Pop Culture, Scourge of the Onelys (Part 3 of 42,517): He’s Just Not That Into You June 10, 2009
Posted by Onely in "Against Love"...?, As If!, Heteronormativity, Pop Culture: Scourge of the Onelys.Tags: bad movies, desperation, exceptions, fuck you, he's just not that into you, proposals, single stereotyping sucks, single women, stupidity
20 comments
So this last weekend, under the guise of conducting “research” for Onely, I buckled down to watch the just-released-on-DVD He’s Just Not That Into You (HJNTIY for short).
And, OMG, this friendly little kid to the right expresses exactly how I feel about the movie: Fuck you, HJNTIY!
Yup, it’s that bad. Not only for what it implies about single people (more on that in a moment), but for its horrible acting, lack of a compelling story, and general waste of my time.
In theory, the movie should be pro-Onely — I mean, what better way for single (hetero) women (and gay men?) everywhere to get to a “happy” place than to accept that sometimes, he’s (really) just not that into you – and to decide that that’s okay? (more…)
Colorado (Accidentally) Passes Pro-Single Law April 27, 2009
Posted by Onely in Heteronormativity, single and happy, We like. . ..Tags: Beyond Straight and Gay Marriage, colorado law, designated beneficiary, law supporting singles, Nancy Polikoff, redefining family
5 comments
Colorado: more than just heteronormative ghosts!
The state has passed a law allowing “any two unmarried people to designate each other as entitled to numerous legal consequences usually reserved to married couples”, says Nancy Polikoff, author of Beyond Straight and Gay Marriage, in her 15 April 2009 article about the new legislation. (more…)
Onely Watershed Moments April 15, 2009
Posted by Onely in Bad Onely Activities, God-Idiot or Asshole?, Heteronormativity, We like. . ..Tags: accepting singleness, bad year, being single, drywall, dumped twice, single mythology, watershed moment
13 comments
In Lisa’s blurb on our “About Lisa and Christina” tab, she talks about how she fell in love with her single life on a road trip across the country. I was wondering what other watershed moments our Copious Readers have experienced in their journeys from (maybe) heteronormative self-expectations to acceptance of singlehood as a viable, healthy, and acceptable lifestyle.
I don’t know that I ever had a watershed moment. I think my default setting has always been “mostly fine with singleness”, with momentary spikes into “feeling obligated to date to meet social expectations”. However, I think I had a Watershed Month or two sometime in mid-2008. (more…)
“We Don’t Want Another Piece of the Pie… We Want a Whole New Pie” April 13, 2009
Posted by Onely in "Against Love"...?, Heteronormativity, Just Saying., Singled Out.Tags: equality for all, human rights, iowa vote april 3, legalization of gay marriage, piece of the pie, same-sex marriage, whole new pie, winona laduke
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Winona LaDuke, a Native American political activist, is credited with the 
words that I’m borrowing for the title of this post. I don’t know all that much about LaDuke, but I’ve heard her words (slightly altered) before in a different context. About a year ago, I had what turned out to be a very significant conversation with one of my favorite professors, who explained to me why she, as a lesbian, had no interest in promoting the cause of gay marriage. “I don’t want a piece of that pie,” she said — meaning the institution of marriage — “because it doesn’t solve the problem of equality for all…. Hell, I don’t even like pie!” (more…)
America’s Most Heteronormative Ghost April 8, 2009
Posted by Onely in Heteronormativity.Tags: estes park, living in sin, single hotel guests, stanley hotel, stanley hotel ghost tour, stanley hotel room 217, stephen king, the shining
6 comments
Some say the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado is the most haunted building in America. My sister and I took a ghost tour there last weekend, and it’s definitely spooky, even though I think they have changed the color of the wainscotting since filming Stephen King’s The Shining there some years ago.
Our tour guide, a dynamic woman wearing a poofy black dress and calling herself “Scary Mary” (she could pull it off (the name, not the dress) ) told us about the spirit children singing London Bridge on the fourth floor, the piano in the ballroom that plays by itself, the ghostly maintenance men crawling around under the pipes, and about the head chambermaid loyal to the Stanleys for over a hundred years: Mrs. Wilson in the famous Room 217, where King wrote his book. (more…)
Wife or Transgender Wife – Does the Category Matter? Your Responses Requested! April 6, 2009
Posted by Onely in Food for Thought, Heteronormativity, Your Responses Requested!.Tags: Chris Mason, death by exercise, James Mason, transgender
4 comments
A couple of months ago, I noticed this creepy headline:
I read the article and found the case stunning and bizarre: “A woman pleaded guilty to reckless homicide for exercising her 73-year-old husband to death in a swimming pool.”
A month passed, and I noticed another headline:
Having read the fine print of the first article, I knew immediately that this headline was referring to the same case. But I don’t understand why the “transgender” part of the story became headline-worthy. After all, the most interesting (read: disturbing!) part of this story is that the wife (Christine Newton-John, also known as Chris Mason ) exercised her husband (James Mason) to death.
There are plenty of details besides Chris/tine’s transgender identity that seem unrelated to the story, but which were nevertheless reported and may as well have been included in the headline, such as:
Pop Culture, Scourge of the Onelys (Twice in a Week!): “I Vow” Commercials April 1, 2009
Posted by Onely in "Against Love"...?, As If!, Dating, Heteronormativity, Pop Culture: Scourge of the Onelys, Singled Out.Tags: "i vow", chemistry.com, Laura Kipnis, rhetoric of work, what's wrong with flannel nightgowns?!, zyrtec, zyrtec commercial
19 comments
OK. So I understand that Chemistry.com’s whole business revolves around assuming and promoting couple-dom as the most desirable relationship status. In order to do this, it’s no surprise that the company (and others like it) tends to promote stereotypes about and simultaneously degrade single people (see, for example, this offensive commercial).
But — as if that’s not enough — the newest series of Chemistry.com commercials, dubbed on YouTube as “Chemistry.com Vows,” presents two people mimicking wedding-ceremony protocol and normalizes the matrimaniacal tendencies of American culture. (more…)
Pop Culture, Scourge of the Onelies: Desperado March 30, 2009
Posted by Onely in As If!, Heteronormativity, Pop Culture: Scourge of the Onelys.Tags: Antonio Banderas, Desperado, heteronormative, Johnny Cash, pop culture, the eagles, villeart.com
9 comments
“Desperado” has a pretty, rolling tune. It’s been sung by Johnny Cash and by Antonio Banderas (in Spanish) since it was originally produced (per Wikipedia) by the Eagles in 1973. I like the song–or I did, until I finally listened to the actual lyrics the other day (what can I say, I’ve been distracted by other things for 34 years):
You better let somebody love you,
You better let somebody love you,
You better let somebody love you,
Before it’s too late.
Gulp. Does anyone else feel just a teensy tone of intimidation here? As if you’d been strongarmed into a dark alley by the heteronormafia? (“Hey, listen, I’m just saying you’d better get with a committed romantic significant other, and soon. Hate to see you go swim with the single fishes, but that’s the game, capice? Nothing personal, just business, eh.”)
Or is it just me being strung out on dark chocolate?
–CC
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