Weird Red Spider Web

2007-05-09T01:12:00.000+10:00

Sexism
I don't even know where to begin with this issue. Maybe I should narrow it down to sexist language. What constitutes sexist language?
The reason I raise it is because a number of issues came up following a blog post of a friend of mine. The comments section of which soon turned into a juicy and fiery debate. So this post will be seb vs anyone who's game.
So let us focus on a specific question: Is it okay to call promiscuous, self degrading, self objectifying, bitter, resentful, arrogant, acidic women.... Slutty Whore Bitches?
With the special bonus question: Is it okay to call a beloved friend, a slutty whore bitch?

We live in a Sexist society. There is no denying this. Sexism manifests itself in many and varying forms. Women on average receive lower wages than men. They have fewer rights than men. Women perform trillions of dollars of unpaid labour in the form of housework, and constantly have to shoulder the burden of child rearing. Plus, we get saturated, day in and day out, with images and stereotypes which create an unrealistic and loaded idea of what women should look like and how they should act.
Women's sexuality is controlled in a far stricter manner than that of men. If a man sleeps with a lot of women then he'll get called a stud. If a woman is very sexually active, with a number of different men then she will more likely get called a slut, or find that her friends are 'concerned' about her wellbeing.
Sexism permeates through to the language we use as well. Think about how many diminutive words there are for women. 'Chic, Bird, doll, Broad, Bimbo, Sheila'. Or consider how older men will address a woman they wish to patronise, 'look honey, darling, sweetheart, lassie', etc. When it comes to demonising a particular oppressed group, any number of words can be appropriated for the purpose. In the case of sexism we need only take a quick trip down to the farm. Consider the following, 'Cow, Filly, Hen, Bitch, Vixen, Bunny.'
A quick comparison of the number of words that exist for the purpose of insulting women sexually vs the number of words for insulting men sexually can be quite revealing about the context in which we live. 'Slut, whore, slurry, tramp, tart, hussy', etc. Or for men, 'limp dick, soft cock'. In fact I can't think of many. There are lots of homophobic words like fag and sometimes sexist terms that are usually leveled at women are used against men, or adapted to be used against men such as 'man whore'.
Though let's be very clear. Just because the word 'slut' may sometimes be used against a man does not mean that it is no longer a sexist word. That would be a totally a-historical conclusion to draw. The meaning of a word is more than the specific context in which it is used. Words also have a history and a general context with regards to their usage. 'Slut' is still a gendered word in its overall usage and historically it is a word used to demonise women on the basis of their sexual practices. So when it is used to describe a man, it refers not merely to his sexual promiscuity, but more so to his being like those women who are sexually promiscuous. The degradation of those women is implicit in the usage.
Another problem arises when such language is used by people who recognise the sexist nature of this language. For it is sometimes the case that one will hear the language, perhaps from some rapper, and be shocked at the blatant sexism. The shock can be dealt with in a couple of different ways. Either one can become angry and indignant, or one can laugh it off. Not a false laugh but one of genuine hilarity at the absurdity of such prejudice. And so it becomes a joke in certain situations to use sexist language. But I would argue that it is a dangerous type of joke. A joke that will inevitably be interpreted differently by people with different levels of awareness of issues to do with sexism. For example, one of my female friends likes to stroll into the room and affectionately greet her friends saying, 'Hey biatches' or 'Oi slags'. In and of itself I don't see any great harm in this as such. The greeting is from a woman to other women in affection, not judgement. And partly it occurs in the context of a group of women who are conscious of sexism and are reacting to it using a bit of humour. I support them fighting back. But I retain the right to be critical. I maintain that there is a danger even in this context. For when my friend greets her 'Biatches', there will inevitably be some guy present who overhears and then draws the conclusion that these words are harmless and that it is therefore okay for him to use them. So he might then throw the words around simply for the humour of it, and not meaning any harm, but then some other friend of his hears this, and he then draws the conclusion that it is okay to use this language without restraint, and proceeds to use it in reference to some woman he's not happy with. 'My ex-girlfriend is such a bitch'. NO. Not okay. I don't care if she is bitter and resentful and told everyone about how small your dick is. She is not a 'Bitch'. That just implies that your problem is something to do with her being a woman. A total concession to sexism.
So my point is that we should all be a lot more careful about using this language. Infact, the safest thing to do is to not use sexist language at all.
Unless you're saying "Women aren't 'Chics' you sexist fuckwit".

So do people agree or disagree that words like Slut, Bitch, Chic and so on are sexist words and that we should avoid using them?

