Comments on: Someone’s got a wee problem with women

By: Genevieve

Genevieve — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 06:29:44 +0000

Joel Stein was so funny when I was fourteen and reading TIME magazine obsessively. I thought his humor sparking, his wit incisive and may have had a little writer-crush on him as a result.

It must be almost four years since I’ve read a column by him. Surely I’m not imagining that his standards have fallen. That piece is just complete rubbish, and, at twenty-one, I want to write a strongly worded letter to him for being so ridiculously offensive.

Is he still married?

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 17:28:32 +0000

Holy fuck is Joel Stein insane? And does he not have editors at all, or did he just terrorize them into submission with his frothing madness? Seriously that column isn’t just anti-woman, it’s an anti-woman column written by a crazy person.

George Will is more coherent, and George Will hasn’t been coherent in a decade and a half.

By: Pandagon :: Short skirts and death masks :: October :: 2007

Pandagon :: Short skirts and death masks :: October :: 2007 — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 13:53:47 +0000

[...] or is anxiety over women wearing “slutty” costumes on Halloween reaching a fever pitch? This Joel Stein column from last week was amusing, but the premise he hung the story on, which is the idea that there’s something unseemly [...]

By: Feministe » Happy Slut-o-Ween!

Feministe » Happy Slut-o-Ween! — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 11:32:25 +0000

[...] to the store and having costume choices range from Sexy Nurse to Sexy Cop to Sexy Kitty. I hate the self-righteous condemnations of women who wear sexy costumes. I hate the term “Slut-o-Ween.” I hate that it’s [...]

By: Kit

Kit — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 02:45:23 +0000

Kat: I hear ya! That made me think, “Huh???”

Not everyone likes costumes!

By: Kat

Kat — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 20:57:38 +0000

I think that on the Saturday (if it comes on a Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, the Saturday before October 31) or Friday (if October 31 falls on that day), all adult nightspots across America should have a costume-only policy.

Huh? So now I MUST wear a costume? I don’t get it–how does that make things more safe? And are nightspots the only way in which adults have fun? Not that I don’t love me a night out, but that’s not the only game in town.

By: Kit

Kit — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 20:10:35 +0000

Jovan, I still don’t see your reasoning. I have never felt degraded on Halloween, nor have I ever wanted to degrade anyone one else. I’m just ask likely to be “preyed upon” when I’m out any other night of the year.

Football games? I hate Football.

I just got back from a Halloween party last Sunday morning. Everyone was in costume, everyone was having fun, people were dancing. It was just good, clean fun. Nobody was being degraded. Why should I give up my fun just because somewhere someone might feel degraded? That’s a problem with society as a whole, not adult Halloween parties.

By: Jovan1984

Jovan1984 — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:54:06 +0000

EG, that is the problem. A few bad apples spoil things for everybody else. And I think that we should be doing more to weed out the bad apples and keep Halloween a good, safe holiday.

A suggestion: I think that on the Saturday (if it comes on a Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, the Saturday before October 31) or Friday (if October 31 falls on that day), all adult nightspots across America should have a costume-only policy.

Halloween is higher up on my list than Christmas and New Years, but still way down on my list of favorite holidays. Thankfully, in Georgia and South Carolina, men cannot prey on little girls on Halloween because of “Operation Lights Out”. Don’t know about the other 48 states’ laws concerning molestors and Halloween. Yeah, and I wish that there were superpowers for us to play around with in the real world — such as the Fire Flower.

Also, EG, you have a point about all three of the things that I mentioned happening at other times of the year.

BTW, speaking of sex, did anybody know that October is Reproductive Health Month? That’s right.

By: whatsername

whatsername — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 04:51:51 +0000

Because it’s not possible for children to have their part of Halloween and let adults have their part?

Not to mention that Halloween IS under attack by conservatives for being too pagan among other things (um, DUH you JUST noticed it’s originally ours?! I guess I should be thankful you noticed at all? o.O)

Additionally, if he wants a “Slut day” or a “Celebrate and have sex” day, which is I think his real motivation, that already exists, it’s called Beltaine.

By: EG

EG — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 03:58:40 +0000

1. Men want to degrade women and women want to degrade men; and
2. Men will be looking for girls to prey on.

Two out of those three are true of all the rest of the days of the year too. I’m not sure what you mean by saying that “women want to degrade men” on Halloween–really? How so? I mean…take a look at the pre-made costumes for men. They don’t look that degrading to me. They usually involve quite a bit of body coverage, and often they even look warm enough.

I love Halloween–it’s macabre; it’s the only modern masquerade holiday; unlike Christmas or Easter, I don’t have to have any atheist quirks of conscience around it. I don’t see why I should give up one of my three favorite holidays (the others are Valentine’s Day and 4th of Jully) just because some men act like assholes.

Tinfoil Hattie, my concern with what you say is that I’m not convinced that costumes like “sexy nurse,” “sexy mental patient,” and “sexy ghostbuster” are displaying female sexuality. They seem far more like they’re displaying female objectification.