Quilled Sister

Girl Math. Omg girl math. Few phrases can enrage me so quickly as “girl math.” The most prominent women in my life- people who others should be held up as examples of success and brilliance- are fantastic at all math, but not girl math. Why? Because this is just ANOTHER way society is infantilizing women. Women-math took us to the moon, women-math (and science) first drew the proper structure of DNA, women-math pioneered cancer detection, nuclear fission, established etymology, to say nothing of the silent achievements made as “assistants” and yet here in the 21st century, our intelligence is reduced to “girl math”?!

What even IS girl math, you ask? Excellent question, because it’s a stupid non-sensical phrase that has enraged me so much I cannot even make accurate paragraph dictation. It started as when a gal wanted to treat herself, but it wasn’t strictly within the pre-defined budget set by either herself or her partner, so she rationalizes it.

Imagine. Having to rationalize a treat, to society. Because women shouldn’t GET treats just for the hell of it, right? The world’s burning, across countries we’ve lost rights our grandmothers had, most of us are working more hours than any generation before seen while still undergoing a growing rate of domestic violence- but NONE of that is rationale enough for a cute handbag so we have to do “girl math.”

So say a gal needs a bag for work. She could choose a cheap knock-off, or buy the real LV computer bag with the extra adjustable strap and shiny keychain. This will last her longer than the cheap knockoff, kick her with a shot of dopamine every time she picks it up, and give her a confidence boost at work, which leads to opportunities and promotions. So “girl math” says she saved money in the long wrong.

Or just like, regular people-math, because of course things of quality last longer and therefore don’t have to bought as frequently and there is not a price one can put on being respected in the workspace for looking put together and feeling put together and therefore becoming an influence in the business because confidence is half the battle.

But women, right? They’re so needy. Or rather, want-y. Men NEED the briefcase that matches their boss’s. Men NEED the new golf set so they can make customer deals. Men NEED things for progressing in society. Women? Women want. Women have to do girl math. And it’s not even the men who are the majority of those assigning this antiquated association of feminine and unintelligence! It’s US too! We are doing this to ourselves. We are reducing ourselves- making ourselves smaller in a world that demands largeness for survival. This is not the biggest problem for women and feminine presenting people in the world right now, but if we chip away at ourselves while the world is also doing so, we will disappear that much faster.

Girl, buy the damn handbag and leave the “math” out of it.

My Country for a Series

I seriously believe part of what’s wrong with our current youth culture is there’s not a book/movie series for us to latch onto. There’s no Star Wars (don’t- don’t pretend the current ones have the pull the old ones did), no Harry Potter, no Lord of the Rings. We need a new savior culture series!

And yes, there have been succesfullll series in recent times, but that’s not the same. If you can miss the boat (example: me and Percy Jackson) then the boat was canoe, not a cruiser.

There are several series that have given it a go to affect the cultural mindset. Hunger Games had a good shot, but was unfortunately overrun by copies like the Divergent series, so it never had enough time to really relic itself and is now trying to recapture its strength with prequels.

One could argue for Game of Thrones, which did indeed take the world by storm, but we all know how that ended. If you can’t return to it with nostalgia or renewed adoration, it’s not a culture series.

Lord of the Rings is a good example of sweeping up a large portion of the culture, and having the longevity (just how long after the books published did the movies come out?). Their longevity is even a joke in the Marvel movies with the Winter Soilder pointing out he read The Hobbit when it came out. Reference material in something as big as the marvel universe? Yeah that’s a culture series.

And no, Marvel is not. Much like Game of Thrones, it had its steam, and then ran out. How many ppl do you know that are caught up on ALL of it? They do occasionally get their breath back, and did have a big impact on comic book release initially, but there’s a reason ppl say “look at Einstein over here” still instead of switching to “look at Tony Stark over here.” Good and financially successful does not a culture series make.

So what’s the answer then? And why do we need this? First, I don’t know the answer. If I did, I’d be writing THAT instead of this rant.

Second, we need this because our culture is being increasingly affected by insane politics, strangely themed generational divides, and an odd new angry version of your-country-specific patriotism. Now these issues have always been there, but I could talk to a 50 year old American republican male as well as a nonbinary 14 year from across the sea and they’d both know who Frodo is, and have an opinion we could discuss. It’s a tiiiiny thread that’s still there across the cavern of divisions we have created. We need more threads. It’s not going to feed the world, it’s not going to bring peace to earth, but it’s going to give us something we’re missing. Something that when you look around today- you can really feel its absence.

There are a lot of other reasons culture series may not be brought to life these days besides just the attempted misses. Marketing is terrifying, producers are more out-loud evil, workdays are longer leaving less time for art-ness. But these things have always been at some level or another. There have always been hurdles for series to leap. Why are today’s examples tripping before the finish line? When will our next culture series come?

Here’s hoping real soon.