Daniel Sennis: September 2021

Lately, I've been having to ask myself some important questions. If it's "Shredded Wheat," why has the wheat yet to be"shredded" Shouldn't it be "Shreddable Wheat"? Or "Wheat Bales". And: can you find the mechanical nose hair trimmers anymore? Because I can't seem to find them and I suspect it's a conspiracy by Big Razor. And, lastly this one---that always comes to me in the form of a scolding Gloria Steinem: do you even feminist, bro? Because I talk a big game. But am I the real deal, or do I just want to have my patriarchal cake (one of your more dense and sour desserts) and to eat it too. Upon examination of at least certain aspects of my life (namely, my cultural consumption proclivities), I'm what feminist scholars call a real lemon cake eater.

I'm not hopeless by any means. I can name great women authors, musicians, historians and screenwriters. I'm just not as off the hook as I like to pretend because my "go tos" remain "bro tos." And "that's just what I happen to like" is not the full story there. I know I have consumed way more things by dudes and I know that society has repped those dudes way more than it has repped women.

Just think about your high school English reading.

Books being repped:

Dudes: Gatsby, Catcher in the Rye, Old Man and the Sea, Great Expectations, Scarlet Letter, A Separate Peace, Lord of the Flies, Shakespeare (24/7), Huck Finn, 1984, Of Mice and Men, Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451, The Things They Carried

Women: To Kill a Mockingbird, Jayne Eyre, Speak

That's SO lemon cake.

And my personal bookshelf would have a real future as the museum exhibit: 50 Shades of Phillip Roth: A Literary Look at Late 20th Century Masculine Angst.

Poor Louisa May Alcott finds herself inexplicably in line to get Sylvester Stalone's autograph.

As my vocal chord surgeon said ironically: talk is cheap. But feminism, anti-racism--these things take effort and discomfort--everything the patriarchy tried to cure--for half the population.

But -with quite a bit of pushing from women (note: at first I had not thought to give women credit for helping me make this change--a real citrus move!) as a small step, I'm committing for the near future to read 3 books by women for every one I read by a dude. I also plan on listening to more lady podcasts and finding more movies and TV written and directed by women. And though my instinct is to want it, I won't even expect praise for doing what's right, damn it all!