HNT Supplement: Metrics of Desire

You take some pretty high-quality photos. Are you a professional, or just a well-practiced hobbyist? happy HNT

HNT supplement??? I see.. I have to scroll down a long long way... ;-))
I like them both... but the original is my favorite!
HHNT!

I have mixed feelings about the poem. I know men who have been through similar ordeals regarding their Ph.D thesis.

I wonder if sometimes we don't confuse general arrogant, self-centered, hierarchical thinking with "hatred of women, specifically." I don't think that all hierarchical thinking is patriarchal and I don't think that all power struggles are gender based. It may be splitting hairs, but I think some are primarily economically based.

Perhaps I am being sensitive to the use of the word "misogyny." I have friends who have told me horrifying stories of relations with men who were truly and unabashedly misogynist. I feel that using misogyny as a synonym for sexism (or what may be elitism, not even sexism), waters it down and strips the word of some of it's meaning.

I have the same hairbrush being held in the other hand!

[I think that Christina's comment to this post was intended for the my post, The Women's Studies Program Not Taken. So I will include her comment and my response in the comments sections of both posts. -- Kochanie]

Christina B. stated:

I have mixed feelings about the poem. I know men who have been through similar ordeals regarding their Ph.D thesis.
I wonder if sometimes we don't confuse general arrogant, self-centered, hierarchical thinking with "hatred of women, specifically." I don't think that all hierarchical thinking is patriarchal and I don't think that all power struggles are gender based. It may be splitting hairs, but I think some are primarily economically based.
Perhaps I am being sensitive to the use of the word "misogyny." I have friends who have told me horrifying stories of relations with men who were truly and unabashedly misogynist. I feel that using misogyny as a synonym for sexism (or what may be elitism, not even sexism), waters it down and strips the word of some of it's meaning.

Kochanie's response:
I agree that judgments and actions based on economic or social class may not be the same as sexism or misogyny, as Figleaf demonstrated in his post, Cabana Boys. The fact that classism, sexism, ableism and racism often travel together makes it difficult to distinguish one from the other. However, I think that all these "isms" are manifestations of the same harmful thinking, i.e., that some people can speak with authority, avoid criminal prosecution and enjoy economic rewards simply by virtue of their membership in the "right" class, gender, physique or ethnic background.

Yes, men who are Ph.D. candidates have had their dissertations torn apart by other academics who have attained tenured status. The Department Chair who eviscerates a man's thesis may be a woman who struggled to attain her academic position and may even call herself a feminist. Women are fully capable of misogyny, as demonstrated by those who disparage a male colleague by saying "he thinks or acts like a girl."

However, in Olds' poem The Defense, there is sufficient evidence of misogyny. The muttering of jokes (har, har, har) which are not shared with the pregnant Ph.D. candidate indicate that she is the butt of those jokes. The fact that her advisor does not show up is an indication that he is not willing to incur the displeasure of his male colleagues to defend a woman who is so bold as to write a thesis so free of footnotes. In my opinion, I see this ripping of Olds' thesis as an act of classism, sexism and misogyny:

Classism because "how dare she submit a thesis that does not conform to the same standards we had to follow to get to where we are."

Sexism because "a thesis that is metaphorical is something only a woman who consider doing, and who does she think she is anyway?"

Misogyny because the criticism offered is framed in smirks and jokes, and you have to be a goddamned misogynist to tell a pregnant woman "we'll give you nine months to get this right."

Thanks for you comment, Christina. And please feel free to reply if I missed your point.