I'm Just Really Fucking Over It

I've been awfully happy recently, so maybe I've gone a little soft. And before that I was REALLY unhappy, and sort of convinced I was a horrible person, so maybe that made me go all domesticated, too. So I feel as if I've been letting things slide here and there in a way I really shouldn't. I'm talking specifically about my review of Ghost of Dracula last week. The show is pretty inconsequential, and not particularly skilled, so I was really soft on it. Which is fine. Making any theater is really difficult. But there's one thing that's been really nagging at me, so I felt I had to bring it up.

First of all, just to get it out of the way, I'm a bitch. Do you know how I know this? Because I'm informed of it, on average, two to seven times a week. I walk down the streets of Manhattan and I ride the subway and occasionally I get on buses. If there is even the tiniest ray of sunshine I will have my sunglasses on. If I am sitting, in public, I will most likely be reading a book. Most of the time I have earphones in my ears. I keep a stony cold look on my face. But it does no fucking good. I cannot go out in public without some creep intruding into my personal space bubble and talking to me and demanding that I talk to him. I never fucking do, so I am called a bitch. Like, all the time. I hardly even notice it. Occasionally, I am called a slut or a whore for refusing to talk to these assholes. Which, on top of being evil, makes no fucking sense. Even according to their warped thinking, how does refusing to talk to strange men make me a slut? But that's not the point, and that brings me to what I wanted to bring up about Ghost of Dracula.

Twice in the show Mina is called a stupid slut by her ex-boyfriend Van Helsing, which made me want to aim a flame thrower at the stage. There was no context to it, and Mina's only response was to look angry and embarrassed and shut up, just as Van Helsing wanted and the show continued. Now, look. The following are the only reasons anyone calls a woman a stupid slut:

1. To shut her up.
2. To discredit what she's saying or doing
3. To humiliate her.
   

That's it. That's why the random assholes on the street call me a slut all the time. To discredit and humiliate me. And, to preclude this from popping up in the comments (in general, my commenters are lovely, but one never knows what under bridge dwellers will pop up), if anyone asks "Why do we have to be so politically correct all the time?" my answer will be: Are you fucking kidding me? What is your definition of "politically correct"? A world where the continuous harassment of 50% of the world's population isn't tacitly endorsed? Because, like, that's what we're talking about. Got it? Or should I use smaller words. Think for two seconds: why is calling a woman a "stupid slut" funny in and of itself? People in the theater laughed, not because it was funny, per se, but because at that moment Van Helsing was the biggest bully in the fucking schoolyard, and by laughing they were demonstrating allegiance with the center of power. It couldn't be surprise, because women get called horrible humiliating things all the time. On the street, in print, everywhere. It's not new or transgressive in any kind of interesting way if it's devoid of context and point. It's just ugly and backwards looking and uncreative and depressing. And if you think it's funny you are a total fucking asshole.

That's it.