Collie's Bestiary

I'm in a master's program for Women's Spirituality at ITP (www.itp.edu) in Palo Alto. A lot of fascinating questions are coming up for me as I take the courses, and I'll try to put them up here on line for discussion as they occur to me. A particularly poignant question which hit me this weekend [...]

In her book Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature, Janice A. Radway explores the apparent fascination of romantic fiction to many women, and examines the needs this literary genre fulfills for its readers. Our required reading was the Introduction and the first four chapters. The Introduction contains a more up-to-date critique of the [...]

Naylor's image of 'Man' is symbolized by all her developed male characters. Invariably, they are the doers and accomplishers in the story — and they always destroy what is around them. Thus for Mattie we have her father, the leader of the family, who also beats his daughter (almost to death, when she won't tell [...]

Book authored by Gloria Naylor. Book review originally written in 1996 for an English Writing & Composition class Initially, Gloria Naylor's book The Women of Brewster Place seems to be stories of various women struggling under the inequities of poverty and racism. However, due to her use of symbology, thoughtful study can reveal a deeper [...]

Conditioning by personal choice To the selfish all are selfish.– Aesop These are all unpleasant situations which I suspect many people have had to deal with at one point or another. Faced with potential scenarios like those mentioned above, I'm not surprised many women use the "dreaded phrase" frequently. What I consider a shame is [...]

So why does this matter? A friend noted I sounded a bit annoyed here. I am. I don't know why, but for some reason our culture teaches men to assume women are always seductively inclined towards them — often long before the woman is more than just marginally friendly. Quite frankly, it's bloody annoying. Lest [...]

Some anthropological context You're dangerous, 'cause you're honest…you tell me things I know you're not supposed to…Well, you lied to me 'cause I asked you to;Baby, can we still be friends….– U2, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses Interestingly, I read an anthropological study many years after these incidents (I'll have to try to re-locate [...]

What's gone before If we could sell our experiences for what they cost us, we would all be millionaires.– Abigail Van Buren Interestingly, the guy I was talking to then bitterly asked why the women weren't more honest with the men, as well as with themselves. Now that one I could answer for him, and [...]

So what does it really mean when someone says, "let's just be friends"? I can't speak for all women, but I can speculate based on discussions I've had, and on my thoughts in similar situations: To politely create or keep distance To defuse situations where the person feels pressured or scared Because that's what they've [...]

Originally posted June 2004 Credits: For all those who've been part of my emotional relationships. If you helped, thank you for your encouragement, patience, and kindness — you know who you are. And if you were part of the problem, it would be inappropriate to name names. ;-) I've been teasingly told my previous Firestarter [...]