Today, in my anthropology class, I lost some of my feminist cred. We have to pick from 3 books to have a group discussion on: Fast Food Nation (which I already own and don't want to discuss ad nauseum again), Under the Banner of Heaven(about the history of violence in the Mormon religion) and Without a Net: The Female Experience of Growing Up Working Class.
I picked Under the Banner of Heaven and finished reading it before it was actually assigned. It was a terrifying breakdown of how fundamentalists think God's laws justify murder and violence towards those that are not on their side. It applies to all fundies, not just Mormons. But my little book report will have to come later because this is not the point of this post.
In class we had to do a show of hands about what books people wanted to read. Half went for Fast Food Nation, half to Under the Banner of Heaven, and exactly one person (girl) raised their hand for Without a Net. One person in the most liberal of disciplines in a very liberal community college full of working class kids. One. And it wasn't me.
To be honest, the topic didn't appeal to me cause I live it everyday. Like I need someone to point out to me about the feminization of poverty. But my lack of interest is not singular and at least half the class is made up of boys to whom this would be a new topic.
So how can I yell at you boys for not taking an interest in something I can't even take an interest in? I can't (sort of- I'll yell anyways just cause I like to).
The real question then is what will it take for you boys to get into the topic? This is a real question and I would love if you would post in comments why you feel ambivalent about topics that are usually seen as the domain of girls.
Come on boys- you know you wanna write.
