Half-Post 1

Old posts where I was too lazy to look up Macrocosm stuff:

My aunt, a beautiful Mexican woman who married my uncle, is pregnant, and she hopes it's a boy because "it's easier to be a man than a woman."

In this day and age and country, I should be surprised by a comment like that.

But I wasn't. Gender inequality is still very prevalent here, and it's not just the men who perpetuate it. It's pop culture phenomenons like Twilight and the fans who love it. It's the girls who fantasize about big, strong men to protect them.

Having steadily avoided the books, I finally gave into my curiosity and watched the movie today. I instantly understood the appeal of the series and the romance between Edward and Bella.

Bella is an intelligent, independent, and strong-minded girl. But soon after meeting Edward and falling head over heels in love with him, she quickly becomes a damsel in distress.

After Bella is attacked by James, she sits in the hospital bed and thanks Edward for saving her life. But as Edward points out, she wouldn't be in danger if it weren't for him.

In the scene where she and Edward are running away from the evil vampires, he pushes her into the car and starts to buckle her seat belt for her until she insists she can do it herself. That's probably the only time she isn't waiting for Edward to protect her.

In other films like The Talented Mr. Ripley Marge says of her fiance Dickie:

The thing with Dickie... it's like the sun shines on you, and it's glorious. And
then he forgets you and it's very, very cold.... When you have his attention,
you feel like you're the only person in the world, that's why everybody loves
him so much.

She knows that Dickie is unfaithful yet not only does she not confront him, but she continues to love him, seemingly without reciprocation.

Natalie Krinsky Yale '07 and writer of the novel Chloe Does Yale observes the difference between the expectations of college women and men:

As women prepare to enter college, they are told that they will meet the man they are going to marry. . . . Guys, on the other hand, are fed a completely different fantasy. . . . despite the fact that some of their hopes are dashed, it seems that they continue to make the rules. They can pursue one, two, three - hell, six women at once. Why can't we do the same? Are we unable? Or are we simply too well trained?

I think Krinsky's questions get to the heart of my aunt's statement.