Do eleven year old boys know more about women than women? It was my turn to do the soccer carpool the other night. I had three eleven year old boys in the backseat. I usually am running through my mental grocery list as they talk about rockets exploding or something like that. Yesterday, Meghan Trainor's All About That Bass came on the radio. I've heard about 2.5 times anytime I've been in the car for more than five minutes in the past two weeks, which means it is on all of the time.
"I hate this song," said one of the boys.
"So do I," another said. (I couldn't tell who was talking half the time, so here is the back and forth.)
"I don't get it. She is insulting skinny people in one sentence and then says 'You're perfect from bottom to top.' Doesn't that apply to skinny people, too?"
"And the woman who sings this song is skinny herself. I don't know why she is singing about being fat when she isn't fat."
"This song is stupid."
"You know something else that is stupid? That Katniss in The Hunger Games would like Peeta. Seriously." For those who don't know the series, Peeta is a baker's son who is kind of wimpy. Gale is the super hot yet sensitive hunter.
"Well, Gale did die, so she had no choice. She had to marry Peeta because of television."
"That doesn't make sense. The Capital ended, so she shouldn't have to marry Peta."
"I can't really say. I couldn't read the third book of The Hunger Games."
So, do these eleven year old boys know more about women than women? They don't get my Meghan Trainor is singing about how she doesn't fit the ideal feminine form, especially in a field littered with half naked women dancing while singing. (See: Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, et al.) Not that those to women aren't also talented, they are, but their appeal is definitely linked to their shape and willingness to flaunt it. These boys will either grow-up and change their minds as puberty hits them like a brick, or perhaps we are living in some post-feminist universe where boys don't view women as objects. Or, maybe they do see women, but not the way women see themselves. Maybe Trainor's mother was right, "Mama said boys like a little more booty to hold at night."
As for the Katniss, Gale and Peeta triangle, I am right there with the boys. I had no idea why Katniss wouldn't go for the strong and hot hunter. Instead, she went with a wimp. Really? The boys saw this from miles away-- that doesn't happen in real life, nor do they want it to. They want the girl to go for the strong guy, not the wuss. Vulnerable and sensitive does not mean a guy can't be strong. Girls can be strong and still like a strong guy. It doesn't mean they are weak. The boys in the car actually like Katniss. They want her to end up with the better guy.
This blog is about the little and big thoughts that pop into my head. I once read that when Flannery O'Connor walked into a bookstore, she would want to edit her published works with a red pen. In the digital world, we have the luxury of tweaking things up after we've hit the publish button. I can be a perfectionist/procrastinator, where waiting for the ideal means little gets done. Here I will share what is not--and likely will never be--perfect.
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