Why I Love Gender Studies, But Hate Everything Else

Today, one of the CNN reporters I follow posted a story involving a high school student killed by her abusive boyfriend. Of course, this leads her the reporter adding her two cents in, which is fine--it's everyone else's annoying opinions that get in the way. Now I know better than to comment, because this reporter is a feminist herself who will, of course, focus on women as the victims. And thankfully there are the occasional comment about how women can also be abusive.

Then, there was this comment.

"Shifting the discussion to male victims is like trying to make a case for "reverse-racism." Fact is, males are less than 10% of the victims of domestic abuse and they certainly aren't murdered on a daily basis the way that women and girls are. Men commit 90% of the murders in this country, and most are against people they know."

Ummm....I don't even know where to start. To focus on this comment in particular, I have this:

1) Yes, the statistics are true...to a point. To be more specific, males are victims of less than 10% of REPORTED domestic abuse cases involving PHYSICAL VIOLENCE. It is impossible to argue that the statistics out there are accurate when

• Men have zero support when it comes to reporting domestic abuse against a women,
• Men are so stigmatized to report abuse because they are supposed to be the "stronger" sex,
• Abuse is not just physical violence, it is also mental, emotional and verbal abuse as well--which women are far more likely to use over physical hitting,
• And if it is verbal/emotional abuse, what evidence does the man have when it's all so arbitrary?

2) Statistics on murder just made the argument invalid. See how easy it is to make a point all pretty when you disregard all other crimes that are committed? "Men commit 90% of murders! That clearly must mean that they are VIOLENT and women aren't. Hell, men might as well have committed the other 10% as well!" That, and it implies that domestic abuse is the equivalent to murder........I recognize they're both bad, but.....hell, there's enough debate about executions, won't go into that. D:


3) The part that bothers me the most is that the commenter compares male victims to reverse-racism. Which, again with the lists, made me think of a couple disturbing things.

• Suggesting that women should be excused from discussions about domestic abuse because they're reported as the victims more?
• Suggesting men CAN'T be a victim of domestic abuse?
• What about the other 10%? Shouldn't we, as people against domestic violence, make a case for ALL victims and not just the majority of them?

Essentially, it comes down to is it OK to compare victims of domestic violence to reverse-racism? If we define racism as prejudice against a racial minority, then sexism is prejudice against a gender minority...in the case of domestic violence, male victims are clearly the gender minority, and therefore the commenter's post is clearly sexist.

And that's why I want to write a thesis on stereotypes and males in the media. Boom. *bow*

Never Again

If I ever tell myself that a class is going to be good for me or for my career, or that it'll improve my skills in a particular? Yeah, punch me in the face and yet NO, NO IT WON'T until I stop thinking that.

I thought this interviewing class would be good for me. Ohhh no, instead I have more anxiety than I know what to deal with and it's my fucking SPRING BREAK, the one week that I've got where I don't have to stress over whether I'm able to get school or work related things accomplished.

Fuck this. I don't want to stress about contacting a registered nurse, healthcare professional, or whatever it is you want me to do. No, I'm not going to go to a nursing home to job shadow and watch how they interview people. Wanna know why? Because what sort of facility is going to be stupid enough to go "Oh suuuure, we'll totally just let you in and watch our nurses with our patients because confidentiality is totally not a priority here!" or the more likely "Ahh, well typically when scheduling appointments we prefer you give us more notice, the doctor's scheduled straight through the week..."

I know I'm biased, because I have no intention of going into the healthcare industry, much less an interest in it. But seriously. Give us more than a school week to get this assignment done, because you've got to be kidding me if you assume a majority of us will be getting it done over the break. The only reason I'm even considering doing it tomorrow or Sunday is because my neighbor had gone to school for nursing, and I don't even think she's a registered nurse. As far as I know, she is/was an LPN, and according to the internet that's the job you get BEFORE becoming a registered nurse.

But you know what, I don't care. I'm not in the healthcare industry, so I don't know what the whole ranking scale goes, and I've no doubt that the reason we have to interview the RN/healthcare professional is because it's assumed they develop deeper relationships with patients--which in my opinion, is complete bullshit. No matter what level of nursing you're at, you have to ask your patients questions, and you're going to get information whether you ask for it or not. I've had the same doctor since I was a baby, but the nurse that's taken care of my family has been the same, too, and if anything she's closer to us than the doctor is.

Fuck this anxiety. I don't need this stress. And if she doesn't understand that 1) I was busy during my Spring Break, and 2) I have work related events that take up the rest of my week back, so 3) I have to make do with what I can on short time, then that's her problem. I'll take whatever grade she gives because frankly, there's no way I'll meet all of her requirements for this one....

Damn. Anxiety makes me type more than I planned to. Gah. Also, I hate you internet, dropping out ever 2 minutes for the past 20 is REALLY annoying.

/rantdone

Feeling a Little Battered

I'm glad I can only revise a paper once. Don't ever tell me again that I can revise a paper for a letter grade higher. I don't think my poor dignity can handle it. :(

Don't get me wrong, the professor's feedback is quite helpful, even though I think she forgets that I'm one of the few students in the class that has never read anything by Tolkien. What does my knowledge of folklore involve? Absolutely jack shit. Want me to find a hidden Christian reference? Haha, only marginally better than my folklore/mythology but still completely useless. Pretty sure I was interested in taking the class so that I DID learn about this folklore/mythology stuff...

Ah well. Nothing I can do at 3:30 am to remedy knowledge I don't possess.

Edit: ......Yeeeah. Feeling a little hit upside the head now from editing. Basically I deleted two full paragraphs, I wasn't about to try and defend them because it would only make me feel more stupid. Feels like everything just goes back to my lack of folklore logic, because what the hell...the one thing she did like was because I stuck a mythology reference in there, and that I got from class notes.

She should just be damn happy I'm trying to resist going straight for Wikipedia to save my ass right now. :/