2007-03-13T23:03:00.000+11:00

Here it is. A good month after having returned from Vietnam I've finally got round to putting up a post about it. But I've been so frustrated with how long I've taken that I'm gonna make it a fairly snappy one. Light on words and heavy on pictures.
So here we have it,
Vietnam:
To give a quick overview of the trip: Ho Chi Minh City, train, Nha Trang, train, Danang, taxi bus, Hoi An, train, Hanoi, plane, Ho Chi Minh City.

Upon arriving in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), we rendezvoused with my friend Thu (on the right), whom I met at RMIT while she was on exchange.

Our lovely hosts ferried me and Andrew all over the city on their Se Om. I think we were the only two guys in Saigon who were being driven around by young women instead of the other way round. I was very proud.

In Hoi An we met a bar manager, Josh.
A man who is generally summed up by this photo below right.

A Canadian who isn't going home anytime soon.

We liked very much the 'Salsa Club' that he helped to run.

It's very easy to make friends with fellow travelers.

From Hanoi we went on a tour, which involved being rowed up a river by old ladies.

Then going up a mountain by Cable Car.

Then going down this staircase into a temple inside a cave.

And then coming back.

You will inevitably see some unusual things in Vietnam.

We went to an anti-war museum. It used to be called the Museum of American War Crimes. We saw death and destruction and agent orange babies bottled up in jars.

But I took a picture of this instead.
We still have anti war rallies in treasury gardens.

When we got back to Saigon it was Tet. Luna New Year.

We hung out at a bar and met Phuong, (aka- cheeky monkey)
pictured here being cheeky to a Swedish bloke.

And there were fireworks.

The End

P.S: Don't forget the bugs.
Oh the bugs.

2007-03-02T17:59:00.000+11:00

The caption reads: 'The national empires and reaction should not unwise touch this country'
This is a print I picked up in Vietnam of an old Vietnam war era propaganda poster.
It has been over a month and high time I put another post on my blog. However, I'm wrestling with that old thing called technology. I have to figure out how to reduce the size of my photo files so as I can actually put them up without having to wait for too long. And I'm also trying to figure out how to rotate a video file. But soon people, soon you will have another post. A post filled with glorious pictures of my trip to Vietnam.

Blog Theory

2007-01-22T00:07:00.000+11:00

Well it's finally happened. I've made myself a blog. Do I feel pleased or ashamed? I'm not quite sure and I don't quite care. But welcome all the same. Friends and Fiends, allow me to introduce you to weird red spider web. I hope that in these pages you'll find something of interest or something entertaining or something all in all disturbing. Hopefully all three and more.

Perhaps you'll get all three out of this little picture right here.
Sarcophaga Aurifrons: AKA- the Flesh Fly
Imagine laying crushed against the steering wheel of your mangled V8 Monaro and living just long enough to see one of these ugly fuckers land on your partially severed arm to lay its maggots into you.
SPEED KILLS!
Hmmm. I wonder if I could sell that to the TAC.

Also in this post: Inside seb's head, Newtonian Physics, Tales of Group Sex from seb's bathroom and experiments on redspiderweb.

READ ON AND ALL WILL BE REVEALED
Mwahahahahahaaa (seb's evil laugh)
seb's evil laugh is a Trade Mark of seb Enterprises inc. copyright 2007

But first we must answer a question.
Why? Why does seb have a blog? Shouldn't he be wandering around the streets of collingwood wearing 4th generation hand-me-down cords and a 'piping hot' t'shirt while sipping away at a bottle ginger beer? What the fuck is he doing on a computer? and how did he get on the net anyway, this is a guy who has enough trouble finding a comb.
well friends. perhaps i'm just trying to go with the flow. Lots of you have blogs so why wouldn't i too? I like to jump on the band wagon, sorta. I mean aside from being a socialist, and aside from looking determinedly degenerate, and aside from when i decided to be the only person in the MCG barracking for Tasmania in their cricket match against victoria. (I still don't know how i came out of there alive).
Hmmm. Perhaps we should look for an alternative explanation. Boredom perhaps? Boredom is common. Sure I've been busy neglecting my friends, busy failing to keep my room in order, busy eating 'ultimate' mi goreng noodles instead of cooking proper meals, busy letting my gym membership go to waste, busy doing my resume and searching for jobs but not actually applying for them, busy throwing half read books around the room while searching for my least dirty pair of cords. This could be an extravagant attempt to give myself something else to do.
But No.
My decision to create a blog has a more theoretical basis. I'm well aware of a prejudice of mine. a prejudice against technology. Not a general prejudice against technology but more of an ignorant and lazy prejudice that involves me not wanting to have to use any technology that seems too radical. (ha, too radical he says, that's a laugh.)
But seriously. I refused to get a mobile phone and then i got given one. and then i realised it was stupid of me to have refused to get a mobile. It's the same with blogs. Too long I've harbored a deep distain for these things but now it's time to let go. Why? Because i can see that this is progress, this is in fact human evolution and nothing less. creating new methods of communication, new methods of human interaction. New identities. We'll learn things about each other in this digital world, things we wouldn't have otherwise learned. Our lives are getting busier and busier, the world is moving faster and faster, and we are growing older and older. Just think of the days when you'd see your friends every day at school, every few days at uni. the future holds less time for us to see each other in person. soon enough we'll all have full time jobs, or a couple of part time jobs. people will move around.
I'm far too sentimental to go months or years without interacting with a long time friend. If i do then i feel guilty.

