Stupid Feminist Spoil-Sport

[trinityvixen]

My Uncle, he of the many inappropriate, downright racist, conservative "joke" e-mails, has done it again.



PART I


PART II


PART III


PART IV


PART V


The five offensive parts can be summed up thusly:
WYMUN R PROBLEMS! THEY IS VOLATILE LIEK CHEMI-KALS. HA HA HA MAN NEVER WIN FIGHTS! MAKING SEX GOOD FOR WOMEN 2 HARD! BITCHES SPEND TOO MUCH TIME AND $$ AT THE MALL.

I find that all so hilarious. So I said as much. Not violently, not angrily (as best I could, at any rate), and even with self-censored vulgarity kept to a minimum. My response to the family is the same as the all-caps above but with less rage:
"Aren't stereotypes so much more fun than real humor? Ha ha ha, women are irritable, capricious b****es, ha ha ha! Oh God, they go to a mall, and they spend all their man's money! It's so true! Ha hahaha!"

My aunt (this offending uncle's sister) seemed almost insulted that I would dare take issue with being portrayed as some kind of unstable collection of needlessly troublesome, expensive molecules She's timid and sweet, so the insult is between-the-lines of her reply to my reply. It's also subtly hostile and a swipe at what is obviously being taken as my crazy hippie liberal love of PC-ness gone amok:
"I confess I'm still giggling about Part IV on the prior one...Given trinityvixen's warning about the stereotyping I'm gonna reframe from putting it up at the office...don't want the one man on our staff of 27 to experience any harassment, so I will take down the mail, thanks for the heads up."

He does it for the chance to set me off (bravo, it worked), but her response is the greater disappointment for being the subtler dig at my--rightly--indignant response to being considered a thorn in the side of a hard-working, straight-talking, plain-dealing, no-sissifying good-ol'-boy. My uncle, at least, doesn't believe these things (he finds it amusing to paint himself as so responsible, but his wife is very clearly the level-headed thrifty one in their relationship--did I ever tell y'all he used to be a professional clown?), but it's clear to me my aunt, though she genuinely doesn't want to offend anyone, doesn't see why I don't just laugh off the misogyny. 'Cause that's clearly how you make it go away--just laugh and pretend being considered shallow is a compliment. GRRR.

(My last response to her e-mail, unless anyone actually--GASP!--wants to start a reasonable dialogue over stereotypes and whom they hurt was this:
"I only took umbrage at the last one because I'm one of many a girl who hates shopping for clothes at the mall and would just as soon take the "Family Circus" route drawn on that map and fix it in a straight line--one that started in Best Buy and dead-ended in a GameStop. Plus, I spend my own monies for such purchases. Call me a sour-puss for not taking with a "sense of humor" the idea that I go to the mall explicitly with wasting time and money on my mind (I prefer to think of it as "an investment"--see, THAT is funny). The truly advanced shopper does her homework before going and knows what she's looking for when she gets there (hence why I didn't buy one version of a DVD at Best Buy when I knew I could get it cheaper online!)."
Hopefully, the more "humor" I throw in, the more they know I'm not mad at them per se, just the idealogy.)

Comments

[linaerys.livejournal.com]

Those aren't just unfunny because they're stereotypes, they're not funny because they're boring and stupid. Funny is unexpected and that crap is sadly all too predictable.

This is why I just hit delete on all jokes from my uncle. Your way might change some minds, but mine keeps my blood pressure down =P.

[moonlightalice.livejournal.com]

The first one I remember from high school. The first, third, fourth, and fifth I don't care about because they're stupid and not funny. The second one to me is by far the most offensive. I mean christ. 55kg?! UGH. The typing is straight out of the 50s.

[hslayer.livejournal.com]

You seriously need your own HR department. Because honestly? Taking umbrage at clearly retarded jabs? When you know the guy sending them doesn't believe it and just wants to get your goat? So not worth it, and will just get you laughed at more by the sort of person whose mind might need changing.

[wellgull.livejournal.com]

Yeah... you should've seen an email my grandmother sent me the other day (she's where I learned my liberalism, I'm surprised she's been sending me these conservative forwards lately) about how some guy wanted to apply to become an illegal immigrant, because the new legislation would get him all these Wonderful Benefits! Like Not Having To Pay Taxes! And Getting To Use The Emergency Room As Primary Care For Free! etc. I sent a pretty snarky reply to that... eh well. Some things just get my goat I guess.

[droidguy1119.livejournal.com]

Yeah...sorry but in the big picture there are far more worthwhile things to get angry about. This is worth "glancing at, deleting and forgetting" in my book. It's not like you have to send a card to everyone who thinks it's funny.

[cagexxx.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on this one. Stereotype jokes are sometimes funny and sometimes dumb, but rarely worth responding to.

More serious stuff, though, like wellgull's grandmother's forwarded mail about illegal immigrants...well, that's perpetuating misinformation, it pisses me off a lot, and it could be useful to try to set the record straight.

The average Joe, and even the below-average Joe, understands that stereotypes are often not true. But the average Joe is easily swayed by misinformation aimed at the lowest common denominator ("we have to fight the terrorists where they live"), which is why we find many aspects of our country getting worse and worse. You can't raise people's intelligence, but some key information where it counts can help lessen the damage of political spinsters.

[arcane-the-sage.livejournal.com]

The first two I remember getting in chain emails in the 90s, though the first one was "money is the root of all evil" instead of just problems.