if you walked into the street right now, what is the probability that you will be publicly insulted because of your glasses, your acne, your physical unattractiveness or your lack of coordination? What is the probability that random men will grab your arm and stop you to make sure you listen to what they have to say, which will invariably be a comment on your glasses, your acne, your physical unattractiveness or your lack of coordination? What is the probability that drunken men will see it fit to approach you because of your glasses, your acne, your physical unattractiveness or your lack of coordination?

Let me guess. Pretty damn low.

Guess what most women have to deal with on a daily basis?

Also, please keep in mind that not only does our plight not end with high school, the members of your in-group or similar (geeks, nerds, dorks of all species) did not blame you for the actions of those who ridiculed you. Women get blamed for getting harrassed way too often, both by other women and by members of our social in-group (male geeks/nerds/dorks in this case, who might not only blame us but in some cases compound to the harrassment.)

Please, in the future refrain from equating the social awkwardness that comes with being a high school outcast with systematic misogyny and sexism. Until you walk a mile in our shoes and realise that women fear this kind of objectification for most of their lives, you’re not going to understand where we’re coming from.

Well, Chet, given that you seem to think that the impetus for your getting beaten up in school was that you were being objectified for your geekery, I threw an alternate explanation out there. In either case, the explanation depends on the perceptions of those who were doing the attacking — you insist it was objectification of geeks. I posited that those who preyed on you found you annoying as well as a soft target.

Is it going to be possible for you to actually address arguments? All the ad hominem gets a little boring after a while. Do you need me to restate my points, or something?

Is this how it works in your legal office? I ask because I don’t know. Do you just file motions or whatever that say “the plaintiff is entitled to judgement because the defendant has a big stupid doo-doo head?”

The personal attacks should really come to an end, I guess is what I’m saying. If you don’t think I’m worth the time and effort to apply your expansive intellect, the rest of us are trying to have a conversation here, ok?

I’m surprised you’re surprised, frankly. Haven’t you noticed I’m a cranky bitch?

Actually what I had noticed is that you’re a great writer and a sharp thinker, which is why I started reading your blog in the first place. Which is why I find your spittle-flecked playground tactics so disappointing. Whatever, though. You’re hardly under any obligation to live up to my standards, or something. It’s your blog.

The word you are looking for is sub-human, de-humanized, or any of it’s synonyms.

Objectified is a synonym for de-humanized. I mean I’m hardly proposing that geeks are being rendered as animals, or something.

If they are reacting exclusively to physical attributes that are completely beyond your control, then you are being objectified.

Like, say, physical unattractiveness? Lack of coordination? Poor eyesight? Acne?

You are less than us, you are not really a person.

Yeah. An object.

The jackasses that yell at me as I walk down the street – no matter what I’m wearing – simply because I have DD’s – That’s fucking objectification. The point is not to upset me (although that’s a nice bonus) so much as it is to let me know that I only matter as an object.

I don’t see the difference. They don’t like you, they want to upset you, they use a physical attribute as the lever to do so. I honestly don’t see the point of this hair-splitting about who’s the bigger victim. What’s the deal here? That, because you’re a woman, there couldn’t possibly be a man who has it as bad as you?

Take it from someone whose been both objectified and ridiculed – they aren’t the same thing.

And take it from a geek who was objectified. It can happen, and does.

Dude – dolls and tea-cups don’t think.

The word you are looking for is sub-human, de-humanized, or any of it’s synonyms.

If they are punishing you for being different, they are being assholes – and are proabably treating you as non-human in the process. That doesn’t mean, however, they are necessarily treating you as an object.

If they are reacting exclusively to physical attributes that are completely beyond your control, then you are being objectified.

In other words – the kids who called me four-eyes because I had glasses were just being mean. They didn’t call me four-eyes because they saw I had glasses and decided they hated me – they wanted to make me feel small (for whatever reason) and chose a physical attribute as their starting point. They were just as likely to make up rhymes with my name or call me a nerd because I did well in school. Such ridicule is meant to say “you don’t matter”. You are less than us, you are not really a person.

The jackasses that yell at me as I walk down the street – no matter what I’m wearing – simply because I have DD’s – That’s fucking objectification. The point is not to upset me (although that’s a nice bonus) so much as it is to let me know that I only matter as an object. It goes beyond them saying that I don’t matter; the problem is that my body does, but I don’t.

Take it from someone whose been both objectified and ridiculed – they aren’t the same thing.

“If you still refuse to believe it, maybe you should check out the DC website. ”

Oh, but Mael, Chet can’t possibly be wrong.

Either way, it does not excuse or justify the violence, simply explains it. Your theory — that you were abused because you were a geek — is subject to the same criticism you level at mine, that it appears to place the burden on the person being beaten up to avoid the violence, in the case of your theory, to stop being a geek.

Where you run into additional problems is your insistence that because you were subject to ridicule, harassment and violence for your geekery, that all geeks everywhere should be exempted from criticism for their objectification of women, their misogyny, or other issues.

I’m surprised you’re surprised, frankly. Haven’t you noticed I’m a cranky bitch?

Chet, maybe you got stuffed into lockers because you’re annoying.

The more I think about this, the more surprised I am that Zuzu would say it. Can you imagine her reaction if somebody had said something like this to a woman? “Maybe you got raped because you’re a bitch.”

Truly amazing. I was under the impression that a person’s views and attitudes and arguments were never justification for violence against their person, but apparently that only applies to women?

If you still refuse to believe it, maybe you should check out the DC website. I’m sure that given all the hype re: omg our God Miller is pencilling the covers!!!!1! they’re not, actually, kidding about it.

Gawd.

That’s truly astounding. In a bad way, I mean. July doesn’t look so bad.

Chet, maybe you got stuffed into lockers because you’re annoying.

Maybe you lose arguments all the time because you don’t know how to do anything but attack your opponent.

it’s the cover to All Star Batman and Robin #6, which will be on sale in July. If you still refuse to believe it, maybe you should check out the DC website. I’m sure that given all the hype re: omg our God Miller is pencilling the covers!!!!1! they’re not, actually, kidding about it.