Saturday, July 30, 2005
Visitation
I knew it! I knew I’d get in trouble by posting reasons for my skepticism. I’ve been hexed. I just read Bitch by Elizabeth Wurtzel, and now I'm officially haunted. This morning I was visited by my own oversimplified stereotype of a “bad girl”. Suddenly I envisioned Marlene Dietrich at by my bedside this morning, blowing cigarette smoke in my face. After wiping my eyes, I decided to ask her a question.
“Hey, what’s the deal with labeling women ‘good’ or ‘bad’ anyway? Most people are complex. Isn't using the label 'bad girl' encouraging oversimplification in the perception of women?”
"Face it, darling--there's freedom in using simple terms. There's incredible freedom in being labeled a 'bad girl'. It's easy to remember, too."
"So you're saying the simplicity of the term--and the freedom involved--makes everybody want to be a 'bad girl'? I always thought the only time the term 'bad girl' should be used is if you are housetraining a female puppy. You're saying that in reality every woman wants to be a bad girl?"
“Sure, sure—all of them want to be Bad Girls, Darling—until they get strung up on the stake and the torch is lit. It’s amazing how much being a social leper messes with your face.” My inner Dietrich declares, taking a drag off of her long cigarette encased in an onyx holder. All of my resolve for quitting smoking vanishes. Why is it even months or even years after I quit smoking, seeing classic movie stars smoking makes me wish I could still inhale? I turned to my inner Dietrich.
“Hey, could I bum one of those?”
“You quit.”
“Yeah, but it doesn’t mean I don’t miss them.”
“Forget it—I only share cigarettes with men.”
“Bitch.”
“Precisely.”
“Why can’t you be Rosalind Russel's character from His Girl Friday? I always liked her.”
”Ask your unconscious.”
“That’s the problem with my unconscious. I never know what it’s up to. Next time, however, I’m going to ask it to send somebody I can stand to talk to.”
“Hey, what’s the deal with labeling women ‘good’ or ‘bad’ anyway? Most people are complex. Isn't using the label 'bad girl' encouraging oversimplification in the perception of women?”
"Face it, darling--there's freedom in using simple terms. There's incredible freedom in being labeled a 'bad girl'. It's easy to remember, too."
"So you're saying the simplicity of the term--and the freedom involved--makes everybody want to be a 'bad girl'? I always thought the only time the term 'bad girl' should be used is if you are housetraining a female puppy. You're saying that in reality every woman wants to be a bad girl?"
“Sure, sure—all of them want to be Bad Girls, Darling—until they get strung up on the stake and the torch is lit. It’s amazing how much being a social leper messes with your face.” My inner Dietrich declares, taking a drag off of her long cigarette encased in an onyx holder. All of my resolve for quitting smoking vanishes. Why is it even months or even years after I quit smoking, seeing classic movie stars smoking makes me wish I could still inhale? I turned to my inner Dietrich.
“Hey, could I bum one of those?”
“You quit.”
“Yeah, but it doesn’t mean I don’t miss them.”
“Forget it—I only share cigarettes with men.”
“Bitch.”
“Precisely.”
“Why can’t you be Rosalind Russel's character from His Girl Friday? I always liked her.”
”Ask your unconscious.”
“That’s the problem with my unconscious. I never know what it’s up to. Next time, however, I’m going to ask it to send somebody I can stand to talk to.”
