the evolution of a leader

So after that first marathon of the Walking Dead, I decided I could (mostly) handle the zombie killing and violence. This season has gotten messier though seeing as the zombies are now more wasted. The FX folks have added new layers of sound and squishiness that has me squirming while watching. If the show had smell-o-vision that would be the end of my watching.

The evolution of Carol has been great though. Not like Michonne’s friend Andrea, who I thought seemed to be willing to protect herself until she could find a man to protect her and then “every woman for herself” as far as she was concerned.

Sasha gets the “Angry Black Woman” sash for this show. Michonne  is a much rounder “angry”  than Sasha is but actually falls into the “mammie” ; nurturing, counseling and pumping up the young white chirren. (Rick and Carl).

I’m just identifying the tropes; I like the characters very much.

Carol started out as the battered woman with no agency separate from her role as battered woman. The writers developed her through that; arriving at this current season (10/2014) with Carol being able to use her knowledge, experience in the world to create the opportunity for  escape by the entire cabal AND return hope of a future by returning Judith and reuniting Sasha and Tyrese.

Hadn’t thought of it before but you could say that Carl is the present: violent, shaky and callous, striving for a sense of balance, under development every day. Judith is their potential future. Women are always the future.

I started with Carol and Leadership. There was a great line in 10/19 episode after the rescue. Rick has been the organizing gateway of the group based on his decision making and direction. Nobody gets in the group except they go through Rick. He acknowledged Carol as his equal in gateway keeping by saying that they were joining her. She didn’t deny it. Equals.

Feminism and the internets

I now believe it to be possible to hate the internets. It came over me suddenly as I began to google and link jump through articles tagged or categorized as “feminism”. This was by no means a search based on critical analysis and I didn’t expect to find unicorns, faerie and angel hair. I just thought there would be more… something, I don’t even know and I can’t explain the depth of my disappointment that the internets kinda sux and is basically a massively connected, collective assbag when it comes to the subject of women.

Felt like I needed to hose off my eyes. I feel better now.

Anyway, what started this search was that I watched the CBS show Under Cover Boss – Hooters. When this show was originally advertised I wanted to watch it. Wasn’t watching much television at the time so I missed it. Now I have that on-demand channel and it’s available. There were four episodes to choose from and I was almost immediately drawn to the Hooters episode.

Hooter’s is not a place I would frequent because the premise itself  “wings, beer, and scantily clad women” clearly indicates to me that I’m not their demographic. Went there after a sponsored motorcycle ride and again cemented my impression that I am not their target customer.

I know I live in a  capitalist, patriarchal, hypocritical, misogynistic society. Hooters is one of the many consequences of that. I’m reconciled. I have no rants for that really since I’m a capitalist myself. The women who work on the frontline as “Hooter’s girls” are doing a job and although the uniform sux as a uniform, I get how it’s not a big deal for some folks. As you go up the chain of the system that makes that job possible, that’s where we get into trouble.

Three highlights:

  • when faced with several women who stated their objections to Hooter’s based on the idea that the Hooter’s image is harmful to women, particularly the uniforms, Undercover Boss looked surprised. He felt really concerned that “the stigma” is still out there and wondered what he could do to change that without really changing the Hooter girl or the Hooter girl uniform.
  • when faced with a manager who demonstrated the misogyny that Hooter’s encourages or at the very minimum is complicit with, Undercover Boss looked pained. But the way he monologued to the camera, led me to believe that he has internalized the misogyny. “It seems he [the manager] understood the brand, but didn’t understand how to treat the brand.” The brand being the WOMEN! Now whether these “reindeer games” were encouraged from a producers standpoint or this was this guy just doing himself projected to the rear seats, either way it should have been a train wreck. Turned out just to be a pothole.
  • One Hooter girl when faced with hearing how other women feel about the Hooter girl and the Hooter girl uniform said, “Well, doesn’t matter, their husbands will still come in.”

all of this led to the aforementioned search starting with trying to find out what happened to that manager and ending with my bafflement that some people don’t get why feminism continues to be important.

Some definitions:

feminism-the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men.

misogony-hatred, dislike, or mistrust of women

That is all.