Mark But This Flea

Bloggers, mostly Red Ensign bloggers, are struggling with my commentary about the Flea. Trudeaupia, whom I don't typically read, replied with what looked like a fine form of defensiveness, himself posting a girlie pic in very nya-nya style. He thinks I'm an anal academic feminist *snicker* but probably should read my blog more before he says things like that. He was offended by the woman breastfeeding her puppy. That's funny, well, to me, anyway.

The Monger, whom I read daily, likes the Flea and doesn't think posting pictures of pretty women is a form of sexual objectification. Neither do I, necessarily; however, talking about them as they are talked about on the Flea's blog takes the issue far beyond just posting pretty pics, or "pitchers," as some like to say. I don't ever remember People Magazine writing something like "Check out the jugs on Jennifer!!!" or "Can I get syrup on that?" Even they have more sense.

Damian, whom I read daily, apparently made one of the jugs comments in the first place, so, obviously he likes free ice-cream, Flea-style. He didn't like my fine writing on this issue. Oh, by the way, although it is quite true, as Damian and some of his commenters have been saying on his blog, that the Flea referred to his entire blog as "free ice cream" (as any blog is, actually) it is equally true that the "free ice cream" title was above a revealing picture of a woman (as one of Damian's commenters pointed out) and also true that the Flea later talked about this woman "a la mode" in his comments. So, technically, she was dessert, not ice cream. Pie, perhaps, or another dish of some sort. Of course, the Flea has commented on Damian's post, but not here on any of mine. Maybe he thinks I'll delete him.

The Flea also wrote in Damian's comments that I object to the Flea deleting comments he doesn't like on a blog for which he pays. Um, Flea, we all pay for our own blogs. Some pay by cash and effort, and some just by effort, so you're not really unique in that regard. As for telling you to censor your post, I didn't do that. I said I didn't want to read them any more, and that is, entirely, my own prerogative. Perhaps you feel that fewer people would read your blog if you didn't publish the girlie pics. Maybe you are correct, or maybe more would read it if you didn't. I don't know, but I do know, as does everyone else, that it's your blog, and you can do what you like -- you can stop reminding us of that now. By the way, was it my blog you were thinking of when you wrote about "boring Canadian-content blogs for voices-of-the-silenced that nobody reads"? My readers aren't nobodies. *smile*

I can appreciate that it is difficult to see something that you enjoy critiqued. I, too, enjoy the Flea, but not entirely, and the girlie posts were wearing me down. I've had enough of that now, and I'm likely not the only one. However, many of Flea's readers really like the girlie posts and certainly get upset if you call the posts out for what they are. Let me remind you that, for some of your worthy readers, words like jugs, hooters, pitchers, and all the rest of what is freely available ice cream on Flea's blog demeans and degrades moreso than even the pictures, themselves, might or might not. In other words, the pictures aren't nearly so degrading as the talk about them. Of course, I don't surf "cumcam" sites, like the Flea apparently does, judging by one of yesterday's posts, so perhaps he's just a little more desensitized to these issues than I am. Then, again, he probably doesn't work with the kind of people I work with either.

About the Flea's profession, I don't know how he conducts himself in class; however, his online theories certainly don't seem to match his blog-talk. Given his profession, I would and do expect him to be more sensitized to the effect of women's sexual objectification. You guys out there who don't like the fact that some women are and do feel objectified can keep calling us unhinged or anal retentive or hyper politically correct or whatever else helps you to feel justified in your titillation, but you might also remember that you're degrading us in the process. Instead of respecting other bloggers, you're scoffing at the impact of your words on us in the blogosphere. I'm going to ask you whether you've ever felt objectified.  Ask your mothers, sisters, wives, or daughters if they have, or do you even care?

Like I said in earlier comments on my own blog, lots of titty-blogs and blog-porn exist on the net. I don't read them, although, at one point, I read Ali Davis's journal, called True Porn Clerk Stories, about her experiences working in a video store that also rented porn. Her experiences were pretty fascinating. Here's a small excerpt:

The only thing we can do is use the hand sanitizer. I use it so much that I lose all finger traction and can't open our plastic bags. I've had days when I've used it so much that I can't even make fingerprints on the glass countertop. It freaks me out, but the thought of not using it is worse.

Sometimes people get animalistic about the tapes. For the real addicts (I'm convinced that porn is like alcohol: some people can stop at just one every now and then, some people just binge on weekends, and some people get genuinely, horribly addicted) the reptilian brain kicks in. They hit the magic portion of the tape and they're done. They pop out the tape and slam in another one, and the next day the stack comes back, unrewound and covered in goo.

Repeat offenders get a note on their file that says "LUBE WARNING". Management policy is that for $6.50 an hour, clerks should not have to deal with the bodily fluids of others. The first time we discreetly but firmly remind the customer that the tapes need to come back clean. The second time we hand him the tape, the Windex, and the paper towels and tell him to clean off the tape in full view of whoever else is at the counter.

Anyway, I'm not protesting porn on the net or discussion about porn on the net, and I'm not calling for regulations or whatever other hysteria the Flea or others might be waxing on about. I'm just saying that, given the otherwise high quality of his blog, and given his profession, I don't like the girlie posts and comments, which sexually objectify women.  By any stretch of the imagination, I'm more than entitled to that opinion, and I probably stand in some pretty fine company.

Here's the thing. A certain kind of Flea reader likes the girlie posts. I'm not one of those readers. The Flea doesn't want to hear from me (or dialogue with me), and he seems to love "atta boy" comments. It's too bad, really, because most of the Red Ensign isn't really like that, which is why I wondered about their thoughts regarding the posts, in the first place. Of course, now I see at least some of them. Anyway, don't mind me. Go ahead. Enjoy your tits and ass. Just keep your keyboard clean. By the way, here's a site about a flea who's getting more than its share, extramaritally. Careful, though, there's a nudie picture on it.