In 1990, I went to an objectification of women demonstration
with self-help tips thing at my college. There was a filled
auditorium, probably 2/3 women, 1/3 guys.
I remember being surprised at the images of women in the media -
they showed lots of Rod Stewart MTV Videos clips it seemed and
described, like one might football plays, what the microphone
here means, the lack of a head there means, etc. Actually
education and that part I appreciated.
But then... the self-help tips.
Number one? The eyes. Girls were to practice squishing grapes
with their thumbs to get used to the feeling of going straight
for the eyes with the thumbs if ever attacked.
I wore contacts at the time. Not only did I go back to glasses,
but when I would go back to my dorm late from the computer lab,
if I saw a woman walking from the opposite direction, I cut her
a WIDE swath.
I didn't know if she had been to that seminar or not and I
honestly didn't know if I'd be walking too close or do something
wrong and get misinterpreted because I said a typical "hey" with
a grunt, like guys do.
I like my eyes.
They mentioned nothing about guns _or_ peeing yourself.
Also, I didn't eat grapes for a year after that.
A PS: We were also distributed a booklet on something new,
called "Political Correctness". Politically Correct was created
in its modern form by a group out of the All girls Mount Holyoke
College in 1988, two years before I went to Hampshire College,
which is in the same town.
About as liberal as liberal comes.
Yet, they actually got the idea from the Military, who used it
first.
