise/criticism? Do you evaluate claims differently when they come from paid spokespeople vs more impartial observers? I'm not talking about a conflict of interest in the professional or legal sense here, merely as far as it affects the evaluation of opinion.

You know, I really hate it when smart people act stupid in order to score points, it's demeaning to everyone involved. Or are you really going to claim that pointing out that someone's preexisting relationship calls their supportive opinion posts into question is tantamount to spinning a conspiracy?

Also, where were you when Nights_Like_These was actually going on about a Spam conspiracy in the other thread? http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp6129548.html#6129548

Oh look, standard issue feminist 'guilt by association' fallacy; "Evil Group X has used words to these effect in the past, therefore anyone using them now must be associated with Evil Group X!". That, and considering the tone you take with OOM, I'm surprised she only told you that you should to get laid.

Sorry, guess I wasn't fixated enough on you to notice these posts in completely unrelated areas of the forum that had nothing to do with me or anything under discussion here...



Show me where I said the word 'conspiracy', I'll wait.

You really are lucky, you know, most people need to make sockpuppet accounts in order to have personal attack dogs that leap to their defense whenever they get in over their heads, that obediently chime in whenever their master makes a "point", that growl and bark on command.... Lucky, lucky, lucky.



Take off the floppy shoes, you're beclowning yourself.

Points for speaking up, deduction for not actually rebuking that ridiculous post. Isn't that what feminists keep demanding that men do amongst themselves, 'that's not cool, bro' and such when someone gets out of line?

I'm only coming across like this because I'm arguing this topic. If I was talking about something else, I wouldn't be at all this way.

When you think of a strong woman you may very well think of the Ann Romano, Mary Richards, Mrs Walton etc type. They were strong because they went through and survived some pretty bad hardships. I agree. The hardships I survived weren't of that type. Mine were of the running through hell wearing gasoline drawers type. The getting beat down, ripped off, used, abused, fooled, mindfucked, screwed over, played, humiliated, and forced to do humiliating things, being convinced I was either too weak, too ugly, too stupid, too just something, to ever be worth anything. Being convinced of being worthless and being treated worse than if I were. Being used for sex, money, drugs, and a good laugh at my expense. You have no idea of lots of the crap I went through and the situations that I either put myself in or let myself be forced into because of some of the things in my past, none of which were remotely pleasant. I don't go into some of that here. The bullying, yeah, I'll talk about that all day. The abusive ex husband, yeah, I'll tell you all about the beatings and even the way he would steal from me. I wasn't abused by parents or family or anything, just told that I was weak and fragile and could never do anything. The rest of the people in my life, outside my family were the ones who did all the really bad things to me, and mindfucked me so I thought I deserved it. Some of the things that happened or that I was forced to do, you'll never know. They even embarrass me and humiliate me to this day,and I'm very hard to embarrass.

I walked into that world of those people with rose colored glasses and blinders and no self esteem at all and was kicked right to the bottom of the s**t heap to be used however somebody needed at the time. And for a while, I was GRATEFUL TO BE THERE BECAUSE IT WAS THE MOST ACCEPTANCE I EVER GOT. This was even after my high school friends had taught me how to not be so shy and awkward and to try and stand up for myself. I was dazzled by being in what was a popular crowd of pretty bad boys, and I paid the price. I walked into it with my emotions and mind as tender as a toddlers bare feet, and was made to metaphorically walk miles and miles across broken glass and hot coals and when I faltered or protested I was beat down until I would just do it to make the beatings stop. My feet grew callouses and the skin got thicker. I eventually got out of that, but before I did, I had to learn to survive it and even learn to view it as some kind of normal life that I could be content with. That's what made me tough. Not glass ceilings and grabby bosses and strangers calling me "little lady" and an incident or two of violent assault. I lived violent assault for years, not rape because I basically agreed to it because I didn't want a beating from the ex. Even if it wasn't him that the sex was with but something he set up for some stupid ass thing he wanted in exchange. And thats the LEAST of it from him.

