Poor Marvin...

Those of you who know me well...also know that I have a tendency to blurt out whatever is swirling around in my brain...with no warning or explanation. Poor Marvin was reminded of that particular flaw of mine a couple days ago.

We were watching a news cast about a sports arena ( I don't remember the location) where fans gather in a certain area of the arena and essentially go nuts during breaks in play. The area is a spiral walkway leading from the lower level to the top of the stadium. It seems that fans gather at the railing and scream obscenities, throw beer cans and bottles, spit beer and yell for women to bare their breasts (which they do). After the story, one woman who had been caught up in their reveling by accident was interviewed by a reporter afterwards:

Reporter: What was going through your mind while all of the yelling was going on?
Woman: Oh...I was repulsed...it's absolutely disgusting! But...it's just men being men.

I sat on the footstool listening to her say "It's just men being men..." and my brain flew into a rage! I could not believe that she had the nerve to lump all men into such an outrageous statement! I wondered if she had a husband or son...and if she did, why it hadn't occurred to her that by making such a statement, she was indicating that her own men were degenerate perverts as well...after all...they are men. I could not believe that she was basically excusing the behavior of a bunch of people who needed kicked in the butt because of their gender! And...I wondered whether this woman might be blind...had she not noticed that about half of the participants were women?! My anger intensified as I thought about the way that women are often lumped into one huge category of ignorant, helpless, weak beings...by narrow minded people. And how that stereotype is perpetuated by women who ACT in those ways because they think it will further some agenda they have.

All of this occurred in a matter of seconds as we sat there together watching TV, and suddenly it spewed out my mouth.

I whirled around to face my husband, and snarled, "SO, HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL?"
His face was a total blank and his eyes were huge, but there was no audible response.
"DOESN'T THAT PISS YOU OFF?"I hissed, "A STATEMENT LIKE THAT SHOULD MAKE ALL OF YOU MAD!"
I paused and waited. During this pause...the look of confusion and fear on his face finally registered in my brain and I started to apologize...but suddenly the humor of it all hit me and I couldn't stop laughing.
I finally managed to explain that I had not meant my question for him personally...but rather...I was wondering how men in general feel about such things. He's been a bit skittish every since.

Be Well!