Last week, I sent an email to about ten people with the all-important bulletin that the Indigo Girls will be playing Ravinia this July. It got forwarded a bit (with my blessing), and eventually, a note came back from a guy who said “I think I speak for all the guys when I say please don’t send me any more emails with ‘The Indigo Girls’ in the subject line” and indicated that perhaps he would be interested in something less girly, like The Steve Miller Band (also playing Ravinia this summer).
Before I get accused of having no sense of humor, the guy is nice and respectful of women to boot and I know it was meant as a joke, but all jokes have a root in reality (that’s why they’re funny) and I can’t seem to get it out of my head. Is this what gender norms have come to in this society? Yes, the Indigo Girls are women, and lesbians for that matter. But they do acoustic guitar with excellent harmonies and truly poetic lyrics and if they were guys, we’d all have to kneel at their feet like we do with the fiddle-accompanied elevator music that is the Dave Matthews Band. (thanks again for dumping crap in the Chicago River, by the way)
Anyway, I’ve been reading Kitty Kelley’s biography of the Bush family and there seems to be close-minded white frat boys in charge at every turn and just when I feel like maybe I can see a change, I get a comment like the above and realize what a long way we have to go. How do you think public perception of Hillary Clinton would change if she were a man? Libby Dole? Betty Friedan (who just died-did you know?)
*note to self: find friends who are perhaps a little more secure in their manhood so you won’t think the world is ending all the time.
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