I'm a very compassionate person because I know what it's like to be helpless, scared, hopeless, upset, hurt, offended, etc. I do try to help people like that, and while at times I can be pushy with them I never try to belittle them unless they are just douches about everything and blame everybody else, like the whiner guys who blame all women, and even then I've tried to help them out at first. I just know that if I could live through the hell that my life was, survive it, move past it and learn to make damn sure that nothing like that ever happens to me again, that they can too. I also learned to trust my judgment and that I'm worth a hell of a lot more than I thought I was. Most people who get in those situations and most people who feel that they are perpetual victims, and people who feel too weak and helpless to change anything for themselves also probably feel that they aren't worth nearly as much as they really are.

So don't try and define for me what I think made me strong. You don't even know a quarter of what actually did it, and you probably never will. There are things that even I won't talk about and feel embarrassed about. I have no reason to relive the humiliation and degradation in my mind by typing about any of it. I also don't have to, because the past is past and it's done with and I have more respect for my own self worth than to drag it up and mull it over and put it on display for everybody to either pity me about, vilify me about, accuse me of lying about, or use it in some later argument against me.

Belittling somebody doesn't make you strong, but surviving a life filled with others belittling you and doing a whole lot more and a hell of a whole lot worse does.

What you really should understand is this is only one side of the story, actually. As for me being a paid spokesperson............I can totally see how being a friend to someone is the same thing as being a paid spokesperson when discussing issues that you both have an interest in. Think about it as politics or advertising??? This is neither of those things so why should we think of it as such?

I imagine that the people of WP "evaluate claims" by using their brains to consider their merit? Just a thought, as I'm sure they're not all sitting around looking through the various threads trying to find the person with the right ideas to do their thinking for them. I wonder, if I were to make my own little list about you, how many examples of you implying the stupidity of others that I could find.

Again, you can take whatever view that you wish of my presence here and it matters very little to me and I trust others will be able to make up their own minds about me just as well.

If the worst that happens is you stop taking me seriously, then I'll consider that a fair deal since I stopped taking you seriously many many threads ago.

I tip my hat to you, Silly Man.

Now I must away and practice my tag-team sneak attacks. Also, Starvingartist, maybe you could come up with a design for a "SA's Attack Dog" t-shirt so I can wear my colours with pride.

I'm surprised you're surprised considering the tone OOM takes with everyone she disagrees with.

I can't say I've ever seen Tarantella EVER talk to someone using a "tone" deserving of the comment, "you need to get laid".

(Edit: Don't take my word for it though, people. I'm just the resident "paid spokesperson" after all)

Well, are you saying miserable things to them? Sneering, belittling, etc, as you've done often enough on this thread? If you are, I'm not at all surprised that one will step up for the other. Friends do this, it's part of what makes them friends. It's not dishonest or unfair.



So it's impossible for friends to see things reasonably or disagree? I don't think that's true at all. Friendship and paid/power relationships aren't the same thing, and if you think they are, I think you've got an unhappy view of friendship.

Spam Conspiracy. lol Now THAT'S funny. I was merely suggesting that the people going on and on about canned mystery meat in the middle of a serious discussion about a serious issue might be doing so as their way of laughing at the people trying to take the issue seriously. This hardly constitutes a "Spam Conspiracy," but I kind of like it, so I see why you rolled with it.

It's called an analogy, people use them to draw comparisons to help others understand concepts, they're not supposed to be perfect corollaries. I also never said you were paid, though at this point it's amongst the smallest of your lies, not really worth getting into anything over.



Well, in an ideal world, that's how things would work, but it's sadly not often the case around here. For example, this young lady dismissed a story out of hand without even reading it simply based on her own assumption of bias from the source, and then rebuked the person who cited it for lacking "critical thinking":
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp5988001.html#5988001
Clearly, people take potential biases seriously around here when evaluating claims.



What does that have to do with anything? Am I promoting myself as someone who never implies other people are stupid while simultaneously making exactly said implications? Like how you keep attacking people for things both you and starvingartist do regularly, often in the same thread in which you're complaining? Did you catch that I'm implying that you're both raging hypocrites there? Also, you're both raging hypocrites, in case you did miss it. (guess what I'm implying now!)



You thought I ever took you seriously? I did rather patiently try to explain to you how words work that one time back in PPR, but I don't think that really counts.

You lie like a rug in the sand, this is at least the third time you've 'washed your hands' of me, and yet you keep coming back for more; you took me so seriously in the original 'treatment of women on WP' thread that you repeatedly tried to show me the door, which is not how you ignore someone properly.