SekouBrevett

Listening to this podcast, I think I found a point of divergence that might be at the root of men’s behavior and provide a way to fix it. I am a Black man and in a previous Cracked Podcast Jason and Jack talked about the dangers of racist ideas that are masked as positives. The popular versions being that Asians are always good at math and Black men have large penises and are super virile. In this podcast Jason gave an entertaining and probably accurate summation of how a young boy coming into puberty views the girls he interacts with. The core of that belief is the seemingly positive generalization that girls mature faster than boys. I know that these beliefs are supported by studies. But those studies are conducted by the same doctors that won’t speak to Jack’s wife about her own injury. They are also aided by women who buy in to this belief and see it as, perhaps, an empowering thought about themselves. I noticed that even in denying having “psychic” abilities, Carmen (I think), accepted that girls matured faster, which validated Jason’s views on his boyhood. (Except for the psychic part) I would argue that it is the seed that all the sexism discussed grows form. Jason’s point as I understand it was that the seemingly vast chasm between who he was and who he thought girls his own age were was the beginning of the thought that was then reinforced by movies. He didn’t say but it was probably re-enforced by the adults in his life. I had a very close female friend at that time, personally, and we were both dealing with something bigger than puberty when puberty hit and I think it shielded us from the trap Jason speaks about. WE didn’t talk about sex but she also wasn’t constantly being told she was more mature and that she should wear perfume or be into make-up , etc. And because I had my own issue I wasn’t being told she had become an alien that I should be wary of. Sexism and misogyny, I admit, are much more complex but the twisted compliment stood out to me in the discussion.