With the writer Neil Gaiman present, this person said as if making an incredibly clever comeback: “But you see, Neil, your comics are the only ones that are read by people who have sex regularly.” To the cretin in question, releasing sperm from his penis on a regular basis really was a demonstration of mental balance, sharpness and soundness. It was something that was a compliment to himself as a rounded human being, and, incidentally, to the unfortunate Mr.Gaiman (who deserves better than that), as someone who pleases such human beings.
Oh dear me, I haven't finished this whole thing yet but I had to say you missed the point there. What the fan meant was not that Mr. Gaiman's readers release sperm, but that they do so in feminine company. If he had not wished to be shocking he could have said, "Your comics are the only ones read by anyone who knows any girls," and meant the same thing.
Note that this is a perfect example of how the sexual revolution eclipses what ought to have been the legitimate concerns of feminism. It did not occur to you, nor to the speaker, that he is presenting the reader of the comics as male, because the normative human being is male unless otherwise specified.
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Date: 2007-04-28 07:52 pm (UTC)Oh dear me, I haven't finished this whole thing yet but I had to say you missed the point there. What the fan meant was not that Mr. Gaiman's readers release sperm, but that they do so in feminine company. If he had not wished to be shocking he could have said, "Your comics are the only ones read by anyone who knows any girls," and meant the same thing.
Note that this is a perfect example of how the sexual revolution eclipses what ought to have been the legitimate concerns of feminism. It did not occur to you, nor to the speaker, that he is presenting the reader of the comics as male, because the normative human being is male unless otherwise specified.