it's been a bad couple days of feminism in this world. now let me first say this -- i generally hate feminism. i mean, i believe in total equality and sexism makes me want to rip someone's eyeballs out, but I hate the whole "women are better than men!! let's burn our bras and look down upon women who stay at home with their kids!" like, I don't want to stay home with my kids because I want to be a teacher and that's my perogative, but it's all about choice, and women should have the ability to choose just as men do. I hate the "men are dumb pigs!" school of feminist thought because lets face it -- we ALL know men are stupid. but women are equally as dumb because we still get drunk and screw boys like whores on tequila (if i may borrow a line from one Meredith Grey). We're all equally idiotic, and we should all be allowed to express that idiocy as we see fit.

So now that that is cleared up, let me relate two startlingly disappointing incidents that have happened recently. first of all, in the entertainment industry (my favorite place), CBS announced that it was cutting AJ Cook (female actress #1) from Criminal Minds and significantly reducing Paget Brewster's (female actress #2) episode count. What the WHAT, CBS? I know I care more about TV than the average person (well, here in the good ol' U.S. of A. that may or may not be true), but this is seriously an outrage even if you have never seen Criminal Minds in your life, even if you don't have a TV (which is both admirable and baffling). It's sending a message that strong female characters are easily replaceable and not integral to the success of a show. It's also terrible for the lovely actresses, who have done a wonderful job on a male-dominated show, and have been fired simply because of their sex. I thought we were over that!!! It's 2010 for godsakes, not 1910. It's completely unfair, and I really am disappointed that powerful television executives have so little regard for how blatantly sexist these actions are. It's social responsibility, you know? Frankly, it's whackadoo bullshit.

Secondly, and more personally, I flew back from Boston to Portland this past Tuesday, a typical occurrence in my life. I was already pissed off because I had to pay $15 to check my one and only checked bag, and I have like... $58 in my bank account currently. I was hungry, but got to the airport late, so I haphazardly picked up a bagel that turned out to be cinnamon raisin which is my LEAST favorite bagel flavor, and I was lugging around a heavy Rick Steves branded backpack and a stuffed to the gills purse. So, you can imagine my happiness when I finally boarded the plane and got the chance to relax for a cool five and a half hours (psych!). I walked onto the plane, found my seat, placed my purse on said seat, and then removed backpack from back in order to place it in the "shared overhead space". Two things -- 1. I was NOT holding up the line of passengers, people behind me were putting things up too, and 2. I am 5'1". I was struggling a bit to get my bag up into the compartment because it's kind of high, and my bag strap got stuck on something. Usually, in this situation, a nice taller person steps up and just lends a hand to help me get the bag all the way settled. It takes about .5 seconds and no physical labor since I'm still actually supporting the weight of the bag. This time, however, something SO RUDE happened. A kind of suave looking gentleman stepped up, shoved my bag up, and remarked, "Women. They always overpack with shoes and then don't want to deal with their shit."

YEP. And I know he could have said something meaner or called me a whore bitch or something, but what the WHAT sir?! SORRY I DON'T HAVE THE ABILITY TO CONTROL MY HEIGHT! AND -- there were NO shoes in that bag. AND -- i WAS dealing with my shit. AND -- I didn't ask you to help! AND -- shut up you stupid sexist asshole!! Needless to say, I was all light up, but I stood there for a solid second or two, blinking, trying to figure out if that had really happened. When I had ascertained that it in fact did, I whipped around, and in my frantic state, managed to come up with this verbal jab: "wow, thanks for being so helpful AND AN ASSHOLE!" I kind of hissed the last part, but he definitely heard it. As did the flight attendant, but I think she was impressed. But, UGH! Lame, right?!

So yeah, all in all -- a bad few days for feminism. Sometimes I like traditional sexism like how men mostly have to ask women out and how girls can make out and its hot and you can get paid for it, but this shit is just unacceptable! Come on world, get it together. And the oil spill! Get that shit together, too.