But this blog will help. I think. No, I'm sure it will. This is just one step. in the not too distant future, having to type your blog posts with your fingers will seem primitive. A waste of precious time when one can just jam a USB 100 cord up one's arse and navigate from thy nether-regions.

And now for something completely different.

PogoStick: "No, you see, Newton's law of gravity doesn't make it impossible for ` objects to lift off the ground, you know. I mean there's rockets and ` planes, birds...
Apple: "PogoSticks!"
PogoStick: .........PogoSticks. The law of gravity describes a force that is ` constantly acting on bodies, it doesn't prevent other forces from ` acting on those same bodies."
Apple: "Ah, I see. And what did you say his name was? Newton was it?"
PogoStick: "Yes. Sir Isaac Newton"
Apple: "Ah right, yes. Err...do you know what strain he was?"
PogoStick: "Ah... sorry, what strain? I don't follow."
Apple: "Oh, what strain was he? What type? You know, you've got your ` Granny Smiths, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious...
PogoStick: "Ah, no. Sorry, you see... Newton is the name of the man who was ` sitting under the tree. He was a famous scientist. According to the ` popular story, it is said that the apple fell on his head."
Apple: (frowning): "...........Well that's just typical isn't it? Bloody Humans ` always taking credit for the discoveries of us so called 'inanimate ` objects'.
PogoStick: "Umm...."
Apple: "They all did it. Galileo! Everybody knows it was his telescope did all ` the work.
PogoStick: "..........."
Apple: "Einstein's pen wrote the theory of general relativity, there's no ` disputing that! Ockham's Razor is the only exception I can think of. ` What a brilliant mind that razor was. Really cutting edge stuff!!!"

GROUP SEX! MASS ORGY! COPULATION! GENE SHARING! PROCREATION!
SEX! SEX! SEX!

At least, that is what you would have seen if you'd have entered seb's bathroom just one short week ago. For it was recently mating day for the termite colony underneath my house. (a disappointed moaning echoes through cyberspace)
Yes. I was horrified when I stepped into my bathroom to the sound of exoskeletons crunching beneath my shoes and the sight of potential queen termites flying around the room being chased by winged princes in a courting exercise which would be front page news should it have been pulled off by humans. Across the floor was strewn scores and scores of shed wings. Evidence of the post coital satisfaction of many a horny termite. Around my feet I could see them circling each other. They came from beneath the skirting boards. Mostly in pairs but with the occasional threesome or foursome just to spice things up!
I mean, why they have to be such exhibitionists about it I DO NOT KNOW. It was just a little inconvenient for me, you know. I had to sweep up after them and everything. 'Sex! the kind you clean up with a mop and bucket.' Here are some pictures for your enjoyment, just so long as it gets past the blogger censors.

'Coupling'

'For the Aforementioned Foursome'

Weird Science
Weird Red Spider Web Science

And now for my first experiment. The purpose of which is to determine the speed at which gossip travels. Does it travel faster than light? Is it in fact lighter than fast? We shall answer these questions and more. Do you remember prac reports in high school?
Aim: To determine the speed of gossip
Materials: One Internet, Some friends
Method: Firstly, a nominated piece of gossip, namely "oh my god, seb has a blog: redspiderweb.blogspot.com" shall be inserted into an e-test-tube and heated over bunsen mail until it reaches the temperature of certain one, and only one, nominated friend of mine (big up to my homegirl Sumera of the University of Waterloo, Ontario Canadia). Then each of you, yes you who's reading this now, shall in your post in the comment field, note down the time and date of your comment and name, and the results shall be graphed and presented in the next redweb post.
Theory: If the rate of posts per day on weird red spider web, when graphed, forms an even distribution along a bell curve, and if said bell curve is more entertaining than any curve associated with the speed of light vs the light of fast, then the speed of gossip shall be said to be... something not as yet determined.
Results: shall be revealed in the next edition of weird red spider web
Analysis: MwahahahahahaaaMwahahahahaaaMwahahahahahaaa